Mahahual Hotel Maya Luna | a small resort located off the beaten track
Mahahual Hotel Maya Luna is located on the natural, white beaches of the Costa Maya, between the small fishermen villages of Mahahual and Xcalak. A perfect setting of white sandy palm beaches along a crystal turquoise sea. Costa Maya in the state of Quintana Roo is part of the region known as the Mundo Maya or Maya World.
The Mesoamerican Barrier Reef passes just in front of our beach. It is one of the last left, most beautiful, living coral reefs in the world. Consequently the region is an environmental protected area. Costa Maya is far away from the beaten tourist track, but very good reachable by the still improving infrastructure in Mexico. Costa Maya is one of the few places left in Mexico which is not spoiled by mass tourism. Hence is has all the qualities a lot of people are looking for these days.
Mahahual Hotel Maya Luna | A Little History
Jan Schmeitz, journalist for Dutch newspapers and TV, discovered the area in 1985. Apart from a few fishermen, the place was virgin. The sea, the beach, the mangrove forests; that was all there was. Back in Amsterdam, Jan and his friends Theo Uytenhaak, photographer and Geert Franssen, art-director of a publicity firm, decided to buy a beach-lot. “To have a place to write a book. Or a place for retirement in the future”.
The building of a beach house
In 2000 the tiny place had grown into a small village. Hence the Mexican government declared the site a protected area with the promising name “Costa Maya”. Mexican government seemed eager to improve small-scale tourist infrastructure. To avoid mass tourism in the area they applied environmental legal restrictions on construction projects. As a result they allowed only small scale tourism. The three partners decided to build a house on the beach. So Theo and his companion Tineke, business-secretary, moved part-time to Mahahual to deal with Mexican legislation. And meanwhile to supervise the construction.
Mahahual Hotel Maya Luna | To realize the dream
They finished the building of the beach house in 2002. Meanwhile we all had discovered again the “uniqueness and charm” of this unspoiled site. Jan and me decided that the time had come to realize the dream of 1985. In 2002, still working in Africa and Albania, we made a plan for a small hotel-restaurant on the beach. In November 2002 we moved to Mexico and started building Hotel Restaurant Maya Luna in Mahahual. To receive our first guests during Eastern 2004.
With Mahahual Hotel Maya Luna we hope to have created a place where the guests feel at ease, where the Mexican employees gain a rewarding living and where we, as owners, can make a fair profit. Maya Luna is a pet friendly hotel.
Carolien van Santvoord
Co-owner of Hotel Maya Luna
