The experience is simple, designed to think little and risk nothing. Take a plane and land in a paradisiacal place with blue beaches and white sand. It doesn't matter if it's in the Caribbean, in the Bahamas, in the Pacific Ocean or in the Atlantic, the tourist, with a wristband, will have an identical experience everywhere: beach, sun, cocktails by the pool, breakfast, lunch and dinner at the buffet.
It's a way like any other to spend the summer. You rest and few decisions are made. Someone has thought of everything for you. Just what many need these days.
However, the model seems to be exhausted or not working at all for some who want to know what the locals of the country where they are staying eat, if they live in a democracy or a dictatorship, or if they grow some unknown fruit. People who want to know, and are not satisfied with a uniform experience. Is the squaring of the circle possible? In other words, an all-inclusive hotel that offers a careful, almost personal experience that invites the traveler to leave the controlled premises of the hotel to show them where they have chosen to spend their vacations?
With that promise, the Paradisus hotels have arrived in Europe. Specifically to the beach of San Agustín in Gran Canaria, a beach of more than 600 meters long that is very popular among the locals for its moderate waves and its fine sand, a very peculiar dark golden color.
The hotel is perfect, with exquisite architecture that allows you to see the sea and the light from almost any of its 297 rooms and suites, it has four swimming pools and two restaurants, but no one expects the traveler to settle forever in that paradise. On the contrary, as unheard of as it may seem, here the experience is different, even the terms have been inverted and the word "destination" appears as the first claim in the very name of the concept: Destination inclusive.
Welcome to an all-inclusive with luxury services that encourages you to go out into the outside world, to get to know the island and the local gastronomy and ceramics. Every morning after breakfast everyone can choose their adventure: beach, pool, restaurants -including Peseta, from the local Michelin-starred chef Germán Ortega-, or leave. The hotel itself prepares excursions to the Areucas Rum Distillery, to the Pintada cave, to the Los Berrazales Winery with a wonderful semi-dry white wine, to the only coffee farm in Europe, or to the city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
The experience is unique even if the traveler decides to stay in the hotel because the entire stay will remind him of the local charm and peculiarities. Here there is no decoration or furniture bought in mass: local ceramics for the crockery and decoration of the rooms, local wood for the furniture, works by Canarian artists to decorate the walls and even a bowl with aloe vera crystals from the island for aftersun therapy.
In my experience, I chose to visit the coffee plantation in the Agaete Valley, which produces a signature coffee, only 1,500 kilograms per harvest, a very small production of one of the oldest varieties of coffee that is almost in disuse. All these circumstances make it a luxury product. The market price is 80 euros per kilo. 99% of the production is sold in the small shop on the plantation. The guided tour, in the shade of mango and orange trees, recalls the settings of the old colonies of Spanish America and, of course, it is a luxurious experience far removed from the classic idea of an all-inclusive.
Then, a walk through the city, a few minutes away by car, to see the old quarter with the Plaza de Santa Ana and the town hall. It is believed that before his first trip to America Columbus landed in the area to repair La Pinta. Whether or not it is true, the city deserves a long and peaceful walk.
Back at the hotel you can immerse yourself in the classic idea of luxury all-inclusive. Nothing to think about everything to rest. A long beach, four swimming pools, a signature spa, several restaurants, a summer cinema... but at least you will know that you are on a volcanic island where rum and coffee are produced, where there are high-level ceramic artists, and where there is life outside. . When you return you will have things to tell beyond what you liked or did not like about the hotel buffet.
The concept that already existed in Mexico and the Caribbean, has also arrived this summer on the Teguise coast in Lanzarote with the Paradisus Salinas, a five-star luxury hotel for adults only, located in a building designed in the seventies by Fernando Higueras and Cesar Manrique. Just sleeping in one of the best buildings in Spain, with its structure of successive geometric shapes, and walking through the skylights and interior atriums, is an experience in itself.
The Salinas opened last July with the idea of reinventing all-inclusive, completing the experience with nature and immersive activities of local culture and destination, inside and outside the hotel.
Both hotels are part of the A Destination Inclusive® Luxury Resort concept created by Meliá to give the classic all-inclusive a definitive twist, designing a modern experience for restless and curious travelers who are looking for luxury, and know how to recognize it, but are also looking for experiences , stories and various activities.
