4th UPDATE RE RECENT HEALTH CONCERNS (posted May 5th & 6th)
[Please see below for previously posted infomation.]

We just thought these were worth passing along, as an indication of what medical experts and health officials are saying about the situation now. As quoted here:

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he will ask the governments that have implemented trade and travel restrictions to reverse the policy because they lack a clear scientific basis...

Dr. David Nabarro, senior UN co-ordinator for influenza, said countries must explain to WHO their rationale for such measures, and said that their effectiveness is minimal at best. "We want to be very clear that the World Health Organization is not recommending travel restrictions related to the outbreak of this novel influenza," Nabarro said.

Then from the report US no longer advising schools close for swine flu:

The government last week advised schools to shut down for about two weeks if there were suspected cases of swine flu. Hundreds of schools around the country have followed that guidance and closed schools.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Tuesday that the swine flu virus had turned out to be milder than initially feared and the government decided to change its advice. Sebelius says parents should still make sure to keep sick children at home. Those with flulike symptoms should stay home for seven days...


3rd UPDATE RE RECENT HEALTH CONCERNS (posted May 1st)
First off, again we thank you again for your patience and understanding in this situation. We cannot attempt to review all the news developments here, though we would like to say we are encouraged by the now numerous reports, such as the ones here, here, here, or this one -- Scientists see this flu strain as relatively mild -- in which doctors, researchers & health officials suggest the situation might not be nearly as dangerous as has generally been thought, as well as the one here, where health officials emphasize that the results have been initially more shocking in Mexico simply because, in this culture, ''People wait too long to go to doctors''.

It's important to stress that life continues pretty much as normal in Playa and the region, as evidenced by the photos from April 30th we have posted here. It is especially important not to be misled by frequent media reports about everything being shut down. The picture seems to be stabilizing with respect to travel, as well, as we have no new advisories and WHO continues to urge against things like travel restrictions, and entities within the industry are more and more in consensus as to waiver periods and the like.

In keeping with that, we are slightly extending our hiatus on new bookings until Monday the 4th in order to contact our guests regarding the following changes:

If you confirmed a stay with us with a May arrival date, you may
1. reconfirm your plans (accepting the situation as it is)
2. rebook your arrangements for another time, receiving 100% credit for what you have paid, or
3. cancel your stay and receive a refund in the normal way (subject to the new notice requirements laid out in our email to you).

Furthermore, in your case, we will apply retroactively to the cost of your stay any additional discount warranted by our change in discount date ranges (see below).

If you confirmed a stay with us with a June arrival date, the first cancellation notification deadline is automatically waived for your stay, and you need only observe the second cancellation notification deadline. (So this will allow you 2 additional weeks to monitor the situation and decide how you'd like to proceed.)

If you confirmed a stay with us with a July arrival date, or one beyond July, the normal terms still apply to your stay, but those whose stays involve designated holiday period dates near the beginning of July are not subjec to the normally stricter holiday cancellation notification deadlines (only the regular ones apply).

We are also announcing today that the new & improved discounts which were previously scheduled to begin June 1st will actually begin today, May 1st (and as noted above, will be applied retroactively to any qualifying stay, for bookings already made).

Finally, we will be updating the terms on our site over this weekend, for bookings made from this point forward, taking the opportunity during the booking hiatus to get done something we've been meaning to do for a while, anyway.

Well we hope this is clear, but again, please continue to monitor this page and your email for more information!


2nd UPDATE RE RECENT HEALTH CONCERNS (posted April 29th)

There is not much more news to report from this morning from the travel or more general perspective, though there is now the saddening story of the first fatality in the US -- a child of just 2, in Texas -- now having been confirmed (as reported (here, for example).

In that report, the head of the CDC comments:

As a parent and a pediatrician, my heart goes out to the family ... I expect we'll see more cases, and as we do, we'll learn more about this, and if there needs to be more stringent or less stringent recommendations, we'll be making those.

He later noted, in terms of keeping perspective:

Seasonal flu each year causes tens of thousands of deaths in this country -- on average, about 36,000 deaths. And so this flu virus in the United States, as we're looking at it, is not acting very differently from what we saw during the flu season.

