For a discreet seam of the global glitterati, Maroma, a Belmond Hotel on Mexico’s Riviera Maya, is the hotel reopening of the year. After an extensive, multi-year renovation project, the storied property—housed at the jungle’s edge, where the whitest sands touch the bluest waters—has undergone the chicest of Vogue-approved face lifts, and opened its doors again last month.
The elevator pitch:
When architect Jose Luis Moreno first ambled through the seemingly impenetrable Mayan jungle to the riviera’s shoreline in the mid-1970s, back when Cancun and its surroundings had but a few scattered lodgings and an airport with a thatched roof, few could have predicted that a hotel legend would one day be born. But by the late 1980s, after several years living by the exquisite shoreline himself, he built a hotel that became a top-tier haven for the travel cognoscenti. Acquired by Belmond some 20 years ago, the magic has once again been truly re-energized.
Rooms are either dotted by the oceanfront or around the hotel’s series of iconic swimming pools.
Courtesy of Belmond
What’s the aesthetic:
With 72 rooms, suites, and villas spread over 200 acres, the beveled, white-washed buildings with wooden accents feel entirely at one in the locality. Luxury is at full tilt, though this isn’t a bubble of a resort. The craft and materials of the region feel incorporated at every turn. Tara Bernerd & Partners—no strangers to grand-scale hotel projects—have brought their most intimate instincts to bear on Maroma, working closely with local artists and makers on everything from stunning, individually painted floor tiles for the suites to an emphasis on local woods, ceramics, and textiles.
