Photos courtesy Alila Mayakoba
Hyatt Hotels Corporation and RLH Properties opened their Alila Mayakoba resort on February 12, 2026, marking the Alila luxury brand’s first foray into Latin America and Caribbean markets. And here’s what’s in store for those luxury travelers headed there this year.
This exciting new 182-room resort occupies 60 spectacular acres of beachfront, lagoon, and jungle, all within the gated Mayakoba enclave on Mexico’s Riviera Maya, replacing the former Andaz Mayakoba after a complete architectural overhaul by Huber Design.
Interiors draw on materials native to the Yucatan Peninsula, including tzalam and parota hardwoods, hand-chiseled Mérida limestone, and recuperated travertine. The property joins Rosewood Mayakoba, Banyan Tree Mayakoba, and Fairmont Mayakoba in a development that now offers four distinct luxury hotel experiences on a single stretch of Caribbean coastline.
The New Alila Mayakoba Resort Delivers Luxury
For fans of luxury resorts, the opening adds another reason to choose Mayakoba over those tower-lined hotel zones of Cancún. Alila’s approach is all about wellness, which here is its organizing principle rather than an afterthought.
Spa treatments are guided by the ancient Maya Tzolk’in calendar, a 12-seat zero-waste dining concept, and arrival rituals developed alongside Mayan elders.
Nearly 40 percent of the rooms are suites, including a beachfront Presidential Suite, and ground-floor accommodations come with private plunge pools. Nightly rates start around US$600 in low season and climb past US$1,000 during peak months, though World of Hyatt members can book award nights from 21,000 points.
Mayan Healing Traditions
Where most Riviera Maya resorts treat the spa as just another amenity alongside the pool and the golf course, the Alila Mayakoba resort has built its guest experience around wellbeing rooted in living Mayan traditions. The resort’s signature Alila Moments program offers immersive rituals developed with local therapists and Mayan elders rather than imported wellness consultants.
Among them: Earth and Clay, a purification ceremony using mineral-rich clay, honey, and sound that ends with an ocean immersion; Winds of Renewal, which takes guests to a private cenote for a cleansing ritual and mandala creation; and Ixchel Water Blessing, a ceremony led by a Mayan elder honoring the spirit of water.
Even the check-in process has been rethought. Guests receive a welcome drink made from coconut water, Melipona honey, and regional botanicals, followed by a clay-and-honey hand cleansing that doubles as an introduction to the resort’s philosophy.
Spa Alila at Mayakoba
Spa Alila at Mayakoba pushes the wellness concept further still. Treatments are personalized around the sacred Tzolk’in calendar, the 260-day cycle central to Maya timekeeping that maps energy patterns and seasonal rhythms to individual sessions.
The spa menu includes sunrise intention rituals by the sea, traditional temazcal sweat lodge journeys led by local healers, and Essential Frequency, a minimalist 528Hz sound immersion designed to calm the nervous system. The resort has divided its 60 acres into two zones that cater to different rhythms.
Along the lagoon, guestrooms, pools, dining venues, and the spa create a quieter atmosphere aimed at couples, solo travelers, and small groups. Closer to the shoreline, beachfront rooms and outdoor gathering spaces take on a more relaxed, social energy. A Technogym-equipped fitness center offers smart training systems and wellness-age assessments, and complimentary yoga, breathwork, and holistic fitness classes run daily.
Six Restaurants To Whet Your Whistle
The dining program spans six venues, each with a defined identity rather than the interchangeable restaurant lineups common at larger all-inclusives nearby. Casa Amate returns from the Andaz era as the resort’s signature fine-dining restaurant, reimagined around the concept of a well-traveled explorer’s home, with globally influenced dishes served across intimate, residential-style dining rooms.
Ninguno Taqueria takes a different approach entirely: an open-air beachside spot serving tacos, tostadas, tortas, and tamales prepared with gourmet-level ingredients. Na Cocina Local, named for the Yucatec Mayan word for “mother” and “home,” serves as the all-day restaurant with menus highlighting regional heritage dishes and a cocktail program inspired by Mayan cosmology.
Zero Waste
The standout dining concept, though, is El Huerto Chef’s Atelier. Limited to just 12 seats and led by Executive Chef Michael Grau, this tasting experience operates on a head-to-tail, zero-waste philosophy. Ingredients are grown in the resort’s own sensorial garden, prepared and served to guests, then responsibly repurposed through partnerships with local producers.
It’s a circular food system that puts sustainability at the center of what is also a genuinely compelling meal. Rounding out the food and drink options: Alisio Beach Club, designed by Cuaik CDS, where daytime wellness cocktails give way to live-fire seafood and coastal Mediterranean plates after dark; and Xiim Bar by the resort’s own cenote, which serves champurrado and horchata by morning and handcrafted mezcal cocktails by night.
Find out more at Alila Mayakoba.
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Bryan Dearsley is a luxury lifestyles writer, a prolific traveler, and the Founder of the Riley network of luxury lifestyle websites.
