Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE: H) announced yesterday that a Hyatt affiliate has entered into a management agreement with Grupo Murano for Hyatt Vivid Grand Island, an adults-only resort and Dreams Grand Island, a family-friendly 616-room luxury resort. Both properties are expected to open in Cancun, Mexico in early 2024 within the Inclusive Collection, part of World of Hyatt. Hyatt Vivid Grand Island will mark the first Hyatt Vivid property in the Inclusive Collection portfolio.

“These plans for the first Hyatt Vivid resort reflect the continued evolution of travel and Hyatt’s unwavering dedication to the all-inclusive concept. Introducing a resort experience that blends culture and a free-spirted atmosphere with the conveniences of an all-inclusive is an ideal value proposition for owners who are eager to capitalize on this exciting opportunity to introduce the all-inclusive experience to the next generation of travelers,” said Javier Coll, group president, global business development & innovation, Inclusive Collection, Hyatt. “We are confident the winning combination of Hyatt Vivid Grand Island and Dreams Grand Island will create a must-visit destination that will appeal to a variety of travel occasions and guests.”

“Working with one of the most prominent brands in hospitality aligns with Grupo Murano’s strategic vision,” said Marcos Sacal, CEO, Grupo Murano. “We are thrilled to continue collaborating with Hyatt, now in Cancun, to launch the new Hyatt Vivid brand. As we expand our services, offerings, and developments, we are eager to work with like-minded companies and brands, such as Hyatt and the Inclusive Collection, that are evolving the travel and hospitality space.”

Hyatt Vivid hotels and resorts will offer couples, friends and solo travelers locally inspired itineraries and encourage social interaction at every turn through experiential-driven programming, dining, and entertainment. Created to appeal to the next generation of forward-thinking travelers, the new brand is designed for adults seeking casual comforts filled with simple pleasures. Signature dining experiences will offer a casual and inviting approach focused on flexibility over formality, including a culinary collective comprised of taco trucks, ceviche carts, a food hall, and more. For active travelers looking to maintain healthy routines and fitness goals, resorts will offer specialty classes to complement state-of-the-art fitness centers.

Hyatt Vivid Grand Island will feature 400 guest rooms designed for comfort and featuring expansive views. Reminiscent of the Mayan deity Kukulcan, the resort is being designed by world renowned and award-winning architects, HOK.

Guests can expect to have seamless access to the adjacent Dreams Grand Island, a family-friendly 616-room resort expected to open in early 2024, providing additional options and amenities for a truly immersive experience. Guests will enjoy the brand’s signatured inclusions, such as pool and beach service, unlimited international and domestic top-shelf spirits, 24-hour room and concierge services, daily activities and entertainment, nightly events and more.

Together, the resorts will offer 19 unique culinary concepts comprised of Japanese, Mexican, French, Mediterranean, and more. Guests will have access to a 26,000-square-foot spa, complete with 25 treatment rooms, a state-of-the-art fitness center, multiple pools, a beach club and more.

Source: Hotel News Resources

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Banyan Tree Varko Bay will be located in the Greece’s western Aitoloakarnania region, and will feature an all-pool villa concept, with 116 villas and 45 branded residences.

The property is scheduled to open in 2026, and facilities will include three restaurants, a spa, a water sports centre, meeting and events spaces and a beach club.

The group said that the resort was a result of the collaboration between Banyan Tree and the hospitality group Accor, which was first unveiled in 2016.

Banyan Tree Group operates around 60 properties worldwide across brands including Banyan Tree and Angsana, with a pipeline a further 50 projects.

The first European hotel under the Angsana brand opened in Corfu in 2021, and the group recently announced plans for the Angsana Real de la Quinta Benahavis Marbella in Spain.

Source: Business Traveller

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And this is valid. Watching schools of candy-floss-colored fish swim by on a snorkelling expedition, or hiking up to the top of a craggy mountain, or flipping slender crepes in a frying pan with a world-class chef, these are the kinds of experiences that can make a trip soar, but at the heart of this, it’s really people who make a trip and a destination stand out.

The Four Seasons brand has always been known for its exemplary service, creating teams who are warm and welcoming but also authentic and approachable. It’s a combination that is easier said than done.

And the Four Seasons Resort Bali at Jimbaran Bay gets it right on what can only be described as down to the molecular level. Much of the staff has worked at the property since it opened in June 1993. And at the hotel’s sister property in Sayan, Randy Shimabuku, the longtime general manager, made such an impression on a vacationing guest—Barack Obama—that the two spent an entire day together.

