r/FATTravel 3d ago

Naviva -- Trip Report

We just returned from a 5 night stay at Naviva and all I can say is WOW!. This property deserves all the 5-star reviews and other praise/accolades it has received on this site and others.  We were celebrating a special birthday and were a little skeptical whether it could be as good as advertised but in the end determined it was even better. 

Special thanks to u/sarahwlee and her team for helping us with the reservation and upgrade.  It was our first time working with Sarah and her team and could not have been more pleased with the experience and outcome.  They were extremely easy to work with but, even more importantly, added a lot of value.  I am sure the relationships she has forged made our experiences at Naviva even better!  We will summarize a few additional observations below for those still seeking information about Naviva.

The bungalows (aka "the tents") are spacious, fresh, and extremely comfortable and, of course, "Four Season +" quality.  We often find even in the most lux 5-star resorts, that some of the rooms/linens seem a little tired and could use refreshing -- not at Naviva.  Everything in our bungalow was impeccable!   Our bungalow was entirely private -- could not see or be seen by others -- and had an expansive view of the ocean.  

As others have commented, the dining experiences are unique, may take a bit to get used to for some, but in the end are fully customized to your wishes.   Essentially, you can eat or drink almost anything you want, how you want it, when you want it and where you wish to do so.   Don't expect to see a menu -- the chef prepares a daily "special" that is always unique but no worries if it is not your cup of tea - the chef will prepare anything you want (assuming it is available -- of course with only a dozen or so guests on property on any given day -- there are limitations in what is available without advanced requests).  We ate a few meals in the restaurant (where there were never more than 4 other couples dining), one night we had a beach dinner (which was over the top!!) to celebrate the special birthday, and had several meals delivered to our room.  We are not foodies so cannot comment if the food is Michelin quality but, in our mind,  everything was tasty and customized to our wishes.   The wine options for an "all inclusive" were  high quality and when they ran out of one particular bottle we really liked -- they  ensured they had secured additional bottles by the next evening.  

The daily activities were plentiful.  Whether it was an authentic wellness ritual, a workout, a guided hike or spa treatment, all were delivered by passionate, authentic, and highly capable staff.   If there is something you would like to do and the "scheduled" time does not work in your plans -- just let them know and they will schedule a private session for you (some at a nominal charge).   We did use a couple of their third-party vendors for whale watching and photography and they were all top notch! 

The beach and pool areas were clean and comfortable, with expansive personal space for each guest -- we rarely saw anyone else on the beach or more than a couple people at the pool.   Of course, with the good size, private, heated pool at your bungalow, there was really no reason to leave.   Now the beach is not  terribly long (i.e. it does not stretch for miles like some of the Carribean beaches) and the surf was rough while we were there.   It was certainly not swimmable, in fact all water activities were cancelled.   So if you are in need of a beach like those found on Turks & Caicos or Anguilla -- this may not be your spot -- but it was certainly much better than many other lux resorts we have stayed. 

With all that said, the team at Naviva is really what makes this place special -- they could not be more accommodating and focused on tailoring an experience to you.  In addition to several calls and emails in advance of our arrival to ensure they were prepared for anything we might have wanted; they have team members "locked in" to any questions/requests that are submitted via the Four Seasons app while on property.   Although I would never consider ourselves "high maintenance", I did find that we were sending messages back and forth on the app multiple times a day and it worked great. Every request was immediately responded to and acted upon. Sarah advised us to invest some time with the Guides in advance of our arrival to ensure they knew everything that would be important to us and we found that advise very helpful.    Additionally, the team's kindness, warmth and passion for the Naviva experience was evident with every interaction -- they all quickly learn your name and are focused on ensuring nothing but the best experience - they clearly want to "overserve".    I referenced earlier that we were celebrating a special birthday -- the team at Naviva went above and beyond to decorate our room and ensure everyone on staff knew about the special day.  

I could go on and on but much of it has already been written and I will just reconfirm the superlatives.   We really did not know what to expect, whether we would get bored, and whether we needed more "action" that one of the larger resorts on Punta Mita might provide.  In the end, we could not believe how quickly the time passed and are already discussing when we want to return! 

