We just posted a review of El Convento Boutique Hotel in Antigua, Guatemala. While Antigua is full of interesting hotels that are full of personality, only a few try to serve upscale travelers who are more concerned about service and pampering than the price. So El Convento, which just opened in February, is a welcome addition to the scene.

Like Antigua’s Lion’s Inn, El Convento was built from scratch rather than being a restoration job in a historic home. The architects and designers have done their best to give the illusion of gravitas though, with a strong attempt to make the structure blend in with the Convent of Las Capuchinas across the street.

On another note, we also just added two hotels in Guatemala City, the Vista Real Hotel and Westin Camino Real. Neither one has any chance of making a “best in the world” list anytime soon, but both are comfortable for anyone stuck in the capital for a night or two, especially if you pay the minimal premium to upgrade to a business class floor or a suite.

Earlier on this blog I posted a video of tour of Casa de Sierra Nevada, the top large hotel in San Miguel de Allende. But we have two other hotels with full reviews on Luxury Latin America: the stunning Dos Casas and the whimsical Casa Linda. Any of these three will make your stay in this picture-perfect city even more special.

There are plenty of other small hotels in San Miguel that have gotten loads of press and made the “hot list” of some magazine or another. We only like to send you to the best, however, so we’ve passed on the others. Oasis, for example, is a favorite because it photographs well (and therefore looks great in a magazine spread). When you take away the stylish decor, however, what you have left is four rooms and a roof deck, with breakfast and sunset cocktails the only things on offer once you leave your room. Plus we stopped by twice to check the place out and neither time was there anyone present who spoke any English. Yes, some of us speak Spanish, but we shouldn’t have to at $300 a night.

A few posts back I mentioned one of the two luxury hotels we’re featuring in Guanajuato, Mexico. The other is Hotel Quinta Las Acacias.

You can’t go wrong with either one, and the two hotels are a few blocks from each other on the premier street in town (in status terms anyway). But while all of its competitor’s rooms are decorated in roughly the same style, you have to be more proactive here.

This small luxury hotel is now like two hotels in one. The original building is a charmingly creaky mansion from the 1800s, with rooms decorated in a frilly European classic style. The newer annex building is more Mexican, with brighter colors, dramatic gardens, and more contemporary furnishings. 

In other words, pick the half that fits your style or you might be wondering a) how you woke up at Grandma’s house or b) who put all those weird Mexican tiles and stamped metal mirrors in your room.

We’re busy getting up new luxury hotel reviews for Mexico, including one we’ve had our eye on since it opened: Rosewood Mayakoba, in the the Riviera Maya area of Mexico, near Playa del Carmen.

This is part of a big development that will, in the end, house six hotels, two golf courses, and vacation villas. As our reviewer notes, “Fairmont Mayakoba was the first property to open here, in mid–2006, and Rosewood Mayakoba, opened in the last days of 2007, sets the bar a bit higher in terms of intimacy, luxury and creative architecture.”

The hotel has already been a hit with elite travelers and celebrities, making a few appearances in the tabloids.

Our reviewer says the landscaping needs some time to mature and the setup of taking a boat to the beach isn’t ideal, but the facilities and service are impressive. Rosewood also operates the fine Las Ventanas al Paraiso in Los Cabos, so they don’t have much of a learning curve in serving demanding travelers looking for a secluded and special experience. It’s a far cry from Cancun—just be prepared to slather on some bug repellent at sunset.

With the help of New Age Town & Country Hotels in Argentina, Luxury Latin America is giving away six nights of hotel stays in Buenos Aires or in the countryside. No essays, no photo competitions, just plain old luck to win. We are not Yahoo or TripAdvisor though, will millions of readers, so your odds are pretty good. Go enter the contest.

N/A has plenty of fine hotels in Argentina, including Solar de la Plaza in Salta and Club Tapiz in Mendoza, which we’ll be posting a review of soon. For this contest though, the winner will have their choice of five hotels in and around Buenos Aires. Here are descriptions of the participating hotels.
Even if you don’t come in tops, you can get a copy of Moon Handbook Argentina (our vote for the best guidebook on the country) or a copy of Putumayo’s Tango Around the World collection. See all the details here: Argentina boutique hotel contest.