Haloed in white sand beaches, Bali is home to more than 20,000 temples, earning its nickname “the island of a thousand temples,” or “the island of the gods.” To this end, Jimbaran Bay, has its own resort temple, where guests can take guided tours with the resort priest, Aji Ngurah, or visit the nearby Goa Gong cave temple for a water purification ritual.

On arrival, guests will find 147 villas, laid out like a traditional Balinese village. The rooms are large and discrete, folding into the surrounding gardens and trees. Once here, be active—via paddleboards, kayaks and the on-site fitness center—or simply reset, courtesy of the resort’s 2,000 square metre Healing Village Spa.

With 10 spa suites, delivering a panoply of top-to-toe treatments, this new haven includes everything from traditional massages to facials and scrubs to more unexpected energy rebalancing treatments influenced by age-old Balinese wisdom.

Spiritual healing is second nature here, from the medicinal properties of indigenous herbs to complex body work. And treatments like the Celestial Light Ritual build on this. Using the vibrations of gemstones, chromotherapy lighting, and resonant singing bowls, guests have their body, mind and emotions lulled into balance. And it is just the kind of intuitive treatment the hotel does best.

It’s not hard to simply stay put at the resort. Meals are flavorful and diverse. There’s the open-air Taman Wantilan, serving a breakfast that seems to tour every cuisine around the world, until 11.00am. Poolside Alu serves tasty bites, like poke bowls and made-to-order chocolate-dipped ice creams.

Sundara at the hotel’s beach club, offers a boozy tapas-style weekend brunch that ripples with flavor; but the standout is Jala, the atmospheric seafood restaurant that wafts scents of satay and lemongrass through the property every evening. The jumble of tastes, from the sizzling garlic to the sweet soy sauce is a memory to be retained.

The location, too, does not go unnoticed. Curved beachfront and powered white sand, outlines the resort, which despite its calm and secluded feel, is only 20 minutes from the airport. Denpasar International Airport has become a global hub, manoeuvring sleek aircrafts from around the world along its runways.

And leading that fleet is Singapore Airlines, the world’s most awarded airline. In 2023, the brand was hailed as among “the 50 most admired companies in the world” by Fortune magazine, and named Airline of the Year at the annual Airline Industry Awards.

Ease and convenience are second nature, regardless of the class. Even in Economy, headrests are adjustable, the comfortable footrest bar is built in. Every seat has a USB charger, and the touch-screen entertainment systems rival the choice available at most traveller’s homes.

Business class seats fold down into soft beds. Or, blink from inside one of the new suites—available on the airlines Airbus A380s—and you could easily mistake it for a tightly packed hotel room.

Travel pulls us from our day-to-day, gives us something to hold on to, as well as to talk about and learn from. But when it’s really done right, it gives us something to dream about.

Source: FORBES

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Buying a beach house in San Diego, as a full-time home or a vacation property, is an exciting undertaking. With 70 miles of coastline and over 100 named beaches, San Diego is the perfect spot to look into a California beach home. Living in San Diego has plenty of perks, too, like its accessibility, great climate, and expansive food scene.

As you look into beach houses for sale in San Diego, you might be wondering what the process of buying a home in San Diego looks like, how to find the best San Diego homes, and more. That’s what we are here for! Let’s talk about living in San Diego, searching for properties, and what buying a beach house could look like for you.

Living in San Diego, CA

San Diego offers the perfect balance of beach, city, mountains, and great food and shopping. Really, it’s a great place for people of all ages and this can be seen throughout the diverse communities and suburbs of America’s Finest City.

While there are plenty of inland areas to choose from, who wouldn’t want to live at the beach? There are such a wide variety of areas in San Diego that overlook the ocean, each at a different price point and with different pulls.

You might find that somewhere in North County like Encinitas or Carlsbad offers the laid-back, surfing-centric atmosphere that you desire. Or maybe it’s Point Loma’s cliffs, proximity to downtown, and wonderfully hilly streets that call to you.

No matter where in San Diego is calling to you, you’re never going to be far from a cute, beachy coffee shop or a fun, budget-friendly happy hour spot.