Meanwhile, the WHO has not again raised its alert level for a possible pandemic after Monday's increase, as some reports suggested it might, and has maintained its position against restrictions on travel, stressing their lack of effectiveness in such situations, the potentially dangerously misleading sense that they are effective at a time when accurate information is most necessary, and the increase they tend to cause in terms of panic. This even as Canada, for example, followed the US in advising against non-essential travel at this time.

There is some confusion, apparently cause by some ambiguous wording on the US State Department site, about closings. Basically everything in the Playa area has continued to operate as usual, with the notable exception of schools, as the (national) school system was a couple of days ago announced as closed until the May 6th date being viewed again by governmental officials, as well as many airlines and tour operators (and also us) as a return to service and normal operations date.

Of course again we realize that date may change, depending on how the situation develops, and we continue constantly monitoring it and will continue to post further updates here, as well as proceed with communications with our guests via email as best we can.


1st UPDATE RE RECENT HEALTH CONCERNS (posted April 27th)

As of this afternoon, the World Health Organization has updated the current situation to level 4 in its alert system (here) designed to monitor the possibility or threat of a pandemic developing. Interestingly, and in spite of the nature of many reports, they nevertheless recommend ''not to close borders and not to restrict international travel'' except (of course) for individuals who are already showing symptoms of illness.

However, In keeping with the announcement posted just moments ago from the US Center for Disease Control (here), which does in fact ("out of an abundance of caution," according to CDC Director Dr Richard Besser) recommend against any non-essential travel to Mexico, we are, in accordance with the information in our terms, offering no-penalty rebooking to any guests who have already confirmed a stay with us for arrival prior to May 6th. That date may of course be updated as the situation develops and such advisories are likewise updated, so if you are a guest who fits that description, please monitor this link and/or contact us via email if you have questions or concerns on that point.

We have also announced a brief hiatus in taking new reservations, which we intend to resume on May 1st. This we think is advisable simply to give us and those interested in cancelling, reconfirming or rebooking their stays the opportunity to do so, first.

However we will remain in operation throughout this period, in part simply because a number of guests have already written us to reconfirm their intentions to maintain their bookings and visit the region, and we do not think it our place to refuse them, since after all they do have confirmed stays with us and the situation in Playa otherwise is continuing as usual. Other guests will be asked to clarify with us their intentions via email correspondence. during this hiatus.


RECENT HEALTH CONCERNS (posted April 27th)

Like some of you, we are monitoring the situation regarding the recent international outbreak of influenza very closely. We are paying particularly close attention to governmental health agencies such as the United Nations World Health Organization, the Center for Disease Control in the US, and Canada's Public Health Agency, to see what announcements they come out with and what advice they give, as they are the recognized experts on such matters, of course, and we have seen on past occasions that the media tends to exaggerate the attention-getting ''new crisis'' aspect of some stories, especially about Mexico. (The recent wave of frightening reports regarding violence related to efforts to combat drug trafficking is one prominent example of that; another was the preposterous coverage a few years ago regarding Hurricane Wilma, in which it was frequently claimed that Playa del Carmen and the rest of the area had been ''destroyed.'')

It is important to note that, as of the time of this writing, at least, none of the above countries or health agencies have advised against travel to Mexico or any of the other areas or countries involved in the outbreak. Indeed, they have on different occasions explicitly rejected such a move as unwarranted (the most recent of those being this morning, from the head of the CDC).

Thus we continue to monitor the situation and await further news but continue to operate in the expected way, as we would for example if there was a storm system in the Caribbean somewhere that had not (yet) developed into a major storm headed for our specific vicinity and thus triggered such warnings, or as we did through that recent security scare, when the relevant governmental authorities also did not issue warnings against travel to Mexico.

Now of course if in this situation (like those), such warnings are later issued by such authorities, we would, as per the conditions & restrictions shown on our site and referenced at several points during the booking process, offer to waive our regular cancellation policy and rebook free of charge any stays for any guests who had booked a stay with us for the period in question prior to the issuing of such warnings. (This would then be the type of situation covered by the final section at that link.) Naturally we hope that the situation will not progress to the point where those entities decide they need to issue such warnings, and that travel to the area will not in general be interrupted or affected by the situation, but again, we continue to monitor things very closely, and will, as per those terms, announce such a waiver period here on our site, if/when it does.