Kempinski Hotel Cancún

What the classifiers highlight

Kempinski, a European group more than 125 years old, took over this 30-year-old, 363-room property from the Ritz-Carlton, keeping its horseshoe shape and a stained-glass ceiling that lights an atrium hung with live plants. Forbes notes the Culinary Center, an open kitchen on the water where guests talk with the chef, and a 5,500-square-foot spa with coed hydrotherapy tubs.