Cancun and the Riviera Maya are chock-full of all-inclusive hotels and resorts. When developers first started building resorts south of the hotel zone in Cancun about 20 years ago, they put them on the beach but near nothing else, often having to traverse mangrove swamps to reach the locations from the main north-south highway. Thus, the all-inclusive concept was a necessity from the start, and eventually became so popular with tourists that even the majority of hotels in Cancun have converted to the concepts, slowly choking off the once-vibrant restaurant scene there. Fully 80-90% of resorts in Cancun/Riviera Maya/Cozumel are now all-inclusive, offering their guests every reason to stay and few reasons to ever leave.
For destination weddings the all-inclusives can be a good economic deal for the couple, but that deal comes on the backs of the wedding guests.”
For destination weddings the all-inclusives can be a good economic deal for the couple, but that deal comes on the backs of the wedding guests. Here’s how it works: the hotel will offer the couple several options for their wedding ceremony and reception, often including a free option for a simpler situation if the overall number of room nights is high enough. It’s a win for the couple because they spend relatively little on their event. It’s a win for the hotel because, once they make an initial investment in basic decorations and equipment, they can re-use it over and over again and use the destination weddings as good ways to fill up their hotel rooms. Where it isn’t such a win is for the wedding guests, who are obligated by the couple to spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on their hotel accommodations and food. For many events this works just fine and the guests/families are happy to pay for luxe accommodations and all their meals, including the wedding reception/banquet. However, if anyone chooses to stay outside the hotel, they’re charged an entrance fee for the day, and it reduces the couple’s total of room nights, thus increasing their chances of having to pay a penalty for not meeting their room-night obligations to the hotel.
The other main disadvantage is that the hotels normally don’t stock much in the way of variety for decorations, so if a couple is interested in a particular color or concept and the hotel doesn’t stock it, they’ll either have to bring it themselves or pay an outside decorator company (and that person’s entry fee). The hotel will also typically charge an entrance fee or usage fee if the couple chooses to use other outside service providers not already on the hotel’s approved lists, such as photographers/videographers or makeup artists.
These disadvantages don’t prove to be insurmountable for the great majority of couples obviously, for the incredibly large number of destination weddings at these resorts every year, but we choose to work more with independent and smaller hotels and private villas just the same.
The small list of all-inclusive resorts with whom we work represents the best we’ve found in regards to flexibility, creativity, and the best of service quality.
Isla Mujeres – Privileges Aluxes
Playa del Carmen – Grand Velas Resort
Playa del Carmen – Viceroy Resort