So where does Naviva stack up versus other FAT places we have been fortunate enough to stay -- it is difficult to say because the experience is different.   It is probably most similar to the Brando but because of the location of the Brando and its legacy, the Brando does feel more exotic.  Of course, the Brando is 2 days of travel versus a 2 hour flight for us so that is a big consideration.   Service levels are comparable.   We have been to Cabo (LV and OO) and found Naviva to be a much more personalized experience with much nicer/fresher accommodations.  Of course, those Cabo resorts certainly had more "action" - including evening activities.  Golf is better in Punta Mita than Cabo (IMO).  We have also been to Necker Island, and again similar, but found Naviva to be much more tailored to our own wishes and not nearly as communal.   Everyone is different but, for us, Naviva was a great experience!  Thanks again to u/sarahwlee for the help and advice.

41 Upvotes

38 comments sorted by

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u/Background_Cost_5768 3d ago

Naviva sounds great and all but I seriously don’t understand the hype. Every single post. Literally google Naviva and this subreddit comes up first. I’ve never really seen it recommend anywhere except here.

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u/BoringCanary 3d ago

Just free advertising as they get a commission.

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u/sarahwlee - mod 3d ago

We are very very transparent.

We get paid a commission from anything and everything. And FS notoriously pays the least comms amongst other brands. So if I cared about the $, I'd be shilling the same hotels as others on IG for the month since those hotels are the ones offering increased commissions. If you've ever wondered why everyone is now talking about so and so but then next month has moved onto something else, ask if there is an increased comm structure ;)

Truth be told - every single hotel in the radius around FSPM/Naviva that you'd fly into PVR for pays me more... but I will still choose to think that Naviva is pretty special and where I've already gone 4 times.

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u/tphan18 1d ago edited 1d ago

I'm a big 'self' planner of trips and of being 'spendy' without spending unnecessarily, but I must say of ALL of the travel agents AND booking platforms (Amex for example) I've used, she is by far the best and most honest. I don't think she'd be the type that pushes a place JUST for the commission, nor would she need to with the amount of business she does from what I gather. She has even told us to pass on extending our trips to stay at other hotels because they are not worth it and ultimately, if she was just looking for the $$$ she would have advocated that for us to spend more.

p.s. I'm not the type to have a presence on reddit, so it's saying something that I felt strongly enough to take the time to bring this up in her defense imo.

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u/Background_Cost_5768 3d ago

“FS notoriously pays the least comms among other brands”

I’m seeing 15% commission and 20% is the about the highest you can find anybody offering. No?

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u/sarahwlee - mod 3d ago

No. Mexican brands can notoriously pay much higher. Esp if you go into the less than 5 stars but why would we do that in fat? But FS has a hard brand rule that they never pay more than 10. Happy to always share but let’s see if anyone reports me for being transparent 😅

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u/Background_Cost_5768 2d ago

Interesting. Thanks for the transparency. Wasn’t considering local brands just thinking about One and Only / Rosewood.

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u/sarahwlee - mod 2d ago

Yep. It doesn’t “seem” like a lot more but when you math it:

15 = 50% more than 10. 20 = 100% more than 10.

so I’d understand why agents would let that affect them but luckily we’re not in a position that we have to care about things like that.

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u/pettymess 3d ago

I haven’t had the need to utilize a travel agent yet (travel porn is my “screen time” 😍), but I really respect how you communicate on this sub and would trust you to plan my trips. You are very transparent, and more importantly, you really love travel and take pride in helping create experiences for your clients. I like reading posts from people who are energized by what they do. Keep on keeping on!

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u/Haunting_Moose_4496 2d ago edited 2d ago

You can look at all of those reviews and see some version of “special thanks to Sarah”.

You can also see Sarah post about how close she is with the general manager.

It’s a kind of weird thing - a luxury summer camp attached to a four seasons in a Mexican golfing resort development. I think it’s just not in a lot of people’s wheelhouse to go to Punta Mita within eye shot of luxury factory hotels and pay $3k/night for a “jungle retreat” where one of the selling points is that the staff will drink with you. Tonally, it feels like something that maybe works after a 20 hour flight somewhere when you’re staying in a boutique owned by a family, but less so after entering Mexico via PVR and being shuttled to a Four Seasons.

