Prepared for the Allen Family
Saturday, November 28th to Saturday, December 5th, 2026
Six adults and three children
Hi Jack,
You asked whether there were any Marriott options for the November trip. Options abounded, but most were either sold out, too highly priced compared to Grand Velas, or did not have very good guest reviews. I have put the two that survived beside Grand Velas so you can see all three on the same basis.
As you responded to the all-inclusive nature of Grand Velas, I have kept to all-inclusive on the Marriott side too. Every figure below is a live quote for your dates and your party, with taxes, service and gratuities already inside the number, so there is no bill waiting at the end of the week in any of them.
One note on your son's status. Marriott awards elite night credit only for the room a member personally occupies, not for additional rooms on the same booking. Three rooms across seven nights earns him seven elite nights, not twenty-one. I just want to make sure he is aware. There is a section below setting out what that means for Ambassador.
Thank you for allowing me to help your family plan this adventure.
Warmly,
The short version
The spread is not about whether meals are included, because they are in all three. It is about how new the resort is, how far you sit from the airport, and how much polish you want around you.
At a glance
All three are fully all-inclusive, so unlike the earlier comparison there is no hidden dining bill to add on. These totals are final and directly comparable. Ordered cheapest to dearest.
| Option | The rooms | Total for the week |
|---|---|---|
| The Westin Reserva ConchalPlaya Conchal, Costa Rica | Two Premium Junior Suites and one Family Junior Suite | $16,933 |
| JW Marriott Costa ElenaPlaya El Jobo, Costa Rica | Three Master Swim-Out Suites and one connecting Junior Suite | $28,209 |
| Grand Velas Riviera MayaPlaya del Carmen, Mexico | One two-bedroom family suite and two Pool Oceanfront Suites | $39,593 |
All three house the full party of nine and include every meal, drink, gratuity and tax. What separates them is this.
| Option | Loyalty | Children | Places to eat | Pools | From the airport | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Westin Reserva ConchalPlaya Conchal, Costa Rica | Marriott Bonvoy | Westin Kids Club | Nine | Two | 75 to 90 min | Premium spirits for Titanium |
| JW Marriott Costa ElenaPlaya El Jobo, Costa Rica | Marriott Bonvoy | Family by JW | Eleven | Multiple | About two hours | Brand new: opens September 10th, 2026 |
| Grand Velas Riviera MayaPlaya del Carmen, Mexico | Not Marriott | Ages 4 to 12, plus teens | Eight | Three | About 25 min | $2,400 in spa credits |
All figures cover the full party across seven nights and include local taxes, service charges and gratuities. Flights, spa treatments and excursions are quoted separately. Rates are live quotes held at the time of writing, indicative rather than final, and scrutinised properly once a direction is chosen.
Playa Conchal, Costa Rica · All Included · Marriott Bonvoy
The value option. Playa Conchal is one of the most unusual beaches in Central America, made not of sand but of millions of crushed shells, and the resort sits on 2,400 acres of protected forest above it. Nine restaurants, a lagoon pool, a golf course and a spa, all inside the rate.
It is a Westin rather than a luxury marque, and it does not pretend otherwise. What it offers instead is the same week as Grand Velas for well under half the price. Late November is the very start of the Guanacaste dry season, which is the best weather of the year there.
| Room | Who it is for | Seven nights |
|---|---|---|
| Premium Junior Suite | First couple | $4,984 |
| Premium Junior Suite | Second couple | $4,984 |
| Family Junior Suite | The family of five | $6,965 |
| Seven nights, all nine guests, every meal and drink, all taxes and gratuities | $16,933 | |
Quoted live for November 28th to December 5th, 2026. Taxes, service and gratuities are included in the figures shown. Fully refundable until November 21st, seven days before arrival, which is the most flexible cancellation of the three.
Worth knowing: your son's Titanium status earns him premium spirits here, which standard guests pay extra for. Two things to weigh against the price. There are no ocean view rooms anywhere on the property at any rate, and the children's club takes roughly twelve at a time and fills quickly in season, so it is worth booking places the moment you arrive.
Playa El Jobo, Costa Rica · All Included · Marriott Bonvoy
This is the first all-inclusive JW Marriott anywhere in the world, and it opens on September 10th, eleven weeks before you would arrive. Four hundred and fifteen rooms on the far north Guanacaste coast, eleven restaurants and bars between a Costa Rican kitchen, a Japanese room, an Italian and a seafood house, a culinary school, a spa, and a children's club built around the landscape rather than indoors.
The configuration here is the nicest of the three. Each couple takes their own Master Swim-Out Suite, stepping straight from the terrace into water, and the three children have a connecting room of their own beside their parents rather than sharing with them. (Subject to availability at time of booking.)
| Room | Who it is for | Seven nights |
|---|---|---|
| Master Swim-Out Suite, King | First couple | $7,717 |
| Master Swim-Out Suite, King | Second couple | $7,717 |
| Master Swim-Out Suite, King | Third couple | $7,717 |
| Junior Suite, two queens, connecting | The three children | $5,058 |
| Seven nights, all nine guests, every meal and drink, all taxes and gratuities | $28,209 | |
Quoted live for November 28th to December 5th, 2026. Taxes, service and gratuities are included in the figures shown. Marriott Bonvoy points and elite nights are earned on this booking.
