Hotel Esencia
Fifty acres holding five hundred metres of one of the last undeveloped beaches on the Riviera Maya.
Hotel Esencia occupies about fifty acres at Xpu-Ha, between Playa del Carmen and Tulum, with jungle behind and roughly five hundred metres of shore in front. On this coast that frontage is the entry. The Riviera Maya has been built out almost continuously for thirty years, and Xpu-Ha is among the few stretches left undeveloped; turtles still nest on it. Mexican law puts the shore itself in federal hands, so what the estate holds is the land behind the sand and the absence of anything built along it, which on this coast amounts to the same thing.
The main house, Casa Grande, was built as the private home of the Italian duchess Rosa di Ferrari, who used it in fleeting residence before it became a hotel. Kevin Wendle, an American producer, bought the property in 2014, when it carried about twenty-nine keys, and has been adding since: it is published at thirty-eight suites with three villas and, more recently, at forty-seven suites with four villas plus a four-bedroom mansion. Works from the owner's collection hang about the estate. Guests move along stone paths and by buggy through the jungle.
Frontage held by not building. The estate's claim is negative and it is the strongest kind on this coast. Fifty acres here are worth what they are because the neighbours built and this one did not.
A holding that is filling up. Keys have gone from about twenty-nine to about fifty on the same ground in a decade. The register records the direction as well as the number, because density is part of the answer.
Who it is not for
Esencia is wrong for travellers who want a beach of their own: the shore is federal land in Mexico and the estate holds the ground behind it. It is wrong for anyone who wants the region's nightlife, since Playa del Carmen and Tulum are both a drive. It is wrong for guests expecting the quiet of the first years, because the house has roughly doubled in size since 2014. For a Mexican estate at a larger scale, Las Ventanas holds its own beachfront in Los Cabos.
Sources
- Operator and trade material - estate of about fifty acres at Xpu-Ha with roughly five hundred metres of beach frontage; the main house was built as the private home of the Italian duchess Rosa di Ferrari; the beach is a sea turtle nesting site
- Independent coverage - Kevin Wendle bought the property in 2014, when it held about twenty-nine rooms, suites and villas, and has expanded it since; works from the owner's private collection are displayed on the estate
Verification
- Official source
- Not yet checked
- Sources disagree
- the estate is given as fifty acres and as thirty; accommodation is published as thirty-eight suites with three villas and as forty-seven suites with four villas plus a mansion.
- Property confirmation
- Pending
- Last verified
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Booking
Private Resorts arranges each stay on request, quoting the rates available for the resort and dates. No benefit should be assumed unless it is confirmed in writing for the individual reservation.
Request a proposalClassified by The Resort Collection House · The Register · Edition 2026 · LHL-E-231
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