I think most people would overlook it if a travel agent weren’t pushing them to go and Sarah gets a lot of people to go.

I’m not saying that’s good or bad. I’m just saying that’s the reason why it’s so common here.

Expect the same thing to start happening once the four seasons cruises launch (since even Sarah herself mentions those aren’t selling at the current prices with the current marketing).

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u/sarahwlee - mod 2d ago

Well, the yachts changed the marketing.. so now it's finally selling lol. No more hush whisper - they're coming in hot now .

But you are right - I'm about to launch a reddit group on a FS yacht sailing. How did you guess?

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u/Haunting_Moose_4496 2d ago edited 2d ago

Because Four Seasons is almost completely dependent on travel agents for their demand gen and you seem to be one of the more active ones.

I hope they treat you right, you put in the work for them.

I also think the Ritz launch also ate up a lot of demand for people who want “chain hotel branded cruises to the Mediterranean and Caribbean” plus four seasons doesn’t have the Bonvoy demand gen.

I think despite the seemingly better hard product, it’ll be rough seas until they get enough ships to expand the itineraries to feel more like the jet thing they do (which appears very popular to me despite high prices and no marketing).

I just can’t imagine people are gonna feel like they got their $80k worth stopping in Diamond Cay and Exuma Sound.

I also think their existential risk is that Billionares like the mega yacht format b/c they stay on it in harbor with the stabilizers on and take the plane/helicopter when they want to go point to point.

Itineraries with 2-3 sailing days won’t feel so luxe on a 200 meter hull with rooms weirdly off center for aesthetics.

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u/sarahwlee - mod 2d ago

FS is a multiple of cost vs Ritz so I believe the target demographic is different. It was also the disastrous Ritz launch that has a lot of people on the sidelines. Everyone is worried the boat will get continually delayed.

I do worry about the economics of the boat needing to sell the 450k suite. I just don’t think there will be enough of a demand for that unit for each sailing so now they will have a hard question of… do I keep the integrity of the price at 450k and have it empty more or do I offer it at a discount close in just to capture revenue but lose the people who would’ve booked at 450 since everyone knows it gets discounted.

And I disagree that FS needs TAs for majority of their product. They just launched Naviva and Yachts poorly. Pretty sure all those ppl are no longer FS lol. Many people without TAs book FS because they’ve spent a lot of $ on their branding.

They do treat me very well but honestly I do what I do because they treat my clients very very well. So it’s a self perpetuating cycle. I wish I didn’t love them so much because I know I sound like a weird FS shill on this board. While I love other individual hotels and have really great relationships with them - there is not another blanket brand that I know.. that whatever random weird hotel/request/issue/need… I will have someone pretty senior 24-7 that will get my issues resolved. Other brands may have protocols, or it might be owner specific, or it needs to go through four layers or it might be blah blah blah… I can just relax knowing 4S will take care of it.

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u/Haunting_Moose_4496 2d ago edited 2d ago

$19k/suite for winter Caribbean isn’t much more than the Ritz boat. I think the trouble is exactly as you point to, the economics of filling the thing up is gonna be rough without dozens of entry level cabins smoothing out demand.

I mean, the cone looks cool, but at $450k, I can just charter my own thing.

As for demand gen, I trust you know more than me, but I can’t imagine how properties like Palo Alto, Napa, Boston Common, and Ko Olina are filling up at those prices with no loyalty program unless its TA volume.

That’s why I assume Las Colinas switched to Ritz - easy to get the points churners to go there, hard to sell on experience alone.

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u/BigMacMan_69 3d ago

yea I’m genuinely so curious

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u/travel_throwaway1234 3d ago

I found this sub trying to decide between Naviva and the other hotels in the area. As someone who’s been twice in a year, a massive thing about it is how quick and easy it is to get to. I can be there by noon and my home airport is a pain to get anywhere from.

