Caribbean resorts in general do not understand pickleball.
In September, I went to Cancun and the Riviera Maya to visit 10 resorts, about 6 of which said they had pickleball. I did not again see the established pickleball places such as Club Med Cancun which I saw a few years ago, or Grand Palladium Riviera Maya which has hosted many groups, or the apparent newcomer to the space, AVA Resort Cancun. There are nifty places like Secrets Moxche with a couple of rooftop courts. I didn't see these places. I went to seek out some lesser known spots in the area, that claimed to have pickleball as part of their amenities. I went with 17 ladies who are part of a travel advisor FAM, which means familiarization. It's a familiarization trip to understand the resorts better. The resorts invite travel advisors to their resorts to get a better understanding of them.
Of course, the highlight and the things I was looking forward to most were seeing the pickleball courts. I had a number of surprising responses when I asked about the pickleball and when I didn't ask about the pickleball. These are various all-inclusive resorts with good ratings in the Riviera Maya and Cancun.
The first one I visited said they had pickleball, and when I investigated, taking the transit over to the pickleball spot, I found a basketball court filled with people celebrating some kind of hockey win. The basketball court had pickleball lines but no nets to be found. Clearly, pickleball is not emphasized there. I suppose if they had good nets, it would be worthwhile for them to set them up and for people to play because the lines were there and they had enough spacing.
Another resort, Royalton Splash, which told me they had pickleball, had turf on one court with pickleball lines, and so the ball bounced kind of strangely, as you could imagine. I give them credit for at least having one pickleball court. We hit some balls while I was on the tour. It was okay. I would say it's still a fun addition for the resort. Here is my instagram reel of the resort, Royalton Splash.
Another resort I visited said they had pickleball. Upon taking the tour, they changed their mind, apparently, and said, "I guess we don't have pickleball." They had tennis courts, but of course, that doesn't make for pickleball, even if you have paddles and put down lines, because the tennis nets are higher, as many people know, than pickleball nets.
Yet another resort we went to for our tour told the group, without me asking, that one of the things that we'll be seeing is the pickleball courts on our tour. As we took the tour, we came to the courts, which were again tennis courts. We were advised that if one wanted to play pickleball, they could use the resort paddles and balls, and there was no mention of pickleball lines. I assumed that they would put down lines if we wanted to, but you know how that goes. The lines would be quite crooked, probably, and again, it's over tennis nets.
A really nice resort that we went to, called Hyatt Zilara, was completely remodeled last year. It's a fabulous-looking resort with, as you can imagine, fresh accommodations and also a nice beach and restaurants. They advise that they don't have pickleball, but I'm a little surprised by that, since most of the places that are rebuilding and remodeling are doing so with some version of pickleball courts.
Surprisingly, the only legitimate set of pickleball courts that I found for the resorts that we had on our tour were actually just adjacent to the Bahia Principe Sian Ka’an resort in Cancun. They are available to be used, apparently, if the group or people plan on organizing that ahead of time, and there would be a fee, of course. It is a country club, basically next to the resort, with four really nice pickleball courts. They happen to be oriented east-west, more or less, which does put the sun into the equation a little bit in the mornings and at night, but I think that would still be a good place to play pickleball. The nets weren't very good, but talking with the manager there, he said it would not be a big deal to get good nets, and I would advise them of that. As far as what good nets they could get, the best nets, of course, are the solid posts that are permanent nets.
We did see one really breathtaking resort, Xcaret Arte, which had no illusions of having pickleball courts, but wow if they do build some at some point, this will be a great pickleball spot! So majestic.
One complex I saw again, outside of the FAM tour, was the Iberostar Playa Paraiso complex, boasting five total resorts. This continues to be a great spot for pickleball, as it was a few years ago when my mom and I visited. It had 4 courts back then; now it has a total of 12: 4 still for the luxury resort on site (Iberostar Joia) and another 8 courts between Maya Suites and Selection Lindo. All good quality courts.
I got a chance to play one of the managers of that resort complex, and I can tell you that he was pretty skilled. Indeed, it seems like people are getting better at pickleball all the time. He and I talked about certain incentives that perhaps I can offer groups to come to play pickleball there. Every time I go to that place I see some new and interesting things that they offer. This time, I saw this open type of cooking setup with this giant pot with delicious-looking ingredients, fresh vegetables, and meats that they were cooking up. I wish I had time to try it. Here is some video of Iberostar.
Aside from the travel advisor FAM resorts we saw, needless to say, I was quite disappointed in the pickleball offerings there at the resorts that we visited. The resort staff generally appreciated my advice and, after I explained what proper pickleball facilities require, agreed that they should not claim to offer pickleball. As more tennis courts (sad to say since I played tennis so many years) are turned into pickleball courts, no doubt resorts will understand the game better.
Planning a pickleball vacation or group trip? Contact Pickleball Travel® at info@pickleballtravel.com and I can help you find a resort that actually understands pickleball.