ALL INCLUSIVE V.S. NOT INCLUSIVE

City skyline

Photo By: John Doe

There are benefits to both inclusive and not all-inclusive. It all boils down to what you want out of your trip.

When booking a trip to Mexico we had so many friends and family recommend staying at an all-inclusive hotel. My partner and I had never stayed anywhere like that before, and we thought it might be something cool to try. This posed a very important question: is all-inclusive worth it? We weren’t sure if it would be our cup of tea so we decided to try it for only 4 nights of our trip.

Papaya Playa Project

We loved Papaya Playa Project although it is not all-inclusive.

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I want to start off by saying that unfortunately, all inclusive was not our cup-of-tea. While the resort we stayed at (read about it here) offered tons of included restaurants, room service, and unlimited alcohol, we really missed exploring locally run restaurants and felt isolated staying in one place. With that being said, if you enjoy the beauty of having everything centrally located, then all-inclusive might be for you.

"All in all we did enjoy our time at an all-inclusive hotel, but it just wasn’t our style. However, if you are looking for a one-stop-shop of relaxation and unlimited drinks, this is your go-to."

- Lindsey Farrah

The biggest pro of an all-inclusive resort is that in theory you can truly and completely relax. You don’t need to plan on where you go for meals, you don’t need to worry about how much you spend on drinks; and you don’t need to worry about transportation because everything you would ever need is in one place and that place is right outside your door. If you are the type of traveller that wants to just zone out and relax, then I can see this being a perfect option for you.

With the pros being obvious, the I found that the cons are a little sneaky. For starters, while you do have unlimited access to food & drinks; in my experience I found the food and drinks to be lesser quality than if I were to go off site and pay for it. Also, most all-inclusive hotels have some sort of buffet on site and for me this just made it feel like I was in Las Vegas; and not in a good way AKA crowds of people all trying to eat at the same time.

Serenity Eco Luxury Tented Hotel

Serenity Eco Luxury Tented Camp is a 'glamping' style hotel in Xpu Ha. It is not all inclusive.

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When I travel I like to have my space and enjoy nature but at a lot of all-inclusive resorts are mega resorts with tons of rooms and lots of people. Lastly, I found that we didn’t take full advantage of all inclusive because we decided to go out and do activities most days; thus missing lunch. So for us, there wasn’t a huge value. So, if you are more into adventure and less into relaxing this option might not work for you.