100 days on, Cancún receives morale-boost

February is shaping up to be a milestone month in Cancún’s painful recovery from Hurricane Wilma, despite a muddle over when some hotels will re-open.

An estimated six thousand hotel rooms will be added to the resort’s total available inventory over the next four weeks - a significant leap from the 13,179 open today (48% of the pre-Wilma total) to a much fitter 19,436 (70%) by March 1st.

However, I’ve uncovered further evidence today why ‘official’ pronouncements should be taken with a pinch of salt, and always verified.

Today, for example, the website of the Cancún Convention & Visitors Bureau (OVC) is showing that the Spanish hotel group Oasis will re-open all six its Cancún hotels on February 1st - five located along Cancún’s Zona Hotelera (Hotel Zone) and another downtown.

However, the Oasis sales office confirmed to me today that opening dates will in fact be staggered over the next fortnight - as follows: Oasis Viva (open now); Oasis América (downtown; Feb. 7th); Grand Oasis (Feb. 9th); Oasis Palm Beach (Feb. 15th); Oasis Cancún (Feb. 16th); Oasis Playa (Feb. 16th). Oasis has spent a hefty US$45m dollars on structural repairs and remodelling work.

Likewise, the OVC suggests that the Omni Cancún will also re-open tomorrow. In fact, Leticia Rosado at the hotel told me that the date had been put back to March 1st,  following delays in the hotel’s US$14m dollar refurbishment.

It gets worse. The OVC also lauded the imminent opening of the former Club Las Velas. After three dormant years, the hotel begins a new lease of life as the lagoon-facing Nichupté Destination Holistic Spa - especially for those wishing to surrender to the gentle nudges of a holistic yoga-and-meditation retreat. Again, a hotel spokesperson, Nicholas Mutsaerts, informed me that the Nichupté would also not receive guests until "at least March 1st". 

In short, re-opening dates are a moveable feast, and I advise travellers and travel agents alike to contact hotels direct (website addresses are listed here), and not to reply entirely on the websites of either the OVC or the Cancún Hotel Association. 

Despite the confusion, it is clear that Cancún is now beginning to see the fruits of its labour. This will cheer not only local and federal tourism bigwigs, but the thousands of cancunenses whose livelihoods depend on a flourishing Cancún.

By the middle of February, the number of hotels in Cancún (including those downtown) that will have rolled out the "welcome" mat to tourists will finally reach three figures, triggering a collective sigh of relief.

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