You don’t see a whole lot of Bentley cars cruising the streets of Mexico, Peru, Argentina, or Chile. If you stay at a St. Regis or Starwood Luxury Collection hotel in one of those countries though, you could be seeing one—from the inside.

St. Regis and Luxury Collection hotels around the world have been transitioning their fleet of in-house vehicles for guests to luxurious Bentley models, such as The Continental Flying Spur. So for your arranged airport pickup or sightseeing drive, you’ll be surrounded by elegance and the smell of fine leather.

If you dig around and find the right package, or get your travel specialist to, you might get this included in the rate for booking a suite or enough days. If not, how much does it cost? Well you know what they say: if you have to ask…

The photo at the top is from the St. Regis Mexico City. Their other hotel there is in Punta Mita, near Puerto Vallarta.

Luxury Collection hotels are located in Lima, the Sacred Valley, and Paracas in Peru; Santiago and Villarica in Chile, and Buenos Aires in Argentina. They also have five gorgeous hacienda hotels in Mexico, all located around Merida and Campeche in the Yucatan.

Book direct with St. Regis or direct with Starwood Luxury Collection.

As I mentioned in this earlier post on San Cristobal de Las Casas in Chiapas, this is a city on the rise, one just starting to get on the radar of travelers with money. So there’s really one luxury hotel in the city (added to plenty of nice comfortable ones with character): Parador San Juan de Dios.

This is a former hacienda complex about a five-minute taxi ride from the center. It was surely a country estate before, but as the city has expanded it’s now got neighbors just outside its walls. This is still the model of tranquility though, with butterflies flitting around fragrant gardens and buildings from centuries ago framed by the nearby mountains. It’s got “sense of place” in spades, with original oil paintings hanging on 3-foot-thick walls and beams that were put up back when this was the estate for a large farm.

Rooms here are a delight and have more natural light than many colonial buildings converted to hotels, thanks to the fact they’re not hemmed in by other buildings. Go for one of the ten suites when booking, preferably the master suite named after the original hacienda owner—that’s a photo of the bedroom at the top.

“It is on two levels, with a large living room, dining for eight, and a full kitchen on the first floor. A spiral staircase leads to a huge bedroom with another fireplace and lots of interesting lines: there is a sloping ceiling and a neat little cubby by the window for reading or writing. There’s another sitting area off to the side of the bed and the large bath with whirlpool and shower has a towel warmer.”

Go check out our detailed review of Parador San Juan de Dios hotel, where you can see some more enticing photos. Sure, it’s a bit of a sacrifice to not be able to just walk out your door and take a stroll in the center of town, but the grounds and architecture here make it worth the short jaunt.

We recently updated our reviews of two hacienda hotels near Merida, so it seems like a good time to highlight these unique lodging choices.

Most of them are part of the Starwood Luxury Collection, so more than a few road warriors end up booking them with points earned from a year of business travel. If you pay like a normal guest, the prices can seem like a bargain or a travesty depending on the time of year. Right now they’re on sale. Come January, it’s a different story.

My favorite around Merida is Hacienda Temozon, pictured at the top. I visited it again recently with my family (my mom even) for a late lunch after a trip to Uxmal. If you try to pop in like that they’ll make a big production of it like they’re doing you a huge favor, but after that it’s all smiles as you eat on an open balcony room overlooking the grounds. Better if you can stay for a while though as this atmospheric place is great for lounging and wandering, checking out the old farm implements, sisal production machinery, an narrow-gauge railway that was used for transporting workers and crops.

The two others in this collection, Hacienda San Jose and Hacienda Santa Rosa, are more remote and lonely. We don’t have a review of the latter because it was devoid of guests both times I visited and neither time could I find someone fluent in English to answer questions. Your mileage may vary, but go there with someone you can talk with for hours on end because there’s not a lot to do and you can’t just pop out for a bite to eat elsewhere.

Hacienda Xcanatun is not remote or lonely: it’s a short drive from the center of Merida and it stays busy. The excellent restaurant often wins awards as the best in town and it’s open to the public. This doesn’t have the sprawling grounds of the others, but it does have well-tended gardens, two pools, a spa, and rec room/TV room. See our full review of Hacienda Xcanatun.

Campeche doesn’t get nearly as many visitors as Merida, but for some that’s part of its charm. It’s a fortress city perched over the Gulf of Mexico and it’s a city on the rise, with public money sprucing up the center and private investors renovating historic homes.

The Luxury Collection has two hacienda hotels there and we have detailed reviews of both. Hacienda Uayomon pictured above is the remote choice, out in the countryside near the ruins of Edzna. Puerta Campeche is the luxury choice in the city itself, occupying buildings that were once a home, warehouse, and store.

In all these properties, you will get a strong sense of place, from the surroundings to the decor to the focus on regional specialties in the restaurants. Some of the various hacienda hotels in the Yucatan are part of an international conglomerate yes, but these are about as far as you can get from the idea of cookie-cutter hotels.

In the very first batch of reviews we posted when Luxury Latin America launched was Hacienda Xcanatun, just outside of Merida, capital of the Yucatan state in Mexico. It’s a lovely, atmospheric, and gorgeous hotel that is more easily accessible than the Starwood Luxury Collection ones scattered around the countryside.

Unlike those, it’s also more lively and less snooty. When my family stopped in Hacienda Temozon (one of the Starwood ones) on the way back from Uxmal to have lunch, they acted like they were doing us a big favor by allowing us to come spend our money in the dining room, even though it was almost empty. A friend of mine from Merida has been there three times and says it’s their regular routine: the guard looks you over and makes a big deal about calling the boss to see if you will be allowed to enter the sanctum.

There’s none of that silliness at Xcanatun and many people who have never spent the night dine there at Casa de Piedra whenever there is a special occasion. The restaurant has been rated as one of the best in Merida almost since it opened and despite lots more competition lately, it’s still a favored spot with both travelers and moneyed locals.

On my visit last week, it didn’t disappoint. From flatbreads before the meal to an incredible chocolate cake with dulce de leche at the end, each dish was well-prepared and pleasing to the eye. In a sea of restaurants with interchangeable menus, Xcanatun gives each menu option a twist: sometimes a little tweak, sometimes a full 180. It’s a refreshing array accompanied by service that’s beyond the normal Mexican norm—as in the waiter doesn’t just take your order and then disappear for a half hour.

In the photos here, you can see a few sample plates: shrimp ceviche with a Caribbean twist, a local fish served up with plenty of trimmings, and that luscious chocolate cake. (A few divine truffles arrived gratis just before and were equally delicious.)

As would be expected in a place filled with so many beautiful spaces, the dining room itself is a real showpiece, with massively high ceilings and natural light coming in from several angles. The lush gardens outside are in view through windows and French doors.

To see more about the hotel and restaurant, see our full review of Hacienda Xcanatun. Or if you’re in the area soon, here is a link to their website for making reservations for lunch, dinner, or a week’s stay.

I’ve been wrapped up in the annual PhoCusWright travel technology conference this week and will report on that Monday with some new companies and applications that will make your travel experience better.

Meanwhile, last week on this luxury travel blog I posted a slideshow of photos for Hacienda Sepulveda in central Mexico. Now we’ve got the full review posted, so you can read more details about what makes this unknown gem a special experience.

See our full review of Hacienda Sepulveda in Lagos de Moreno.