Honoring Place: A Note from our Co-Founder and steward, David Leventhal

Honoring place. Honoring people. What is more Mexican than a Quincenera? A coming of age celebration and now 15 years in, Playa Viva is no different.  What does make us different? It’s a question that naturally comes up during big milestones. As I presented Playa Viva at conferences in Mexico this Summer (at Sustentur and Travesias/Futuro Destino), it has become clear that we do the same as many hotels, what we do differently is that we do it all. Not just one or two items, or three or four,  we do it all. As one guest put it, “You check all my boxes, even boxes I didn’t know I had.”

For our Quincenra, we wanted to celebrate what makes us different in an absolutely quintessential Mexican way. As a result of a recommendation by the artist and photographer, Adrian Wilson, who photographed Playa Viva for the NYTimes, we found artist Uriel Sánchez at his stall inside Mexico City’s Mercado Central de Abastos. We asked him if he could take some of our quintessential Playa Viva sayings and mottos and turn them into his signature signs traditionally used in Mexican Markets.

Many of these sayings have come from you, our guests, over the years. Such as “Playa Viva: All the Luxury, None of the Guilt” which came from a guest who wanted to explain why she loved Playa Viva so much.

For all our return guests we look forward to having you back for Season 15. For those of you who haven’t experienced all that makes Playa Viva so special, we look forward to having you join us for our Quinceanera. We have so much to share this year from our expansion of the ReSiMar SEI efforts with 4 great young women leaders spearheading each node of the project, to an expanded farm tour, to an updated spa and beachfront yoga deck.  We are also adding more local farm producers up the watershed and updating our wine selection so that by the end of Season 15, all our wines can be local (Mexican), organic, sustainable and traditional (aged in clay), all part of “Eat Local, Drink Local.” Playa Viva is definitely maturing into an amazingly talented, beautiful and powerful being. We look forward to hosting you in 2023/24 and “checking your boxes”, immersing you in the luxury of nature and hosting you “Where Your Vacation Meets Your Values.”

Here’s to another season of abundance, regeneration and reciprocity, see you soon, David