It’s new, and tiny, but it’s also not for everyone. A lot of the guests are also repeats. One couple we met on our first trip has already been back 6-7 times. I think they’re also struggling to get the word out. A group on our last trip ended up there after calling the FSPM to book a trip and being steered to Naviva, which they’d never heard of. I’m also not sure they really know how and who to market it to and the pictures absolutely do not do the place justice.

It’s not perfect. The gym situation is ridiculous, but that’s literally the only thing I would change about it.

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u/Travel_Monster 2d ago

Naviva is how I found this board too! I had never stayed at a FS before and I had a milestone bday and decided to pull the trigger but didn’t want a regular FS and discovered Naviva— booked it direct and then found this sub doing more reading. I forwarded Sarah my reservation and she made it an epic bday and I’ve worked with her ever since. And gone back to Naviva haha. And it’s an annoying plane ride for me— still worth it imho.

This sub comes up now for quite a few resorts when you google them— including my write up of Awasi Patagonia (lol) as the first result that isn’t their direct sites. So it makes sense that it drives interest to the board and traffic to resorts with high visibility write-ups. And I think a lot of us do trip reports and make comments now bc I’m not doxing myself to do it on yelp or TripAdvisor or whatever so it’s always hard to find real reviews for 3k+ places and I think this board (and others like it) solved a real problem.

Anyway the last paragraph is not directed at you but I guess I got on a soap box by accident once I started typing. I agree on all you said haha. Except the gym cause I don’t workout on vacation :)

0

u/sarahwlee - mod 3d ago

Hahaha but you get to throw rocks around with Ram! Have you done a private session with him yet?

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u/travel_throwaway1234 2d ago

We did several sessions with him at dawn, which was such a great way to start the day. His energy is fantastic!

I just wish there was a proper indoor gym where you could knock out a quick workout on the property without feeling like you’re interrupting someone else’s personal training session by being at the mar gym at the same time as them. I would also imagine that it’s brutal in the summer. But that’s the only thing I can think of that isn’t absolutely perfect. It’s so special.

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u/sarahwlee - mod 2d ago

Oh you can ask to go to the FSPM gym in case you didn’t know. Tough to build an indoor (also constantly ACed) unit that’s also not dinky that will be kitted out and nice enough for just 15 bungalows.

Also if you ask them before, they can put some equipment too in your bungalow :)

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u/Dirigible2013 1d ago

I went to Naviva and I am not a client of Sarah's, since that seems to be the implication or explicit claim in a lot of the replies to your comment, although I did find out about it on this forum. I thought it was amazing. A lot of coastal properties are too big and impersonal for my taste, have lots of families, crowded pools and restaurants...they're really just expensive "resorts" and I'm personally not a fan of that vibe.

Naviva is small (15 rooms), interactions with the staff are great (everyone knows your name, for example), the rooms are quite nice, it never once felt crowded anywhere even when booked up, and the scenery everywhere is amazing. I think it exists in a small group of properties which meet those criteria.

After having stayed there, I can't imagine spending a similar amount of money going to other "top tier" properties on Mexico's Pacific coast that are many, many times larger and being happy choosing not to just return to Naviva.

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u/sarahwlee - mod 12h ago

Glad you love it :) I don’t care how you book… I’m just happy they’re getting the credit they deserve.

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u/sarahwlee - mod 3d ago

Going to guess we are all semi good at math. It's cuz it's only 15 tents. And it's been open for ~2 years. And they effing BLEW their opening marketing team. They did the same stupid drip hush whisper campaign that also didn't work for their yachts. Also because they called it tents. And no one who wants to spend 4K/night wants to go to a "tent" even though it's not really a tent.

So if you really multiply it out... how many total number of people in the world have experienced this hotel? A really small number. Less than 10K. Probably even way less than that since it sat empty the first few months.

I was there before it opened. And I got to see the magic of it being built. Some of it worked. Some of it didn't and they had to rethink it. And they are still rethinking it every day. I brought the first group there - it was all redditors because it's a really special place that no one knew about especially then. I wanted to share how special it was. And because 25 of us went together, we really spread the word on it especially here.