Finding Displayed Property Listings

You can turn first to sites like Redfin, Zillow, and Realtor.com to help support you in your search for the perfect San Diego beachfront property. If you don’t have a super specific preference for where you’ll end up, this could be a great way to narrow your search based on price and proximity to the ocean alone.

If you do want to get a feel for the area you’ll be in, you should plan to take a trip to San Diego, if possible. Or, if you are already living here, spend a few days at different beaches and walk around the different downtown areas nearby to get a sense of which coastal suburb feels like the one for you.

The next step beyond doing your preliminary research is going to be to look into hiring a realtor or real estate agent to help you with your next steps.

Using a Real Estate Professional

You may be wondering if you even really need a real estate professional to help guide you in your search. While you don’t technically need to have someone representing you in your search, you’ll have a much better process if you do.

On your own, you can attend some open houses and even make offers, but often times those will fall short. With a real estate professional, you’ll get access to properties listed on the MLS (multiple listing service) that is not open to the public but can be accessed by real estate agents, listing agents, and realtors.

Real estate professionals will also be able to help you set up private tours, can communicate on your behalf with listing agents, sellers, and other brokers, and can offer insight into what is normal in terms of price, timeline, and community standards.

San Diego Real Estate Firms

There are many real estate firms to choose from in San Diego, between national, California-based, and local firms. Finding the right one is a personal mission, based on your needs and how you feel they can be best met. As you search for a real estate agent or realtor, you’ll have a chance to shop around just as you would with homes, areas, and anything else related to your homeowner journey.

Here are some of the top San Diego real estate firms:

• Coldwell Banker Realty/ Coldwell Banker West
• RC Realty San Diego
• Alliance Realty and Investments
• Big Block Realty
• Willis Allen Real Estate
• Luxre Realty
• eXp Realty
• Realty Source, Inc
• DEM Real Estate
• Keller Williams Realty
• Berkshire Hathaway

Searching for California Properties

Price and location are by far the biggest things to keep in mind as you begin to search for a property anywhere, including in San Diego. The California housing market is famously steeper than many nearby states, but…well, we are talking about living right on the beach.

You can also keep options like a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) in mind as you look to take out a loan for your home. These can be a great supplement or replacement to a mortgage when needed.

Looking at beachfront homes, you’ll start by looking for a place with easy access to the sea. You’ll want to search for an oceanfront neighborhood to suit your lifestyle. A private showing is a great way to personally investigate any oceanfront homes for sale.

The Process of Buying a Home in San Diego

First thing is first- when you’re considering buying a home, you need to be ready! So, let’s go through some steps to consider as you look to become a San Diego homeowner. Keep in mind, this isn’t everything, but it is a good place to begin.

1.     Finances:

Ensure that your finances are in order. It may sound basic, but some people overlook the budgeting step of buying a home and get into a lot of trouble down the line. Prepare your finances, prepare yourself, and make sure that owning a home is a realistic goal for you currently. If not, save, save, save! The beach can wait… at least for a little while. You’ll want to consider your debt-to-income ratio, employment status, and liquid assets when looking over the financial aspect of the process.

2.     Property Search:

Take your time and go through displayed property listings to get an idea of what is available near different beaches. Identify properties that best suit your needs. From price point to square footage, aesthetics to the community, and so much more, you’ll want to do some thorough research before making a decision.

In San Diego, you can choose from places like Mission Beach, Pacific Beach, and Ocean Beach to La Jolla and Del Mar, but if a particular property stands out to you, you’ll want to contact the appropriate professional to look into next steps.

3.     Make an Offer

Once you’ve applied for a mortgage, have the rest of your plans in check, and know where you want to live- it’s time to make things official! Or, at least, make an offer.

4.     Close on a House

After getting your home looked at and making sure maintenance is in check (again, we aren’t going into these specifics as deeply) it’s time to close on your home!

Buying your Beach House

When it is finally time to buy a San Diego beach house of your own, you should be more than ready! After lots of planning, negotiating, budgeting, and moving, you’ll finally be next to the beautiful Pacific ocean and it will all feel like a blip in your happy San Diego story.

Are you a proud owner of a beach house in San Diego and think we might have missed a crucial piece of what it’s like to live near the ocean? Let us know! There are so many beaches around and we know each person experiences San Diego in a unique way.

