The Grand Velas Los Cabos hotel in Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, has been named the eighth-best in the world and the top luxury hotel in Mexico by TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel platform.
The 18th annual Travelers Choice awards compiled users’ opinions, ratings and comments left on the site in 2019, prior to the coronavirus pandemic.
Grand Velas is just one of a number of hotels and two hostels in Mexico that have garnered prestigious international travel awards in the past year.
Hotel Amparo, a five-room hotel in the center of the colonial city of San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, took the No. 2 spot on Travel + Leisure magazine’s 25th annual World’s Best Awards and was also named the top city hotel in Mexico last month. The hotel, which opened in a 300-year-old former mayor’s mansion in 2019, scored a ranking of 99.23 out of 100 in a survey of the magazine’s readers.
Also in San Miguel de Allende, the town’s largest hotel, Live Aqua Urban Resort, won first place in the prestigious Prix Versailles awards in North America, presented in association with UNESCO and the International Union of Architects, which honor architecture and design in harmony with culture.
San José del Cabo’s Solaz Los Cabos resort took home a special prize for exteriors in the same competition. The luxury hotel mimics forms found in the desert and Sea of Cortés, mixing elements of wood and marble in its interior.
Traveling north, Villa del Palmar in Loreto, Baja California Sur, has been recognized as Mexico and Central America’s best resort, family resort and beach resort in 2019 by the World Travel Awards, considered the Oscars of tourism, where members of the tourism industry vote for their top picks.
In addition, the World Travel Awards voted the Hyatt Ziva Cancún in Quintana Roo the best all-inclusive hotel, Casa Dorada in Cabo San Lucas was named the best beach hotel, and in Jalisco, Puerto Vallarta’s Hacienda San Ángel won for best cultural hotel.
In a separate competition, the Fairmont Mayakoba in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, took the top spot in the luxury eco resort category for the World Luxury Travel Awards 2019, where 300,000 travelers and members of the tourism industry vote for their favorites. With rooms nestled among freshwater lagoons in a jungle-like setting, the Mayakoba is also a AAA Five Diamond winner, one of 26 hotels in Mexico to earn that distinction.
It’s not just big hotels that win international awards. Smaller, more intimate and budget-friendly hostels in Mexico, most of which offer dorm-style accommodations as an option, have also been garnering recognition. The Posada del Abuelito hostel in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, was named by reviewers at hostelworld.com as their sixth favorite small hostel and Lum, in Tulum, Quintana Roo, was voted third place among North American hostels.
Source: El Universal (sp), Forbes (sp)
