Marriott Is Reinventing the All-Inclusive Resort With a Luxury Twist
With its first five-star opening in Isla Mujeres, Mexico, it turns out the brand can’t always keep Cancún's nearby party scene at bay.
A view of the beach at Almare, Marriott’s newest adults-only all-inclusive luxury resort on Isla Mujeres, Mexico.
Source: Ione Green Productions
At the rooftop restaurant inside Almare, a new adults-only, all-inclusive luxury resort on Mexico’s Isla Mujeres, two couples in their late 40s and 50s are sitting at the six-seat bar in the center of the room. They’re watching a muted football game on a giant plasma screen as a salsa tune plays. A light breeze blows off the Caribbean Sea; Cancún’s skyline is visible in the distance.
“The bar closes a little early here,” says Nicole Santiago, a Los Angeles resident who’s spending a week with her husband in one of the hotel’s low-slung oceanfront buildings with Yucatecan thatched roofs. After 10 p.m., “if you want to order, you have to go back to your room, and they’ll bring you drinks.” There’s no dancing either, she adds, unlike the vacation she took to Cancún in 1995, when she was fresh out of high school. But she’s OK with that.