The spa at Zemi Beach House in Anguilla is housed in a 300-year-old wooden structure from Thailand. The owner had it taken apart piece by piece, shipped across the world, and rebuilt on Shoal Bay East in the Caribbean.
These Hilton luxury properties across Mexico, Costa Rica, and the Caribbean each have a detail like that: a spa treatment dictated by the phase of the moon, a tunnel carved through granite, a resort where shamans blessed the land before the first room was built, a beach that stays swimmable on a coastline where most cannot.
Together, they represent Waldorf Astoria, Conrad, and LXR Hotels & Resorts, three brands that make up Hilton’s luxury portfolio across the region.
Cancún, your travelers have done. Los Cabos too, and probably an all-inclusive or two somewhere along that coast. Which is usually when the question comes up: is there a version of this region they haven’t seen yet?
There is. Six of them, in fact.
The Riviera Maya | Waldorf Astoria Riviera Maya
The Riviera Maya is usually defined by two ideas: all-inclusive and luxury hotels. Along much of the coastline, they lead to different recommendations. Waldorf Astoria Riviera Maya is one of the few places where they meet.
The property sits on 100 acres of protected mangrove forest near Puerto Morelos, just south of Cancún and north of Playa del Carmen. Fifteen minutes after leaving Cancún airport, the road has already narrowed into mangroves and ceiba trees, and the Caribbean appears almost suddenly on the other side.
All 173 rooms face the sea, each with a private balcony and soaking tub, and select categories add a plunge pool. The 40,000-square-foot spa draws from Mayan healing traditions that feel specific to this part of Mexico: before any treatment begins, a therapist performs a limpia using copal resin smoke, a cleansing ritual practiced in the Yucatán for centuries.
The property now offers an all-inclusive plan, the first of its kind from Waldorf Astoria in Mexico. Most of the Riviera Maya forces a choice between luxury and all-inclusive, but this is the rare place that doesn’t.
At Malpeque, the beachfront restaurant under Chef Mauricio Lazcano, grilled octopus, lobster, and colossal shrimp come with ocean views and the kind of service that makes the all-inclusive label feel like a footnote.
This is the property for travelers who want all-inclusive ease and Waldorf-level luxury, but aren’t willing to compromise on either.
Tulum | Conrad Tulum Riviera Maya
Conrad Tulum Riviera Maya sits on a private cove north of the main area, completely secluded, which is the key benefit of staying here.
Tulum spreads out more than most first-timers expect: the archaeological site, the hotel zone, the town, the cenotes, and Sian Ka’an all sit in different corners of the destination, and getting between them takes more planning than the Tulum travelers see on social media suggests.
From the cove, none of that matters until travelers want it to, though it’s worth telling them that taxis into town add up quickly.
The resort sits directly alongside 54 acres of protected mangrove forest that the property actively maintains. The jungle runs right up to the rooms, so the destination is already outside the window before anyone has visited the archaeological site or stepped into town.
The 349 rooms and suites include many starting at over 1,000 square feet, and five pools range from a large central infinity pool to smaller onyx-tiled reflective ones. Where the Waldorf’s Mayan healing spa centers on the limpia, the Conrad’s signature is the temazcal, a traditional sweat lodge ceremony led by a local healer for guests who want to go deeper than a massage.
And when they do venture out, the Tulum Archaeological Site is 14 miles away, and the Mayan Train runs from Cancún down the coast, which makes this an easy property to sell to someone who wants Tulum on their own terms: close enough to reach all of it, far enough that none of it intrudes.
Los Cabos | Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal
The Pacific side of Los Cabos is where the waves break. They’re the dramatic, crashing kind rather than the calmer Sea of Cortez; whale season typically runs December through April, and the location comes with a level of seclusion the busier corridor isn’t built for, all just minutes from the nightlife of Cabo San Lucas for anyone who wants both.
Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal sits on this side of the peninsula, reached via the Dos Mares tunnel, a private road carved entirely through solid granite. The moment the mountain closes behind them is the moment the stay begins.
Every one of the 112 rooms faces the ocean, with a private plunge pool on the terrace as the baseline. El Farallón on the cliffs serves whatever came out of the water that morning, chalked onto the menu by hand, and the spa follows the phases of the moon, with the lunar cycle dictating the scents and techniques used on any given day.
The marina is a short walk from the tunnel exit. Board a boat to El Arco, where the rock arch marks the tip of the Baja Peninsula and the Pacific meets the Sea of Cortez. Or head into Cabo San Lucas for lunch by the marina or an evening out.
Position Pedregal after travelers have already done the corridor once. The tunnel, the Pacific setting, and the privacy become the reasons to come back to Los Cabos.
Riviera Nayarit | Conrad Punta de Mita
Los Cabos offers desert and drama; the Riviera Maya offers a beach corridor and jungle.
Riviera Nayarit is something different: lush, slower, with a Pacific coast that still feels like it belongs to the people who live there.
