Mexico’s New Luxury Resort Is Latest For Lifestyle Brand Habitas

Published December 17, 2022

Habitas began with a single hotel in the popular touristic town of Tulum, in Mexico’s Riviera Maya on the Yucatan Peninsula (south of Cancun), in 2016. The group has since quickly expanded globally with properties now open in New York’s Hudson Valley, Namibia, Saudi Arabia (two), Morocco, a second location in the Yucatan, and has several more openings under construction, including another Morocco location, Bhutan, Costa Rica and Los Cabos, Mexico.

But the big news is San Miguel de Allende, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in central Mexico, famed for its Baroque and Neoclassical architecture, with a historic city center full of well-preserved 17th and 18th century buildings. A thriving art culture has helped make it a popular ex-pat community, and this is where the newest Habitas is opening in a few days, in time for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. The resort is just ten minutes from the historic downtown, but set apart in a natural area, with shuttle service included in room rates.

The Habitas brand has quickly developed a loyal following, especially among Millennials, and is often described as a “disruptor” that is “shaking up” or “changing the paradigm” in the hotel industry. But that wasn’t the goal, according to founder Oliver Ripley, a wealthy entrepreneur and philanthropist (and also founder of the Ocean Group investment company) who simply created his hotels in the image he personally wanted a hotel to be like, more communal and social. That’s why Habitas calls all of its properties “Houses” instead of “Resorts,” even though the lodging is almost exclusively in stand alone units, not a main house design.

The company line is that “Habitas’ mission is to change people’s lives through creating deeper human connections and to make a lasting impact on local communities through education, employment and the creation of sustainable micro-economies.”

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