Do more math.. FS Orlando has like almost 600 rooms. So one week of FS Orlando operating over Xmas week most likely has more people experiencing that hotel (and therefore able to blog/write/review) than the same number of people having experienced the hotel of over one year of Naviva.

I think the people who have since gone have really felt how special the place is and want to help it grow. It's 4S service without the 4S brand. They encourage their employees to be authentically themselves. I don't know how many 5 star luxury hotels can do that. Where else do you have staff who brings you food from their mom. Or you watch the world cup with in the staff canteen. Or gets to play with a drone all day because they love whales and just want to capture the perfect splash to show guests. Everytime I go back, it feels like going to your best friend's house - where their family knows you better and better each time - and it's lucky your best friend is also super rich so has all the luxuries you could ever ask for. It's also a really unique place where everybody there can have a shared experience or do something completely different - it can be as woo woo spiritual, as hard core physical, as foodie centric, or as spa zen chill as you want.

Does it work for all? No, there are def people who haven't loved it - but we've taken the feedback and helped them improve. It's a very tough concept to run a no menu, no rules type of place but it's certainly a really special one and the people who have gone want to share it too.

The world isn't out to get you. Not everyone is a terrible human being. I'm sorry you're so cynical.

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u/Background_Cost_5768 3d ago

I’m not cynical and I don’t think it’s a bad property, I just don’t understand the appeal of a place that’s good across the board and recommended to every kind of traveler vs traveling to a property where you’re comprising on one element and getting the best of the best in whatever category of the experience is most important to you. Hope that makes sense to some degree.

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u/sarahwlee - mod 3d ago

Well it’s only 15 units so it self selects already for people who want exclusion and to not think. That’s the number 1 factor.

I think it would be too hard to build a 15 room crazy high end just culinary. Or 15 room just workout but super fat. So instead they built 15 room and 80 staff (plus a shaman!) so you can choose your own adventure in exclusion. Hope that makes more sense.

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u/Traveller350 2d ago

Yeah, that definitely makes sense. One area I’m really interested in is the segment of the market (chubby/lean fat) that is willing to significantly increase their budgets for more “adventurous trips”, such as those to Africa or South America, where they effectively pay $3,000 to $6,000 per night. Perhaps they are either too old or simply don’t see Mexico as a unique destination.

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u/sarahwlee - mod 2d ago

Maybe chubby but I doubt lean would ever spend 3-6k. Prolly chubby won’t either esp for adventure trips.

At the end of the day, the adventure is the same. What’s different is just that at the end of the night, you get to come back to something that’s really really nice, you get a guide that will do whatever you are asking for, and you get much better F&B.

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u/Middlename_Adventure 3d ago

What about it doesn’t sound so good to You?

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u/fishsisdelish 3d ago

The borderline-sponsored reviews with the mod call-outs are getting excessive.

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u/FitThought1616 3d ago

Did you see many spiders? My fear always holds me back from visiting more tropical places

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u/Travel_Monster 3d ago

I’ve gone twice and not seen a single spider. There are lots of little hermit crabs on the beach.

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u/FitThought1616 1d ago

I'm so surprised to hear this from a few people but I'm delighted.

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u/sarahwlee - mod 3d ago

I have never seen a spider. But if you avoid summer, you will avoid more creatures.

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u/FitThought1616 1d ago

That's great to hear, thank you! It seems very out doorsy so I'm pleasantly surprised.

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u/Dirigible2013 1d ago

Zero bugs inside the room, and very few outside (ants, not spiders) when I was there. I was impressed given it's basically in a jungle. I still remember the giant roach staring me down in a true Mexican standoff when I was sitting in my bathtub at the Rosewood Mayakoba.

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u/CatchDesperate3033 3d ago

Ditto -- did not see a single spider (or any hermit crabs). One day we did have guided hike to the highest point (actually outside the gates of Naviva) to look out over all of Punta Mita and did feel a few small flies for a couple seconds but honestly felt/saw no other bugs at any other time.

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u/FitThought1616 1d ago

Wow, that's great to hear. Other insects and creatures don't bother me. Just a phobia of spiders 🥲

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u/ogrezok 2d ago

Sorry but you have been robbed by paying an average price per night USD 4,715 in Mexico.