The towns are a part of the sell here. Sayulita for surf culture, San Pancho for galleries and a slower village atmosphere, and Punta Mita for seclusion.
Conrad Punta de Mita sits inside an exclusive gated community about 45 minutes north of Puerto Vallarta airport, adjacent to Higuera Golf Club, an 18-hole Greg Norman design that runs along the coastline.
The Huichol symbols carved into the guest room headboards are Ojo de Dios (God’s Eyes), a spiritual tradition of the indigenous Huichol people of western Mexico. It’s one of those details worth mentioning before arrival. Travelers tend to notice the symbols once they know what they’re looking at.
That same connection to local tradition runs through the rest of the resort, too, from the Agave Studio pouring more than 200 bottles of mezcal, raicilla, and tequila, to the Conrad Spa’s temazcal, led by a local shaman for guests who want the deeper version.
The resort has 324 rooms, most with ocean views and private terraces, with select suites offering private plunge pools as an add-on. Buildings sit apart from each other, with sightlines opening toward the Pacific from almost everywhere. An infinity pool, a family pool with a splash pad, an adults-only pool with a swim-up bar, seven restaurants and bars, including Codex on the beachfront, give travelers plenty of reasons to spend time on the property.
Six miles down the coast, Sayulita adds another layer to Riviera Nayarit. The streets are painted in color, the Friday market fills with handmade jewelry and street food, galleries and cafés spill onto the sidewalks, and the surf break has made the town one of the destination’s best known.
Costa Rica | Waldorf Astoria Costa Rica Punta Cacique
The Pacific in Guanacaste feels different from the rest of Costa Rica. The rainforest gives way to tropical dry forest, the beaches widen, and the coastline opens toward the Gulf of Papagayo.
Most Costa Rica itineraries follow a familiar sequence: La Fortuna for Arenal Volcano and the hot springs, then Guanacaste. Together, they show two very different sides of the country.
Waldorf Astoria Costa Rica Punta Cacique opened in April 2025 as the brand’s first property in Costa Rica, on a 600-acre peninsula above Playa Penca, 30 minutes from Liberia airport. The resort is built vertically into the cliffside, with pools, terraces, and dining carved into the jungle at different elevations, cascading down toward the Pacific 300 feet below the lobby.
The Nicoya Peninsula, one of only five Blue Zones in the world, runs along the edge of the property. The spa draws from Chorotega healing traditions and uses honey harvested from native stingless bees in its signature treatments.
La Finca sources from local farms and fishermen, and the Guest Practitioners Program rotates specialists through the property throughout the year—a nature photographer one month and a longevity expert the next.
For the best view, get your clients on the water. Guests board a Zodiac from Playa Penca out to a catamaran anchored offshore, and looking back, the resort steps down through the cliffs with forest on one side and the Gulf of Papagayo on the other.
Guanacaste is often treated as the beach finish to a Costa Rica itinerary. Punta Cacique fits naturally after La Fortuna and Arenal, and it works just as well as a standalone stay.
Anguilla | Zemi Beach House, LXR Hotels & Resorts
The Caribbean has no shortage of beautiful islands. Anguilla chose a different path: 33 beaches, no resort corridor, and no cruise ship port.
Shoal Bay East runs along the island’s northern coast, with calm water protected by the reef just offshore. It’s the beach most closely associated with Anguilla and the one many travelers know before they know where they are staying.
Zemi Beach House sits directly on Shoal Bay East across six acres of coastline. Complimentary kayaks, paddleboards, and snorkeling gear make the reef part of the stay. Families have a Kids Club, and couples usually head to the beach.
The Thai House Spa, the 300-year-old wooden house mentioned earlier, is a detail worth highlighting before the trip. It remains one of the most distinctive spa settings in the Caribbean.
Dining stays simple, the way the island does: 20 Knots on the beach for lunches, and Stone for seasonal sea-to-table cuisine.
Not every Caribbean itinerary needs a list of excursions.
Anguilla rarely does.
Before You Build the Itinerary
Mexico, Costa Rica, and the Caribbean are among the most familiar destinations in luxury travel, and that familiarity can make them easier to simplify than they deserve.
The Riviera Maya often becomes one recommendation, Los Cabos another, and Costa Rica a third. Yet each one contains far more range than a single property can represent.
An all-inclusive and a luxury hotel do not always need to be different places; Tulum does not have to revolve around the hotel zone, and Guanacaste is more than just the beach at the end of the itinerary. Anguilla asks very little beyond the island itself.
A limpia performed with copal smoke before a spa treatment in the Yucatán. A tunnel carved through granite on the Pacific side of Baja. Huichol God’s Eyes carved into headboards on the Riviera Nayarit. A 300-year-old Thai house rebuilt on a Caribbean beach.
Together, they belong to Waldorf Astoria, Conrad, and LXR Hotels & Resorts, Hilton’s luxury portfolio across Mexico, Costa Rica, and the Caribbean.
Six properties. Three brands. Six ways to introduce destinations your clients think they already know.
Get in touch. Build it with UJV here.