Source: San Diego

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The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned seven individuals and 19 Mexican companies believed to be involved in timeshare fraud led by the Jalisco Cartel New Generation (Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación – CJNG) in Puerto Vallarta, a major tourist destination in on Mexico’s Pacific coast. OFAC sanctioned eight other Mexican companies that were linked to the same network in March.

The fraudsters allegedly made unsolicited offers to purchase timeshare properties. Once the owners agreed to sell, the fraudsters requested advance payments that they said would cover fees and taxes and would expedite the sale. Once the owners paid, the scammers disappeared, leaving the victims with no buyer and no money, according to a Treasury Department press release.

In another scheme, real estate companies sold units in timeshare developments that were never built, either because the companies simply vanished or because the projects were purposefully planned in protected natural areas and subsequently canceled, a government official working in security matters who did not want to be identified for security reasons, told InSight Crime. The money was never refunded.

This type of timeshare fraud often targets people looking for retirement or vacation properties abroad and helps the CJNG generate revenue beyond its traditional drug trafficking activities.

“They take advantage of the fact that these are usually older people who tend to be trusting and do not follow basic security measures such as asking for references or checking public information about the property,” said the source.

The CJNG also utilized frontmen, people who received payments for using their official ID, or nominees to register the companies carrying out scams, according to documents obtained by VICE. In some cases, these nominees may have been deceased or unaware that their identity was used for criminal activities.

InSight Crime Analysis

The CJNG’s involvement in the timeshare scheme is only the tip of the iceberg concerning their involvement in businesses across the tourism sector in Puerto Vallarta, which has been a goldmine for the group for years.

Hotels, bars, restaurants, and now timeshares are particularly attractive since they provide access to a range of other criminal activities, including money laundering, human trafficking, and drug trafficking, explained the source consulted by InSight Crime.

While the most recent sanctions target a scam operation, drug trafficking organizations are frequently involved in real construction projects to launder money. As a high-traffic tourist area, constructing housing developments or residential complexes in Puerto Vallarta offers criminal groups a sound way to launder investments, said the source.

Criminal groups use frontmen or front companies to make large purchase orders for building materials or finance the construction of properties with dirty money. The cost of a beachfront apartment is high, meaning it is an easy way to legitimize large sums of ill-gotten cash.

The restaurant sector is also crucial to the CJNG’s activities, as restaurants are used as a place of exchange for drug shipments and sales. However, restaurants can also become epicenters of violence and attract the attention of local authorities. For instance, in 2016, two sons of Joaquín Guzmán Loera’s, alias ‘El Chapo,’ were kidnapped — and subsequently released — in an upscale restaurant in Puerto Vallarta, allegedly on orders from Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias ‘El Mencho,” leader of the CJNG. Additionally, the former governor Aristóteles Sandoval was assassinated at a restaurant in Puerto Vallarta in 2020. The CJNG was linked to his murder.

Despite the various criminal economies within the tourism sector in Puerto Vallarta, the effectiveness of both international sanctions and seizures of properties by local authorities is questionable. US sanctions will have little impact on the criminal operation but will make accessing the US banking system much more difficult for the accused companies. Seizures made at the local level, “represent minimal damage” to the organization, said the source. “For every ten businesses they target, they have 100 operating, so it’s not very significant.”

The Cuinis, a once-powerful money-laundering wing of the CJNG, used the real estate sector in Puerto Vallarta and other Jalisco beach resorts to launder their drug money for years. The sanctioning of 15 businesses and six individuals linked to the gang by the US Treasury Department in 2015 has done little to curb the CJNG’s use of the tourism sector for money laundering and profiteering.

Source: Insight Crime

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Those were some of the statistics highlighted in RE/MAX Canada’s 2023 Cottage Trends report, which identifies patterns across the country’s recreational property markets.

But take the report’s observations with a grain of salt: Whistler’s unique real estate market is difficult to compare to any other community’s, said Stefanie Hostetter, RE/MAX Sea to Sky Real Estate CEO—even those similarly focused around recreation and popular among second homeowners.

“We have the highest-value homes and recreational properties in Canada,” she said. “Muskoka doesn’t compare. Tofino is beautiful, but it doesn’t compare.”

On a national basis, RE/MAX Canada doesn’t differentiate residential properties from tourist accommodation in quite the same way Whistler’s real estate industry does, Hostetter explained. With such a limited inventory of properties listed and low number of transactions each quarter across those “micro-niches”—ranging from Whistler’s high-end luxury market and occupancy-restricted condos to part-time ownership opportunities in Phase II properties—even one outlying luxury sale can skew average prices, she said.

