Is there a definitive answer on which hotels and resorts are viewed as the best in Mexico, Central America, and South America?

Sort of. I’ve said before that there’s a lot of hanky-panky that goes on with “best of” readers polls in magazines. Ballot stuffing is a part of the job when you’ve got a vested interest in who wins and people who are on the clock are much more likely to go through those hour-long surveys. Plus some readers are voting for places they’ve never set foot in, on reputation alone.

But if the two biggest travel magazines get the same results on some hotels, AND they’re featured here in Luxury Latin America, well that starts to look like a real trend. Three hits and you’re solid. Here are the hotels that came out on top in this year’s Conde Nast Travel Best in the World survey, Travel & Leisure’s 500 Best survey, and our picks here (follow the links to detailed reviews).

Mexico Top Resorts and Hotels

La Casa que Canta – Zihuatanejo

Four Seasons Mexico – Mexico City

One & Only Palmilla – San Jose del Cabo

Las Ventanas al Paraiso – San Jose del Cabo

Capella Pedregal – Cabo San Lucas

Esperanza – Cabo San Lucas

Ritz-Carlton Cancun

Banyan Tree Mayakoba – Riviera Maya

Fairmont Mayakoba – Riviera Maya

Grand Velas Riviera Maya

Four Seasons Punta Mita – Riviera Nayarit

St. Regis Punta Mita – Riviera Nayarit

Grand Velas Riviera Nayarit

Central America Top Resorts and Hotels

Lodge at Chaa Creek – Belize

Hotel Casa Santo Domingo – Antigua, Guatemala

Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica – Papagayo Peninsula

Top Hotels and Resorts South America

Llao Llao Hotel & Resort – Bariloche, Argentina

Palacio Duhau Park Hyatt – Buenos Aires, Argentina

Alvear Palace Hotel – Buenos Aires, Argentina

Four Seasons Buenos Aires

Park Hyatt Mendoza – Argentina

Ritz-Carlton Santiago – Chile

Hotel Monasterio – Cusco, Peru

JW Marriott Hotel Lima – Peru

Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel – Peru

Obviously it pays to have a well-known brand name and the hotels that have been around for a decade or more have a clear edge. The big surprise for me is how few matches you see for Chile (where the most impressive resorts have been opening) and for Central America overall. Conde Nast had loads from Costa Rica, but T&L hardly any. Expect that to change in the coming years as more readers get out and about in this region.

........Maroma Resort & Spa, Riviera Maya........

The June issue of Conde Nast Traveler had their readers poll results on top spa hotels and resorts arount the world. South America was missing in action and the “Mexico and Central America” section had 19 results for Mexico spas, one for Central America.

So first of all, congrats to Four Seasons Costa Rica for being the only resort south of Mexico to get on readers’ radar. They were #8 overall, with a perfect score for their facilities. Having soaked in their pools and gotten a great sports massage after a golf game there, I’ll agree wholeheartedly that it’s a special place for unwinding and relaxing.

Travel + Leisure’s last spa rundown had 5 resorts in Central and South America (including another Costa Rica resort, Tabacon).

These magazine reader polls are subject to lots of ballot-stuffing of course. PR firms and hotel chains buy a lot of staffer subscriptions so they can put in their votes. (That partly explains why you see so many perfect scores of 100 at the top.)

But hey, in a bit of circular cause and effect, the most famous places do have the resources to keep facilities and staffers top-notch and with such a high reputation at stake, they’re going to go out of their way to make you happy. After winning these awards, the great ones tend to stay great.

Here are the top spa resorts in Mexico where we’ve reviewed the hotels in detail. (Some of the others placing high are in non-luxury properties.)

Capella Ixtapa
Capella Pedregal – Cabo San Lucas
Maroma Resort & Spa – Riviera Maya
Rosewood Mayakoba – Riviera Maya

Esperanza – Los Cabos
Fairmont Mayakoba – Riviera Maya
Pueblo Bonita Emerald Bay – Mazatlan

One&Only Palmilla – Los Cabos
Ritz-Carlton Cancun

Four Seasons Punta Mita – Riviera Nayarit

See the full list for all regions of the world at CNTraveler.com and follow this link for all our reviews of the best luxury hotels in Mexico.

....(Your editor researching in Punta Mita)

The April 2012 issue of Condé Nast Traveler has another reader’s poll, this time highlighting golf resorts. Six of the 20 in the International category are in Latin America.

They’re all familiar names to Luxury Latin America readers and you can follow the links to see our detailed, professional reviews.

