Travel Talk: New contenders for luxurious, Covid-safe breaks

As Covid-19 continues to strafe the country and indeed the globe, with new variants emerging, we can hardly declare the pandemic over. Yet, somehow, we”™ve learned to live with it, and no sector more so than the hospitality industry, where all has certainly not been quiet on the western (and southern) fronts. New hotels have been opening apace, while storied, older properties have been enjoying significant makeovers. So if you”™re planning a winter vacation, or a getaway later in 2023, here are some glorious properties to think about ”“ luxury hotels and resorts that offer oodles of sun, sea and sand while always exercising responsible Covid protocols.

Flamingo Grill terrace at The Boca Raton. Courtesy The Boca Raton.

Florida

Boca Raton

Formerly known as the Boca Raton Resort & Club, the big new one in the Sunshine State is now The Boca Raton. With its own yacht, beach, golf, tennis and you-name-it clubs ”“ as well as half a mile of Florida”™s most pristine beach to call its own ”“ the place began life in 1926 as an Addison Mizner 100-room inn. Today, it has grown to a 1,000-room resort, one of the finest in the country, while preserving its beautiful Spanish, Mediterranean and, perhaps its most distinguishing feature, Moorish architecture. Guest rooms run the gamut from the charming and historic Cloister rooms to the vast yacht club rooms, beautifully refreshed bungalow rooms, spiffy, just reopened Tower rooms with all the bells and whistles and beach club rooms for beachcombers. Add to the mix 10 dining concepts (including a fabulously retro grill) and counting, the new spa ”“ which is a kind of love letter to Spain”™s Alhambra ”“ and private butler service throughout, it”™s no wonder that the resort”™s owners, MSD Partners and the Northview Hotel Group, are hailing The Boca Resort”™s relaunch as the start of a new “Golden Era.”

The White Elephant Palm Beach. Courtesy The White Elephant Palm Beach.

Palm Beach

The most exclusive and proper (I did not say stuffy) of Florida”™s Atlantic Coast resorts, Palm Beach is having a moment at last, as two golden oldies have gone, or are about to go, under the knife to emerge as new and beautiful Bright Young Things. First, the former Bradley Hotel, just off Royal Ponciana Way, is already wowing guests as the White Elephant Palm Beach ”“ a palm-fringed outpost of the famous Nantucket hostelry. With just 32 rooms of which no two are alike, exciting contemporary art and original design features all over, the hotel feels like an exceptionally well-run, private grand estate, which in itself is inherently “Palm Beach.” On a recent site tour, I especially loved the ocean-facing, two-bedroom Palm Suite, which can be expanded into three rooms, as well as the fact I would be able to forget Uber during a stay, because a chauffeur-driven, courtesy BMW is always at the ready to drive guests pretty much anywhere they might want to go.

And another famous Palm Beach hotel, The Chesterfield ”“ formerly a Red Carnation property ”“ just steps from Worth Avenue, will reopen in 2023 as The Vineta, an Oetker hotel. Expect supreme comfort, sensational food and exceptional service. This one is already destined for greatness. If you don”™t know the name Oetker, for heaven”™s sake don”™t admit it: The Oetker family owns The Lanesborough in London and Le Bristol in Paris, among other world-famous properties, so they are hardly rookies in the game.

Redesign at Maroma Riviera Maya. Courtesy Belmond.

Mexico

Riviera Maya

Nestled between 200 acres of lush tropical jungle and the secluded white sands of Mexico”™s Caribbean coast, Maroma, once a top-of-the-line Hyatt, has been completely reimagined as a Belmond hotel. With Mayan culture and design at its core, it will be the first, extensive transformation within Belmond”™s North America portfolio under LVMH ownership. Slated to re-open in May 2023, Maroma will boast 10 new Tara Bernerd-designed waterfront suites, a nature-focused wellness experience in partnership with Guerlain, ground-breaking sustainability initiatives and a new gastronomic era under Mexican-born executive chef Daniel Camacho.

As one wag, a fellow travel-journalist friend, put it to me recently as we reviewed Maroma”™s credentials, “it”™s going to take an awful lot of this place to kill you.”

Overwater Beach at Bocas Bali. Courtesy Bocas Bali.

Panama

Bocas Bali

Now part of Nayara Resorts ”“ a collection of elevated, eco-minded hotels offering authentic, immersive adventures in the region”™s wildest and most remote corners ”“ the exclusive, all-inclusive, adults-only Bocas Bali features 16 overwater villas on a private island in the Bocas del Toro area, off the Caribbean coast. Trust me, it doesn”™t get better. All the villas were inspired by the barefoot romance of Bali, and the resort, with its solar energy, purified rainwater and wastewater treatment system, is as eco-friendly as it gets. Bocas also offers the world”™s first overwater beach, and guests can actually snorkel, paddleboard, kayak through the mangroves or indulge in other aquatic sports directly from their rooms. Two great restaurants, meanwhile, one international and the other focused on local dishes, are favorite spots. Another is the dreamy, totally-tropical Tipsy Bar on the resort”™s white sand Kupu-Kupu beach ”“ in essence the heart of Bocas Bali, since all this exercise is thirsty work. Two plane journeys, a land transfer and a boat ride are what it takes to reach Bocas, and even with a new air service starting early in 2023 from Panama City”™s Tocumen International Airport, which will cut out the intermediary road transfer, getting there from New York is, to express it in the vernacular, a schlep. Then again, Bocas”™ remoteness ”“ well, that really is the beauty of it.

For more, visit thebocaresort.com; whiteelephantpalmbeach.com; oetkercollection.com; belmond.com; bocasbali.com.