Selling Luxury Mexico During a Pandemic

When Anguilla closed its borders in late April due to a Covid uptick, travel advisor Lisa Enden switched to Plan B for the clients she had booked into Cap Juluca.

First, Enden suggested a couple of Caribbean resorts as alternatives. Then she directed her clients’ attention to a handful of luxury resorts in Mexico that she feels are comparable to Cap Juluca’s “barefoot luxury.”

“I love Mexico. I like to educate people and teach them about the luxury resorts there that are equal to the five-star resorts that everybody knows in the Caribbean,” said Enden, co-vice president of #1 Power Travel in Plainview, NY,

In the past year, Mexico has proved to be a good choice for luxury resort vacations, even at the height of the pandemic, Enden said. “I had clients who said, ‘We’re not going to stop living. Where can we go?’ Since the Caribbean and Europe were locked down, it was either staying in the states, like Florida, or going down to Mexico.

“I suggested Mexico because there weren’t restrictions in place – we were never locked out of Mexico. Clients were able to go there and escape from the madness and feel safe,” Enden said. “Luxury resorts offered PCR testing on the property, and clients just got on the plane and came home.”

One thing that helped Enden book Mexico’s luxury resorts with confidence this past year was detailed updates from suppliers. “The resorts did a good job of educating the industry, with webinars and Zoom calls. We knew what to expect when clients got there and what protocols were in place. It made us comfortable selling the destination.”

Just back from Mexico
Becky Lamb is another luxury advisor who has booked her “I’ve got to get out of here” clients into Mexico’s luxury resorts during the pandemic.

Last week, Lamb returned from her own eight-night trip to the Maya Riviera, where she stayed at four different luxury resorts. It was her first trip out of the country in over a year, said Lamb of Becky Lamb Travel in Decatur, GA.

Lamb was reassured by the safety protocols she experienced at Mexico’s luxury resorts. “I found the all-inclusives to be super serious. You had to wear a mask inside and if you forgot, someone would say, ‘Please put your mask on.’ I never saw one staff member that didn’t have a mask, not one,” she said.

“The way they do the food at the restaurants is super careful, and the luxury hotel rooms are immaculate. To be honest, the people in the resorts are being more careful than what I see in the U.S. every single day. They’re being so careful that, if you’re vaccinated, I think it’s one of the safest places you can go.”

That caveat about getting vaccinated against Covid before traveling to Mexico is an important one, Lamb emphasized. “Even though they’re being super careful, they’re not vaccinated.” (Reuters estimates that about 8% of Mexico’s population has been fully vaccinated.)

Travel advisors can further protect their clients by arranging for services like private driver transfers, Lamb said. “As a luxury advisor, you know how to eliminate the danger spots. Where are they going to be around a mass of people? It’s going to be here. How much will it cost [to avoid that]?”

Irresponsible?
Not all travel advisors have been keen on selling luxury Mexico amid the pandemic.

“I was not a proponent of Mexico in the middle of the pandemic just because they didn’t require any testing. I felt that was irresponsible. I did not feel it was my place to promote it just because it was open,” said Tiffany Layne, founder, and CEO of LaVon Travel & Lifestyle in New York City.

“During the height of the pandemic, like last summer, when people were rushing down there, flaunting on social media, talking about ‘it’s safe,’ I just felt it was, inappropriate. We all miss travel, but let’s be adults,” Layne said.

When her luxury clients have requested Mexico over the past year, Layne would remind them that Mexico has the same problems with Covid as the rest of the world and is under a travel advisory. “If they wanted to go, I advised them of properties that were open and had certain protocols in place and that it was at their own risk.

“I’m okay sending people wherever they want to go. But it’s my responsibility as a travel advisor to make them aware of the current situation and advise them appropriately. I would not have recommended Mexico last summer. Now as vaccines are being rolled out and hotels have amazing safety protocols, I would advise that you probably will feel more safe traveling.”

Product, price, availability
In the end, Enden’s Anguilla clients did not choose Mexico, but the dozen or so clients she has sent to Mexico since the pandemic’s onset have had positive experiences, she said.

One reason to continue to choose Mexico’s luxury resorts now is availability, Enden said. “It’s easier to get space in Mexico than in the Caribbean because the Caribbean is not 100% open and has strict protocols [that vary] from island to island.”

Price is another big plus. “It’s at least 25 percent less to book a luxury resort in Mexico than in the Caribbean, and the Florida resorts are charging mortgage payments for their nightly rates,” Enden commented.

Airlift to Mexico has improved, including new nonstop flights from the Northeast to Mexico’s west coast, she added. And Lamb noted that Mexico’s airfares remain reasonable, while ticket prices to those destinations in the Caribbean that are opening up are “astronomical.”

Both Enden and Lamb anticipate a banner year for luxury travel to Mexico.

“They have a fantastic luxury product in Mexico. With the service, they provide at the resorts, the luxury end of Mexico is very luxurious. It can compete,” Lamb said. “I’m predicting that Mexico will be one of the top sellers this summer for families.”