One&Only Palmilla in Los Cabos, Mexico

Four Seasons Resort Punta Mita, Mexico

Esperanza, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Four Seasons Resort Peninsula Papagayo, Costa Rica

Fairmont Mayakoba, Riviera Maya, Mexico

Moon Palace Golf & Spa Resort, Cancun (not a luxury property)

Fairmont Acapulco Princess, Mexico

Keep in mind that these readers’ polls get distorted by lots of factors, including which places are already the most popular and who’s doing the best job at mobilizing their staffers to engage in ballot stuffing. So you’ll seldom see lesser-known gems like Tamarindo in Costalegre or a golf resort in Guatemala, of all places. You’ll have to discover those on your own.

Here are some other golf round-ups of ours to check out for ideas:

Golf Courses of Los Cabos

Golf in Puerto Vallarta and Riviera Nayarit

Golf Communities Sprout in La Paz, Baja Mexico

Condé Nast Traveler’s current issue has a rundown of its annual World Saver Awards, recognizing those companies who “are dedicated to saving their communities and our world.”

As you would expect in the original home of eco-tourism, Latin America has a strong presence in every category. Several organizations show up in multiple categories and some international chains that were recognized are active in the region.

Scrappy Nature Air of Costa Rica beat out nearly all the world’s airlines, recognized in the Education category for donating part of its profits each year so 200 local students can study English and the environment. They were also called out in the Wildlife category for helping to reforest Corcovado National Park. And they beat out all but two of the other airlines around the world for the “Doing it All” category for air carriers. Probably factoring into that is something I mentioned in this previous post on Nature Air: they were the first airline to go totally carbon-neutral. See more about them at NatureAir.com.

The Haciendas hotel group in Mexico, operators of lovingly restored retreats such as Hacienda Temozon, was the overall winner in the Poverty category. They were lauded for hiring local people who were having trouble making a living from the infertile land in areas where they restored the old buildings and “helped others start businesses, including folk art and massage cooperatives.” They were also recognized in the Education category and were the top Good Guys Overall for the “small chains.” See our reviews of several Haciendas properties in our Merida and Campeche luxury hotels section and at the end of each review is a link to the company’s website.

Upscale Costa Rican eco-lodge Lapa Rios on the Osa Peninsula was recognized for its poverty-fighting efforts. This included one project we wish more plastic-water-bottle-pushing hotels would initiate: the building and staffing of a local recycling facility. They were also recognized in the Education category and were #2 overall in the “small resorts” grouping, along with the less upscale Costa Rican nature haven Pacuare Lodge. Grano de Oro in Costa Rica’s capital placed in two categories: for providing vocational training and placement for abused mothers and providing job training for disadvantaged city children.

Ecoventura cruise line, operating in the Galapagos, has been leading the way in trying to reduce tourism’s impact on the fragile ecosystem there and the awards called them out in almost every category. They were the first company to earn and maintain the ecological SmartVoyager certification, the first Galapagos cruise ship company to offset carbon emissions, and the first to install alternative energy sources. Their solar and wind-powered hybrid yacht got called out in the Preservation category. They were recognized for their scholarship program in marine conservation for Ecuadorian students and a micro-enterprise project for fishermen’s wives. In the Health area they built and equipped a sign language school and they pay the salaries of physical therapists on the inhabited islands. Naturally, they placed at the top in the “cruise lines” grouping. See more at Ecoventura.com.

One of the other winners was Aqua Expeditions, the most upscale Peruvian Amazon River excursion company, which we are planning to cover with a tour feature in the first half of 2010. Also getting a nod were the Ritz-Carlton chain (operating in Santiago, Cancun, and soon Mexico City), Costa Cruises (operating in part of South America), Fairmont Hotels (with multiple locations in Mexico)

See the full results in each category here.

The latest results of Travel & Leisure’s annual reader’s poll are out and incredibly, there are only three hotels on there not already reviewed in detail in Luxury Latin America. One is a mystery that must be a ballot-stuffing anomoly (Le Meridien Cancun), another is a business hotel that gets so-so ratings from our correspondents (Hyatt Santiago). The other is the Four Seasons in Mexico City, which we were slated to have a review of up six months ago until our correspondent there fell ill. She’s back in action and it’s coming soon–I mean it this time–along with a batch of other fine hotels in that city.

There have been some shifts in the rankings this year though and it looks like a lot more readers have had Mexico on their itinerary (12 of the 25 entries) and Belize got nudged out entirely this time. The Bristol Hotel in Panama snuck in at number 24 though, just ahead of the Fairmont Acapulco Princess.

The interesting move this year was the Tides Zihuatanejo (pictured here) popping into the top-5 soon after its makeover from the already nice Villa del Sol. Peru also made a nice showing this time. Inkaterra Machu Picchu Hotel, formerly known as Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel, came out of nowhere into the top-10 and Miraflores Park Hotel popped in at 15. See our detailed reviews by following any of the links above, or see the full rundown here on the survey.

If you’ve traveled a lot in this region, give us your take on the results!