Hyatt Is Closing This Riviera Maya Resort, With Plans for a Rebranding
Hyatt is closing one of its top luxury resorts in the Mexican Caribbean in a few months, with plans for a rebranding, Caribbean Journal has learned.
The Andaz Mayakoba Resort Riviera Maya, one of a trio of properties in the luxe Mayakoba community on the Caribbean coast of Mexico (along with a Rosewood, a Fairmont and a Banyan Tree) will “suspend operations” on March 2, according to Hyatt.
The plan is to rebrand the 148-acre property into the first-ever Alila resort in the Caribbean: the new Alila Mayakoba will open “later this year,” the company said.
So what is Alila, exactly? It’s a brand that had its origins in Asia, centered in Indonesia, one that has been part of the Hyatt portfolio since 2018, with 19 hotels in total. It does include a trio of hotels in California, but the new Alila would be the first in the Caribbean and Latin America.
It’s a brand focused on “sustainability, respect for local culture and profound connection,” as Hyatt describes it; think of it as Hyatt’s answer to IHG’s Six Senses brand.
Sustainability will inform much of the rebranding, which will also include an “eco friendly renovation.”
Pete Sears, Hyatt’s regional group president, says the idea is a “new level of luxury, sustainability and impactful wellbeing.”
The changes will actually result in a smaller hotel, with a greater percentage (about 40 percent) of the rooms being suites with a wellness orientation.
On the operations side, Alila will have several different restaurants along with a beach club and a cafe, with a farm-to-table focus and what it calls a “restorative” approach to food.
It’s the end of a resort that had been open for almost nine years, with a 2016 debut. It was also the only Andaz-branded resort in the Caribbean, although there is an Andaz in development in Turks and Caicos.
So what do you do if you have a reservation at the Andaz after March 2? You can cancel for free, change to another hotel in the Mayakoba area or shift your reservation to a different Hyatt-portfolio property.
If you’re set on Mayakoba, the Rosewood has long been our favorite within the development, with some of the best service of any hotel we’ve encountered in the region.
Right now, the Andaz Mayakoba has prices at about $445. It’s likely the rates at the new Alila should be considerably higher.
How much higher? The Alila in Big Sur, California has rates of about $2,953 per night right now.
Alexander Britell is the founder and editor-in-chief of Caribbean Journal and one of the top experts on Caribbean travel worldwide, with decades of on-the-ground travel to the region and comprehensive knowledge of the entire Caribbean Basin.