Worth knowing, and worth saying plainly: the resort will be eleven weeks old when you walk in. Everything will be new and nothing will be worn, but there is no guest history to judge it by, and new resorts occasionally open with a venue or two still finding their feet. That said, it was formerly a Dreams resort and reviewed strongly before it closed for a $60M renovation. It also sits about two hours from Liberia airport, the longest transfer of the three. If being among the first through the door appeals, this is the most interesting week on the table.
Playa del Carmen, Mexico · All Included
The one you already liked, and still the finest of the three. Grand Velas is really three resorts in One. Zen Grand sits inside the mangrove jungle with its pool beneath the canopy, Ambassador is directly on the sand, and Grand Class is adults-preferred and oceanfront. Everyone can be together, and anyone who wants a quiet hour can walk ten minutes and find one.
Eight restaurants are included, among them Cocina de Autor, a Basque tasting room by Bruno Oteiza and Mikel Alonso that carries the resort's Five Diamond rating, then Piaf for French, Sen Lin for Asian, Lucca for Italian and Frida for Mexican. Premium international spirits throughout, a butler concierge, and a baby concierge for the family suite who arrives ahead of you with a teepee, beach toys, children's robes and a turndown for the little ones each evening.
| Room | Who it is for | Seven nights |
|---|---|---|
| Ambassador Two-Bedroom Family Suite, Ocean View | The family of five | $16,484 |
| Ambassador Pool Oceanfront Suite | First couple | $11,555 |
| Ambassador Pool Oceanfront Suite | Second couple | $11,555 |
| Seven nights, all nine guests, every meal and drink, all taxes and gratuities | $39,593 | |
Quoted live for November 28th to December 5th, 2026 on the seven night long stay rate. Taxes and gratuities are included. Fully refundable until November 21st.
Grand Velas holds AAA Five Diamond status and the service is a tier above both Costa Rica options, particularly the restaurants. And it is twenty five minutes from Cancun rather than two hours from Liberia, on a route flown from Tulsa several times a day. What you are buying is polish and a short travel day.
The one thing it does not do is earn your son anything. Grand Velas is independently owned and sits outside Marriott Bonvoy entirely.
The credits are worth counting. This rate carries $50 of spa credit per adult per night, which across six adults and seven nights comes to $2,100 in treatments, plus $300 of resort credit across the three suites and a complimentary photography session. That is roughly $2,400 of value inside the rate, and it is the sort of thing that does not appear on a public booking page.
On your son's status
Ambassador Elite requires both 100 qualifying nights and $23,000 of qualifying spend in a calendar year. The spend side either of the Marriott options here would go a long way toward. The nights side is where it is worth being careful before you plan around it.
The part that catches people out
Marriott awards elite night credit only for the guest room the member personally pays for and occupies. Points can be earned on up to three rooms. Elite nights cannot. This is set out in Marriott's own terms and it applies at every property, all-inclusive resorts included.
Titanium begins at 75 nights. If he is sitting at 93 or above, this week carries him to Ambassador and the decision is straightforward. If he is nearer 80, it will not, and it would be a shame to shape a family holiday around a target that stays out of reach.
It is one number and he will know it. Worth checking before you weigh the three options against each other, because if Ambassador is not reachable this year then all that is really at stake is points and a good rate, and Grand Velas comes back into contention on its own merits.
Westin Reserva Conchal
Standard guests pay extra for premium brands here. Platinum and above do not. At Titanium that is a real, daily benefit across seven nights rather than a token one.
JW Marriott Costa Elena
A brand new JW earns full points and elite nights from the day it opens. Being among the first guests at the first all-inclusive JW in the world is also, for anyone who follows the programme, a reasonably good story.
One caution worth passing on. At all-inclusive Marriott properties generally, elite recognition is thinner than at a city hotel. There are no suite upgrades in the usual sense and no lounge breakfast benefit, because breakfast is already included. Marriott's published elite benefits at all-inclusive resorts amount to a weekly cocktail party, discounts on premium alcohol and incidentals, and access to certain areas for Platinum and above. Useful, but not the package he is used to.
Where we go from here
Nothing here needs deciding at once. All three can be held, and both the Grand Velas and Conchal rates are refundable in full until November 21st, seven days before you would travel.
If the priority is value
$16,933 for the week, everything in, and $22,660 less than Grand Velas. The trade is a Westin rather than a luxury marque, no ocean view rooms, and an hour and a half from the airport.
If the priority is something new
$28,209, the best room configuration of the three, and the first all-inclusive JW anywhere. The trade is an eleven week old resort with no guest history and a two hour transfer.
If the priority is the week itself
$39,593, the best food and service of the three, twenty five minutes from the airport, and $2,400 of credits inside the rate. The trade is that it earns your son nothing.
Before any of it
If Ambassador is genuinely in reach this year, the two Marriott options carry real weight. If it is not, this becomes a straight comparison of three weeks on their own merits.
What happens next