Our Suite Life at Hotel Xcaret Arte

As you may have seen, back in August, we celebrated Chuck’s 65th birthday at the incredible Hotel Xcaret Arte in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

The spectacular resort is an “All-Fun Inclusive Resort” a few hours from our home in Merida. Travel+Leisure magazine has named Hotel Xcaret Arte Mexico’s #1 and the fourth-best worldwide in its list of the top hotels for 2023!

Check out our first blog in this series to learn more about the resort and everything included in our stay.

 

Arriving at Hotel Xcaret Arte

As you arrive at Hotel Xcaret Arte, the walkway is under a huge wooden canopy. The ceiling is covered with a thatch roof, and the underside has attractive frames, hanging lamps, and air plants. The walkway is full of beautiful sculptures by Mexican artists. (We’re doing an entire blog post on the spectacular artwork).

 

 

You are greeted by a huge team of staff dressed in simple Mayan-styled tunics in soft, natural colors. Each has an easy-to-read name tag, and most speak English very well.

The bellman collected and tagged our luggage, staff members discussed which Casa we’d be staying in, we were offered a cool towel, and there was even a pushcart with frozen Paletas.

This Lime and Basil Paleta packed a punch. Don’t be fooled by its size or think it’s JUST a popsicle. These Mexican treats are made of fresh Fruit, and Mark wanted more than one.

 

 

While you are checking in, be sure to look back to the driveway. On the other side of those buses and taxis is a crazy Rolls Royce detailed to look like beautiful Mexican pottery. As you follow your guide to check in, take in all the fantastic art.

 

Need A Potty Break?

A gorgeous public bathroom is just off the main entrance of  Hotel Xcaret Arte, near the conference facilities. OKAY, we know it’s not something we’d usually write about. However, the walls were covered with fantastic cobalt blue Mexican tile and were always spotlessly clean and well stocked.

 

Casa de los Artistas

Our guide led us to our Casa, Casa de los Artistas, which focuses on the paintings of Mexico. 

Each Casa has its own lobby, and check-in and check-out are done there. You’ll typically meet your concierge as well. We had two young ladies who worked in shifts. They were super sweet, but being the planners we are, we had all of our dining reservations and activities planned.

Each lobby has decor suited for its theme. Ours was filled with oversized paintbrushes, hand-painted masks, and unique furnishings.

 

Our Casa, in addition to a good number of suites, had a rooftop pool with a bar that provided light snacks and a drink of the day. The building had a library, gym, boutique, and painting workshop. One of the biggest perks was Kibi Kibi, a Yucatecan – Lebanese restaurant exclusively for guests of our Casa.

 

 

Our Suite Was Sweet!

As we mentioned in our previous blog post – Chuck’s birthday, Chuck picked the suite!

His selection was an Ocean Front Swim Up Suite. When you walked through your suite’s sliding glass doors, you entered a patio and stepped right into the pool which we shared with 5 other rooms. We had the pool to ourselves most of the trip. 

 

 

The patio had a bench seat, a hammock, and two loungers set in the water. You stepped right into a semi-private pool with a deck and loungers across the way overlooking the sea. 

 

 

To our right was a thick plexiglass wall overlooking several swim-up suites with a similar setup.

 

 

Our room was beautiful! After entering the bathroom, the closets were to our right. There was a big double sink, a fair amount of storage, and an oversized soaking tub with jets. To the right of the tub was a small hallway with a toilet room, closets, and an enormous shower with a bench seat. The toilet room had a magic window, it was fogged over but with the flick of a switch you could see out into the room and ocean.

The only negative about the room was the bathroom was lacking a proper mirror; it was very difficult to shave using a make-up mirror or the small mirror to the left that had very low lighting.

 

 

Back in the main room, just beyond the sink area, was an incredibly comfortable kingsize bed. There was a hand-painted chair and a loveseat. The walls are decorated with spectacular Mexican embroidery. To the far side of the room were a table, two chairs, a console, a TV, and a minibar.

 

 

To the far left corner is a well-stocked coffee station, bottled water, ice bucket and glasses, and a tray filled with traditional Mexican snacks that were refilled daily.

 

More Suite Treats

As it was Chuck’s birthday, the team had set the table with a Piñata, birthday card, streamers, and a Chocolate Torte with Berries.

 

 

One of our first gifts was two Hotel Xcaret Arte thermal mugs. These were ideal as bartenders gladly filled them with your favorite drink, we could take coffee from breakfast, and there were several water stations around the resort.

 

 

With the thermal mugs was a note, in both Spanish and English, as most things were: 

Embracing our Sustainable Organizational Culture (SOC), we give you this SOC cup, so you can use it during your stay. This action will contribute to our mission to be a zero-plastic hotel and reduce the consumption of water and soap.

 

Every day, with turndown service, we received a sweet treat. These were tiny handwoven baskets with two traditional Mexican snacks and a printed card describing the artisan baskets, what the treat was, and how it was made.

The notes read:

Handmade mini-baskets woven by Mexican artisans. It is made with vegetable fibers from the jipijapa palm painted by hand with natural pigments.

 

 

The sweets included Tamarind, Dulce de Leche, Amaranth Candy, and Mexican Chocolate.

 

 

Between the comfortable accommodations, well-stocked snack and beverage stations, and the step-out pool, we could have easily never left the room!

 

 

But we did, and the rest of the resort was beyond what we expected.