After lots of delays and a soft opening where travel writers practically had to don a disguise and sneak in to get a look, Mexico’s first Mandarin Oriental hotel is really truly open. Our correspondent was one of the first to get a good look at the place after all the construction was done and the whole place was open to guests, so go here to see her review of the Riviera Maya Mandarin Oriental.

So what’s the verdict? Like the other Mayakoba properties, this one sits on a section of land that is perpendicular to the water, so only five casitas are actually beachfront and the rest are in the mangroves. There is more land here though so the rooms feel very private and secluded. There’s an obvious Asian influence, both in the minimalist style of the furniture and bedding and the superior service that the Mandarin Oriental chain is known for.

If you’re the type that values a view of the sea from your room above all, this resort is probably not your best choice. If you want to enjoy pampering from an attentive staff and have ample privacy, you won’t be disappointed. Just get ready for some frequent golf cart rides.

See other reviews of the best hotels in Mexico.

I’ve gotten some e-mail comments now and then that we seem to favor small and intimate hotels over the big and brash ones when it comes to which ones we cover in the Luxury Latin America hotel reviews. In a sense, this is a fair observation, because to us the main thing that differentiates a true luxury hotel from one that just claims to be is not how long the amenity list is, but how the staff and management goes about anticipating and meeting the needs of well-heeled, experienced travelers. The smaller hotels tend to focus intensely on service, while the largest ones focus on making it easy for business travelers and conventioneers to get work done.

There are plenty of exceptions, of course, which brings me to a hotel that has nothing to do with Latin America, the Fairmont Banff Springs in Alberta, Canada. I spent a night there recently and came away wishing it could have been three or four nights instead. The place is a maze that takes a day to figure out, but once you get beyond that they really do get almost everything right. Sure, it’s huge and there was a convention going on while I was there, but the staff did an impeccable job throughout my stay, the facilities are really well maintained despite the age, and it’s hard to beat this view out the window, which a majority of the rooms have.

I stayed at two other Fairmonts as well recently and while the others can’t match the Banff Springs one for the wow factor, the chain has a solid operation that’s a clear notch above the far and wide business hotel chains like Marriott and Sheraton. Back in Latin America, the company does have a few resorts in Mexico that we have reviewed:

Fairmont Acapulco Princess review

Fairmont Pierre Marques review

Fairmont Mayakoba review

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.