When you're busy sipping your frothy drink along the Riviera Maya, isn't your first thought always -- I wonder how Fido is digging his thalasso-therapy?
The Paraiso de la Bonita just rolled their "Haute Dog Package," a Leona Helmsley-esque treatment just for your four-legged friend.
In the event you brought your doggie with you to the sprawling Mexican shore, be rest assured -- Chicken liver puree, dog walks and massage, as well as thalasso-therapy and "daily afternoon tea in the Bird's Lounge" are but a few of the pooch perks here.
It won't be ready until fall of 2009 (at the earliest, we guess) but the Nizuc resort on the Riviera Maya in Mexico sounds like it's going to be pretty fancy.
The resort will end up with a combination of properties for sale--about 150 one and two bedroom places and a few larger beachfront villas--and hotel resort style accommodation, including 16 one-bedroom condos and 45 hotel rooms.
Your significant other is going to be maaaaadddd if you say no to this retreat.
Like most couples chained to each for more than a decade, our relationship could stand a tune-up. And so can we. And while a romantic and spiritually enlightening package called The Art of Re-Connecting: A Couple's Retreat at the The Tides Riviera Maya sounds dreamy, it'll remain that way for us. A dream.
It is totally worth it if you and your special someone have an extra $7,460 laying around the house. It's on the Mayan Riviera amidst tropical forests and pearly-white beaches, first of all. With a luxurious six-night stay at an exclusive resort, number two. And it comes complete with your own private 1,000 sq. ft. palapos (translation: a kick-ass villa).
It turns out we have our own sort of "Gossip Girl", a fellow travel writer huffing around the Yucatan who has sent us some hotel gossip on Cancun and the Riviera Maya in Mexico. Our anonymous tipster can't be so scathing in the guidebook text. However, we at HotelChatter are not known for being diplomatic, so here's the straight scoop on a few hotels:
ME Melia Cancun "The doormats at ME say 'It's all about YOU!' Ack. Their signature thing seems to be heavily scented air. Someone had really gone nuts with the essential-oil-diffuser thing. They were also playing Foreigner at Volume 11 in the pool area."
Azul Blue "This resort is not 'Azul Blue' anymore, but just 'Blue.' It looks like it has been sold--already!--and there are also more than a few mentions of theft on TripAdvisor. Now it's run by Eurostars. The sign on the place looks awkward now because it used to say AZUL BLUE on the whole length of the wall. Now it says ______BLUE."
Sens Hotel Cancun "Oasis, the mega-resort group, is doing some hipster hotels called Sens. One's already in downtown Cancun, and they're building a 'Sens Del Mar' one in the hotel zone--I think wedged between Coco Bongo and the Bulldog if I got the spot right. I'm curious to see how the downtown one fares. It looks very out of its element, all covered in magenta LEDs and stuff." ("Sens Bed Lounge" at the downtown hotel pictured above.)
Unik "This Isla Mujeres luxe boutique hotel was originally supposed to be open by now but it looks to still be a loonnngg way off."
Down in Mexico the Paraiso de la Bonita Resort has decided that putting guests up in luxury for a few days is not enough: they want people to get out there into the natural environment. You see, the resort is a member of the World Heritage Alliance so they have to do their bit to support the World Heritage Sian Ka'an Biosphere that's just an hour and a half away.
The Biosphere has been around for over 20 years and is the largest protected area in the Mexican Caribbean. It has unique wetlands and archeological sites as well as hundreds of bird species and over a hundred known kinds of mammals too. This makes it important, beautiful and worth visiting: even the hotel thinks so.
Right now the Paraiso de la Bonita is offering a 4-night Sian Ka'an Eco-Experience package, with accommodation in a luxury ocean view suite, a dinner in their Michelin-chef-led restaurant, and an excursion to the Biosphere Reserve; package costs start at $1,999. When you're not in the Biosphere you can relax at the resort's Thallasso Center Spa or explore the coastal barrier reef nearby (it's the second largest in the world).
The only bit that makes us stop and think a bit is the promise of a private transfer from the airport to resort using their fleet of air conditioned White Lincoln Navigators. Shouldn't eco-excursions be in eco-cars? Hope someone helps out and sells the Paraiso de la Bonita a few hybrid automobiles.
ABC network stars Teri Hatcher and Kate Walsh recently took a trip (but not together) to the Paraiso de la Bonita in Riviera Maya, Mexico over the Memorial Day Weekend.
So while Lindsay Lohan was melting down at the Mondrian Hotel, Kate Walsh was cuddling with her new fiancé Alex Young and Teri Hatcher was exploring the area with her boyfriend Stephen Kay.