In the first quarter (Q1) of 2022, Whistler recorded 236 sales, according to Hostetter. Of those, 13 were priced over $5 million, and five fell between the $10-million and $15-million mark.

“Those are big numbers for a small number of sales,” Hostetter said.

“This year, we had 136 sales [in Q1], but none of them were over $9 million. Our biggest sale was $8.6 million,” she said. “When you’re talking about double the amount of luxury sales in terms of number of sales, plus the higher value of those sales, in 2022 we had a much higher total-dollar-value sell in Q1 than in 2023. So that’s the story—it’s a pure case of what is selling, and not how much certain properties are selling for.”

For Q1 of 2023, the median sale price of Whistler properties “increased both year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter for townhouses and condos, while the market saw a slight decrease in the median price of single-family homes,” according to the Whistler Real Estate Company’s (WREC) market report.

As of Tuesday, May 2, there were 194 properties listed for sale in Whistler—“from chalets to parking stalls,” said Hostetter—and 51 in Pemberton.

That’s up from last year, when there were approximately 90 Whistler listings on May 1, 2022, said WREC realtor Dave Brown.

“That had been pretty consistent,” he said. “We were hovering somewhere around 75 to 90 listings, and as we saw the year go on in 2022, by July we got to 176 listings, and then as we went along, that trend continued with the higher number of listings, fluctuating between about 175 and 150.

“Although listing inventory went up—in some cases almost close to double—it was still at very historically low levels,” added Brown, who has posted weekly market reports for the resort to his website since 2008. That’s compared to years like 2010, when there were 800 properties listed for sale in Whistler that April, or even April 2015, when Whistler counted about 380 listings.

Even with inventory on the lower end of the spectrum—Whistler had about 250 listings in April 2020, Brown said—the resort saw a higher-than-usual volume of properties sold in the first couple years of the pandemic.

That pace slowed in 2022 as the Bank of Canada continued raising its benchmark interest rates, from 0.25 per cent in March 2022 to 4.5 per cent in January of this year.

With interest rates predicted to remain steady for the foreseeable future, realtors say buyers’ confidence is returning.

“I think a lot of people were expecting a lot more inventory to come on, and that really didn’t occur compared to historical levels,” said Brown.

For the average buyer, “We’re starting to realize that life events are still causing us to move, and that’s why we’re seeing this heating-up of the market right now,” said Hostetter.

The realtore expects “we might see a little bit of pent-up demand from the last eight months,” she added, “because [buyers] have held off and were waiting to see what happened [with interest rates]. Now we kind of know.”

Brown said Whistler buyers started becoming more active in February, with activity continuing to pick up as the year has progressed. “Definitely in April we’ve seen one of our busiest weeks for property sales,” he noted.

Hostetter has also noted more buyers coming into the RE/MAX Sea to Sky office inquiring about properties in “the last couple of weeks,” she said. “We have seen well-priced properties in good condition go for multiple offers. That is coming back.”

That’s all to say Whistler remains a seller’s market.

That does fall in line with what some realtors and economists are expecting to see across the country in the coming months, according to the RE/MAX Cottage Trends report. The study predicts the national average price in recreational markets will rise about 0.9 per cent in 2023.

Still, it’s not the worst time to be a buyer in Whistler, even with interest rates higher than in recent years.

“Back in 2021 or early 2022, if you wanted to put an offer in on the property, it often involved having to do it without due diligence or enough time for subject conditions [if you wanted your offer to be successful] and maybe a multiple-offer situation,” said Brown. “Although we are seeing some multiple-offer situations, we’re seeing more the ability to have some time, potentially, for doing due diligence, like building inspections, getting your financing approved, that kind of thing.”

Source: PIQUE

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Put Yourself In The Christmas Mood

• Date: Between November 17, 2022, and January 8, 2023
• Opening schedule: The park is open all year long from 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM
• Holiday ticket cost: $69 per adult and $59 per child and senior

Book Your Favorite Christmas Activities

Spend Some Time In Santa’s House

Go Ice Skating At Silver Bells Arena, SkyPark

Attend The Following Christmas Entertainment At Santa’s Village

Get Bewitched By The Wacko Show

Watch SkyPark Puppet Theater

Sing And Dance On Christmas Carols At Kids Imagine A Nation

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