RIVIERA CANCUN, Mexico – The phrase, “Slow and Steady wins the race,’’ is not often applied to resorts, but it fits here at Haven Riviera Cancun Resort & Spa.
“We’re slowly getting to where we want to be,’’ said Florian Connert, the resort’s senior director of sales and marketing as he looked down on the Gulf of Mexico from the resort’s presidential suite. “Our goal is to be a unique, secluded, intimate, high-end, adults-only destination. The resort parallels and underdeveloped strip of beach and we believe that Haven’s success and standing as a pioneer in this area will bring more attention and in turn, more neighboring hotels.’’
Open only 14 months, it’s safe to say that the 333-room, all-suite resort, owned by Hipotels, is well on its way to achieving each of those goals.
Since its opening on October, 2018, Haven Riviera Cancun Resort & Spa – between Cancun and Riviera Maya and only 15 minutes from the Cancun airport – has helped changed the Riviera Cancun landscape, by employing approximately 400 staff members, with plan to an additional 85 when its 25,000 square-foot convention center (with a 15,000 square-foot ballroom) opens in 2020. The convention center will be supported by an additional of 105 guest suites. Unlike existing guest suites, these will be double occupancy and specifically designed to meet the needs of meeting and convention groups.
A third resort hotel – geared toward families – and 18-hole golf course are on the drawing board, but no dates have been announced for either. The closest golf course to the resort is “El Tinto,’’ at Cancun Country Club, a good Nick Price-designed layout. Haven Riviera Cancun’s well-equipped concierge can give players other course options. The concierge desk also is a great resource for trips to such places as the Mayan ruins of Tulum and Riviera Maya.
Although not the largest resort in the Cancun/Riviera Maya area, Haven Riviera Cancun Resort & Spa can lay claim to being among the best. Each suite, for example, is a minimum of 600 square feet. Each also has a private terrace and balcony. Many offer swim-out pools with garden or ocean views. There’s no better way to spend an than napping in a chair that’s in your own private pool. For those who want to wander out of their suites, the resort had three pools and two swim-up bars.
A 17,000-square foot Spa is among the best in Cancun, particularly its Water Journey Experience, which takes guests of steam rooms and showers that end in a cold-water plunge pool followed by a giant whirlpool. Even if you don’t opt for a massage treatment, the Water Journey Experience is well worth a visit (or two) to the Spa.
The Spa and Water Journey Experience are only two things that make Haven Riviera Cancun Resort & Spa a terrific “all exclusive’’ destination, especially as the Winter season approaches. Another is the Serenity Club, which includes butler service and an exclusive check-in area. For pampering above and beyond the resort’s already outstanding service, the Serenity Club is way to go.
Another unique part of the resort is what guests might not notice, but sets it apart from the competition. That is, although Haven Riviera Cancun Resort & Spa is part of a 250-acre tract of land, the resort itself sits on only 50 acres and have only four floors. Most of the resort, which is elevated nine feet above the beach, is underground, meaning that guests rarely – if ever – see staff such things as luggage carts or room service carts around the property.
Perhaps the most unique aspect of Haven Riviera Cancun Resort & Spa, however, is it food and beverage operations. Most all-inclusive resorts in Cancun (and elsewhere) have a variety of restaurants, but sometimes will little menu variety, Haven Riviera Cancun Resort & Spa excels in its restaurant offerings.
Satsu, for example, is an Asian Fusion restaurant that can equal any such eatery on Miami Beach; Agua Bendita is a Mexican steakhouse that serves outstanding tortillas; and don’t pass on the octopus at Olios, the resort’s Mediterranean restaurant.
All told, Haven Riviera Cancun Resort & Spa more than one dozen restaurants and bars, including Moons, a nightclub with cabaret-style entertainment five night per week.
From the pools to the restaurants to the spa, it all adds up this way. While Haven Riviera Cancun Resort and Spa’s progress is slow and steady, guests can take their all exclusive experiences as fast or slow as they like and never miss a beat.
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