As all-inclusive resort vacations in the Caribbean and Mexico continue to surge in popularity, Playa Hotels & Resorts is moving forward with ambitious expansion plans.

“We have a very active development and investment strategy and, as a result, have added an additional 727 rooms with the launch of three new third-party managed resorts in the last 18 months,” said Dean Sullivan, the company’s senior vice president, sales and marketing.

“While I cannot provide any specific details on future expansions and projects, with the all-inclusive resort segment experiencing significant growth and our track record during the last 18 months, your readers can draw their own conclusions.”

A Growing Portfolio

As of November 2022, Playa Hotels & Resorts, a leading owner, operator and developer of all-inclusive resorts, had a portfolio of 8,595 rooms between 22 owned-and/or managed-properties.

“We came out from the crisis stronger than ever and together with our partners we opened two resorts in 2021: The Yucatan Resort Playa del Carmen, a Tapestry Collection by Hilton; and the Hyatt Ziva Riviera Cancun,” Sullivan said.

In December 2021, the company announced a strategic partnership with Wyndham Hotels & Resorts and converted two Playa properties into Wyndham Alltra all-inclusive resorts: the Wyndham Alltra Cancun and the Wyndham Alltra Playa Del Carmen. And, on Oct. 10, 2022, Wyndham Alltra Riviera Nayarit made its debut.

In all, Playa has more than 1,000 rooms in the pipeline. “For 2023, we are expecting to take over the management of 502 rooms in Cancun [with the] Seadust Cancun Family Resort,” Sullivan said.

“This year, we started collaborating with Marriott through the conversion of Sanctuary Cap Cana into a Luxury Collection resort,” Sullivan said.

The Hyatt Connection

Playa is something of a pioneer when it comes to developing all-inclusive resorts with large hotel brands.

“From Playa’s very beginning, we recognized the opportunity of bringing our all-inclusive expertise together with global hospitality brands,” Sullivan said.

“Our partnership with Hyatt was the first and launched almost a decade PANAago, and together we set a new standard in the all-inclusive experience with the development of the Zilara and Ziva brands.

“We are on track to open next month our 10th Hyatt-branded property, the 291- room Hyatt Zilara Riviera Maya, under a third-party management agreement.”

Hyatt Ziva resorts are targeted to guests of all ages, while Hyatt Zilara properties are adults-only resorts.

Its relationship with Hyatt will remain unchanged in the aftermath of the Hyatt Hotels Corporation’s acquisition of Apple Leisure Group, of which the AMR Collection of resorts is a unit, in late 2021.

“There has been no change in our day-to-day partnership with Hyatt, and, in fact, we have launched two new third-party managed Hyatt properties in Mexico – Hyatt Ziva Riviera Cancun and Hyatt Zilara Riviera Maya – since Hyatt’s acquisition of Apple Leisure Group,” Sullivan said.

The Agent Equation

Playa’s relationship with travel advisors, meanwhile, is pivotal to the company’s business.

“Our partnership with our travel advisors remains a top priority for Playa Hotels & Resorts,” said Brad Cirino, vice president of sales. “With our expanding portfolio of hotels, the travel advisor becomes the front line and has the ability to recommend a property based on the needs of their clients.

“They have the knowledge of not only the hotel, but also the destination and can provide their clients with confidence in making an important and often expensive decision that is right for them.”

Playa offers travel advisors a range of sales and marketing tools, including prerecorded webinars for selling points on each resort, which can be found on its AgentCashPlus website.

“These are designed not only for the travel advisor but to also share with their clients,” Cirino added. “Our digital Travel Agent Reference Guide is an amazing tool that provides a deeper dive on the resort’s attributes including room descriptions and imagery."

“Escorted fams are designed to help travel advisors ‘touch and feel’ the product first-hand.”

A full media library is also at agents’ disposal, enabling them to “pull assets to share on their social media channels or customer communications and promotions and is right at their fingertips,” Cirino said.

Arsenal of Brands

Maybe most importantly, Playa provides its travel advisor partners with a generous roster of all-inclusive brands to sell.

“Playa Hotels & Resorts is a leader in the all-inclusive space, leveraging international brands such as Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott and Wyndham that give our properties recognition and our guests a certain degree of comfort,” Cirino said. “From robust wellness offerings to incredible food-and-beverage options, we provide our travel advisor partners with an array of options that nicely align with what their customers are looking for.”

Travvy Awards

As further evidence of Playa’s relationship with advisors, the company took home 10 Travvy Awards this year, which are produced by AGENTatHOME and TravelPulse, units of Northstar Travel Media.

The company received three gold awards for Best All-Inclusive Resorts-Destination Weddings, Hyatt Ziva Cancun; Best Honeymoon Hotel/Resort-Caribbean, Sanctuary Cap Cana; and Best Luxury Hotel/Resort- Caribbean, Sanctuary Cap Cana.

Playa garnered five silver awards for Best All-Inclusive- Overall, Sanctuary Cap Cana; Best All-Inclusive Adults/ Couples Resort-Caribbean, Sanctuary Cap Cana; Best All-Inclusive Family Resort- Mexico, Hyatt Ziva Cancun; Best All-Inclusive Resort-Spa & Wellness, Hyatt Zilara Cap Cana; and Best Spa & Wellness Resort-Overall, Hyatt Zilara Cap Cana.

It also received two bronze awards including Best Hotel Chain-All-Inclusive, Hyatt Ziva & Hyatt Zilara; and Best Hotel Chain-Overall, Hyatt Ziva & Hyatt Zilara.

“It’s an honor to be named a Travvy Awards winner, as our wins are determined by those who know us best – travel advisors,” said Cirino. “These awards are a testament to Playa’s commitment to bringing the best all-inclusive experience to our guests.”

Optimism for 2023

Going forward, Playa executives are optimistic about business in 2023.

“As evidenced in our last earnings report, our business continues to remain very strong across all regions of operation,” Sullivan said. “Coming out of the pandemic, strong consumer demand for leisure travel has led the hospitality sector’s recovery and remains strong, despite economic and recessionary fears that may be affecting consumer spending.”