How to take 3 people on a winter beach vacation?

October 7, 2016 2:11 PM

My family has a tradition of traveling together for a week or so during the winter to Mexico (or similar) to get away in lieu of Christmas. Usually, this has been pretty easy to pull off, because all the couples simply booked the rate for two adults. I got divorced recently, and trying to fit three people in a room at one of these resorts seems crazy and super unaffordable. Does anyone have any tips or hacks to help us figure out the logistics of this?

Part of the rub is that we're in two different locations, so booking a package with flights isn't really a possibility. We're traveling from SLC and PHL respectively. Are there different types of hotels we should be looking at to make the couples thing less of an issue? Any specific recommendations for places to look into? Is Airbnb or similar a really bad idea in a country like Mexico? Arg.

Here's the short version of priorities:

-relatively easy/inexpensive flights for both locations
-somewhere warm in December
-a place with a pool and (preferably) ocean access
-a hotel that isn't going to charge us an arm and a leg because we have 3 instead of 2
-totally cool with doing breakfast and lunch out of a fridge or something and going out to dinner, though an all inclusive could be fine as well

We have been looking into this for weeks now and we keep hitting a snag on all or part of this every time. Help?

posted by theantikitty to Travel & Transportation (6 answers total)

Recently went to San Miguel de Allende with my family (in this case, much more family: 8 adults, 3 kids) and had a great Airbnb experience -- large house with pool + 2 housekeepers who also cooked breakfast & lunch. It was the. bomb. That town doesn't get you the ocean, but I'd def. try Airbnb again in Mexico. Look for a place with a good amount of feeback from previous visitors and you should be good.
posted by BlahLaLa at 2:15 PM on October 7, 2016

We had two great AirBnBs in Puerto Rico last Christmas. One was 3 bedroom 2 bath, one was 2 bedroom and one bath. Both would work just fine for 3 people. If you want to look at PR Memail me and I can send links to the exact houses.
posted by COD at 2:59 PM on October 7, 2016

Are you sure the room rates are different/more for 2 adults in a room vs 1? In my experience this isn't a thing hotels care about at all. Have you tried booking 2 rooms as usual and decided the price was too much? A couple and a third person in one room could get a little uncomfortable also.
posted by bleep at 5:46 PM on October 7, 2016 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Yep, I'm sure. Mostly, the places we go to are all-inclusive and geared towards couples. We have had a tough time finding places in easy-to-get-to places that are NOT all inclusive and geared towards couples.
posted by theantikitty at 7:22 PM on October 7, 2016

A few years ago a buddy, his girlfriend and I went to Nuevo Vallarta, just outside of Puerto Vallarta. We rented a two-bedroom suite at the Paradise Village Beach Resort and Spa for a week. It is right on the beach, had several pools including one just for adults and was a good place to stay. I can't remember the rate but split three ways we thought it was reasonable.

They had the main room with a king bed and I had the smaller side room with a twin bed. There was one bathroom. We all had our own TV and we had a kitchen in the main room too. It worked for us because buddy and I have been friends for 40+ years and have shared hotels, tents, sleeping on sailboats, etc. and his girlfriend was also a "good camper" about sharing space. We made sure to spend time apart as well as together.

The hotel has an all-inclusive rate but also has non-inclusive(?) rates. His girlfriend wanted all-inclusive but we told her we were not going to another country to eat hotel food - we wanted restaurants and street food so we got the non-inclusive rate. She later said that was the best choice, since the hotel food was bland.

The downside to staying in Nuevo Vallarta was that we spent aound $50 round-trip on taxis any time we wanted to go to the real Puerto Vallarta. But we only did that a few days.

For anyone who goes to Puerto Vallarta, I highly suggest getting a tour from Puerto Vallarta Eats. They do a street food walking tour and a mole' walking tour. Both are great and they are rated at 4.9 on TripAdvisor.
posted by ITravelMontana at 12:33 AM on October 8, 2016 [2 favorites]

My partner and I sometimes stay at Embassy Suites-type places with one other person, and that works out pretty well. I quite liked the Isla Verde Embassy Suites in San Juan, Puerto Rico. You have to walk a couple of blocks to the beach, but the hotel has an area staked out with chair and umbrella service.
posted by BibiRose at 9:34 AM on October 9, 2016