In the Playa del Carmen area of Mexico, on the Riviera Maya between Cancun and Tulum, the Rosewood Mayakoba (recently awarded Two Keys by MICHELIN Inspectors) makes its home on a 620-acre, gated oceanfront resort. In its 16th year, it’s one of the most established players in an ever-growing sea of haute hotel brands in one of the world’s most fabulous beach destinations.
Welcome to our Signature Space series, where our editorial team delves deeper into the most iconic spaces at MICHELIN Guide hotels. Find our Inspectors' official take on the Rosewood Mayakoba hotel, here.
We're at Riviera Mayakoba. What's the signature space here? Without a doubt, it's the Lagoon Presidential Suites. There are two of them, and today we’re looking at one in particular: room #317.
Who stays here? The grounds in general are home to newlyweds, Manhattan’s well-heeled jetsetters, and celebrities — and for good reason. This is one of the most prized and pricey accommodations along the Yucatan Peninsula. Expect the Lagoon Presidential Suite to cost around $5,000 per night, depending on the season. In winter, we’ve seen it in the $8,000 range.
So it has a lot to live up to. How do you feel stepping inside #317? After a private electric boat ride through lush, monkey-inhabited mangroves to reach the resort, you find the Lagoon Presidential Suite nestled beside a calm lagoon. You traverse a short bridge before a massive, stacked white stone entrance rises in front of you. Depending on the time of day, you’ll enter squinting through a bright, tropical, sun-drenched living room, behind which is a fully equipped kitchen and three bedrooms.
First impressions? That living room alone is staggering: a glass-enclosed space that seems to float over the lagoon, encapsulated in 360-degree water views. Not to mention, each of the three bedrooms has its own private plunge pool.
You mentioned a fully equipped kitchen. One of the perks of being Presidential. Guests of #317 can book private dining experiences, where the Bar Zapote team drops by to serve some of the continent’s best cocktails and a grilled rib eye, all under a wooden gazebo on the suite’s impressive patio (4,750 square feet with its own lengthy pool).
It seems possible you might never leave the suite. Even so, what’s the feeling at the rest of the hotel? The prices at Rosewood match its pedigree — but there’s no pretension about it. Guests throughout the resort sport flip-flops and wind-swept hair, while they sip on hemp seed and spirulina-spiked smoothies after a morning yoga class.
Anything to know about sustainability? As mentioned, any and all guests arrive at their suites via private electric boat, and subsequent trips around the large property include electric golf carts and bicycles. Not only is the transport distinct and memorable, but it speaks to the property’s efforts to protect the surrounding natural environment, and the wildlife that inhabits it.
Go on. You’ll find cornstarch and paper wax straws in use, while all water at the resort comes from a natural well filtered with inverse osmosis. Gray water is recycled for landscape irrigation and ultrasound tech is used to find underground leaks — a push for efficiency.
That, and daily eco-tours introduce guests to local wildlife and inform on the protection of the area’s local sea turtles.
What else you got? We’d be remiss not to mention that all rooms come with 24/7 on demand butlers. That, and a detail we’ve certainly never seen before: the resort’s on-site hawk fends off pesky birds looking to swoop down for a snack.
Wow. Any special instructions on how to book #317? Head over to the hotel page and find “Lagoon Presidential Suite.”
