Hotel groups

I’ve previously posted some thoughts on the subject of ‘hurricane preparedness’. Then, earlier this week, I got a call from USA TODAY reporter Laura Bly. We talked at some length about the post-Wilma recovery in Cancún: the positive, the less positive, and some areas still to see some action.

Laura quotes me in her article published today, although my opinions are rather more rounded than they might appear from the morsel in Laura’s piece.

Much ducking and weaving, much passing of the buck in evidence today as most of the local newspapers on sale in Cancún carried a story on the post-Wilma squabbling between hotel reps and insurers. I covered some of the background in January.

Insurance salesmen would probably squeeze their way into the top five in most polls of the least respected, least trusted professions - certainly where I come from. They are the perennial bad guys.

Now, I am not about to leap to their defence, but, all the same, while hoteliers may baulk as premiums skyrocket and insurers drag their feet to settle their dues, I believe they should share the blame as the cycle of build and bust in such a vulnerable location shows no sign of letting up.

On March 28th, I flagged Sean Mattson’s well-timed questioning of building standards in hurricane-prone cities, like Cancún.

Cancún’s Hotel Zone is a narrow sandspit and everyone wants to squeeze the most out of their …

Franchise operation 100% Natural has a foothold on Fifth Avenue ("Quinta Avenida"), the main drag in Playa del Carmen (between Calle 10 & 12). It serves up veggie pastas & soups, and fresh fish, meat and poultry, which you can eat in their tropical courtyard garden.

Chantelle Tucker (a regular in my posts here) shares out all the wholesome goodness in this set of photos.

Just south of Playa is Ikal del Mar, with thirty beautiful, thatched villas, scattered throughout its lush grounds (the hotel prides itself on the fact that no trees were cut down during its construction).

Brighton-based Andy Budd was a guest earlier this month. Andy’s photo gallery on Flickr includes some sumptuous shots of Ikal del Mar… and many others of serene-looking Valladolid, Tulum and Chichén Itzá.
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Sol Meliá is keeping five of its eleven Mexico properties closed a little longer than first planned after damage caused by Hurricane Wilma, reports Bloomberg.

The Majorca-based company has closed three five-star hotels in Cancún and two resorts on Cozumel until as late as June. This means that more than half of Sol Meliá’s 3,499 hotel rooms in Mexico are currently shut.
 
The Meliá Turquesa, which has more than 400 rooms, is closed until June 30th, while the 800-room Gran Meliá Cancún is shut until March 31st.

There is as yet no re-opening date for the Sol Cabañas del Caribe located on Cozumel.

Sol Meliá expect insurers to cover the cost of patching up its hotels.