Anyone concerned about going to Mexico?

[Tuggernaut]

FYI, if you do an Internet search for Murder Rate by Country, most results indicate that the murder rate per 100k population for Mexico is 2 to 3 times greater than that of the USA. Some standouts in the Americas for very high murder rates appear to be relatively small countries and they are Ecuador, Haiti, Jamaica, Honduras, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. It appears that data is not available for Venezuela. For any given country that has vacation resorts, the percentage of resort properties that are all-inclusive may be a rough indicator of how safe the country is. I think 100% of the resorts in Jamaica are AI. Danger is not necessarily confined to murder. There have been reports of sickness where methanol has been substituted for ethanol (vodka, etc..) in mixed drinks.

 

[WorldT]

I will only stay in an AI resort if the price is comparable to a non-AI resort. As this will not happen, I don't stay in AI resorts. All my Mexico trips have been in non-AI resorts and Airbnb. In addition, I rent a car and explore the place.

 

[dioxide45]

We've mainly only stayed at non AI in Cancun. With the Westin Cancun going AI the problem is that there are so few non-AI options now. For timeshares, only the Westin Lagunamar is non-AI. Staying at one of the Royals as an owner or on an owner stay can avoid AI. AI is the fastest growing travel segment right now. More and more resorts are converting with the big hotel companies starting to get into the AI game.

That said, we are trying out an AI for the first time in Cancun in April for seven nights. That might be a mistake, we might go hungry. Though it was mostly free, so we may not complain too much.

 

[WorldT]

We've mainly only stayed at non AI in Cancun. With the Westin Cancun going AI the problem is that there are so few non-AI options now. For timeshares, only the Westin Lagunamar is non-AI. Staying at one of the Royals as an owner or on an owner stay can avoid AI. AI is the fastest growing travel segment right now. More and more resorts are converting with the big hotel companies starting to get into the AI game.

That said, we are trying out an AI for the first time in Cancun in April for seven nights. That might be a mistake, we might go hungry. Though it was mostly free, so we may not complain too much.

That is my kind of AI stay.
For non-AI, in addition to Lagunamar, Royal Cancun is still non-AI via interval.

 

[daviator]

We've mainly only stayed at non AI in Cancun. With the Westin Cancun going AI the problem is that there are so few non-AI options now. For timeshares, only the Westin Lagunamar is non-AI. Staying at one of the Royals as an owner or on an owner stay can avoid AI. AI is the fastest growing travel segment right now. More and more resorts are converting with the big hotel companies starting to get into the AI game.

That said, we are trying out an AI for the first time in Cancun in April for seven nights. That might be a mistake, we might go hungry. Though it was mostly free, so we may not complain too much.

We've been all over the world and have never done AI. It always looks like such a ripoff... the cost is staggering and the food likely mediocre. Plus it makes it untenable to try any of the local restaurants since you've already paid for food at your resort (I am DEFINITELY too cheap to pay for the same meal twice!) We aren't the type to spend a week in a foreign country and never leave our resort... that's not tourism. You might as well be in Schenectady. And I am not going to travel to anyplace where it's too dangerous to leave the resort.

So it's disappointing that so many places are going to that model, and disappointing that so many people are apparently willing to pay ridiculous prices for it, which just encourages more properties to do it. We aren't big drinkers, I supposed if you like to drink all day long, then AI can start to be a better deal.

 

[timsi]

FYI, if you do an Internet search for Murder Rate by Country, most results indicate that the murder rate per 100k population for Mexico is 2 to 3 times greater than that of the USA. Some standouts in the Americas for very high murder rates appear to be relatively small countries and they are Ecuador, Haiti, Jamaica, Honduras, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. It appears that data is not available for Venezuela. For any given country that has vacation resorts, the percentage of resort properties that are all-inclusive may be a rough indicator of how safe the country is. I think 100% of the resorts in Jamaica are AI. Danger is not necessarily confined to murder. There have been reports of sickness where methanol has been substituted for ethanol (vodka, etc..) in mixed drinks.

The murder rate in Cancun's hotel zone has always been quite low, particularly for tourists. It is even lower than the average U.S. city. Additionally, it appears that efforts against the cartels have yielded some results; Mexico’s overall murder rate has decreased by approximately 30% over the past year. Currently, Mexico City seems to have a lower murder rate than Washington D.C.

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

We've mainly only stayed at non AI in Cancun. With the Westin Cancun going AI the problem is that there are so few non-AI options now.

For timeshares, only the Westin Lagunamar is non-AI. Staying at one of the Royals as an owner or on an owner stay can avoid AI.

Hi @dioxide45

I realize this thread is in the Vistana / Sheraton / Westin Forum - however
the following is a list RCI listings in Cancun Area -Riviera Maya - Cozulmel that don't require All Inclusive [ based on using the RCI filter option]
and currently show availability.[ Feb 28-2026]

I have not listed any Vidanta brands & I have only listed RCI codes for 7 night stays.I also skipped Beachscape Kin Ha Villas & Suites Cancun due to
the price point of the Extra Vacations listed.

D036 -The Royal Cancun
3155-Sunset Marina Resort & Yacht Club
7466-Sunset Fisherman's Spa Resort [Playa Del Carmen]
2465-Sunset Royal Beach Resort
6678-WIVC Coral Mar
2662-Raintree's Club Regina Cancun [ same driveway as Westin Cancun]
2451 & DW37 Coral Princess Hotel & Dive Resort [Cozume-ferry from Play Del Carmen]
D709-Hotel Emperio Cancun- Extra Vacation / Rentals [1bd -2bd and hotel rooms]
6723-Worldmark Isla Mujeres- Extra Vacation / Rentals - [ferry from Puerto Juarez] currently shows studios.
DW08-Villa Del Palmar Cancun - near Puerto Juarez & ferry
3446-Krystal International Vacation Club Cancun
DZ34-All Ritmo Cancun Resort-Extra Vacation / Rentals { North of Puerto Juarez ]
DY40-Hotel Adhara Hacienda - near Puerto Juarez
FB83-Residences by the Fives - Playa Del Carmen
DZ86-Heavenly Suites-Extra Vacations / Rentals
DY10-Residence Inn by Marriott-Playa del Carmen- studios -2 bedrooms-Extra Vacation / Rentals
DW60-Residence Inn by Marriott-Cancun - studios- Extra Vacations / Rentals

A couple of other resorts that do not require All Inclusive are : [but currently show no inventory]
6701-El Cid La Cieba Beach - Cozumel - studios were showing fall 2025
DO32-The Royal Haciendas - Playa Del Carmen

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

We are currently in Puerto Valarta [ Sat Feb 28-2026 ]
Today's PV Weather :

9 am -Sunny and 75 F with an afternoon high today of 81 F

Tomorrow we change locations and check into RCI 2659 Raintree's Club Regina .
Since Tuesday we have been at a very nice boutique hotel www.casaritual.mx in the PV Marina area.
We have the only 1 bedroom (with a kitchen.)

 

[pammex]

Anything can happen at anytime anywhere. I live outside Guadalajara and am headed to PV Raintree resort tomorrow by car. At this point everything is back to normal in Jalisco. No foreigners were targeted or hurt. Only one civilian was hurt in crossfire. Military and cartel were of course injured and or killed..
My thoughts are all is normal and fine now. Surely one can go to Mexico. I would advise staying alert and aware of your surroundings.

 

[fountaindw]

I exchanged for a week at the Westin Cabo in November. I've stayed there before, and it is my favorite of the Cabo timeshares. I'll keep a watchful eye on the news but am planning to keep my vacation plans in tact if at all possible.

 

[Panzerman45]

Just GO and have a nice time. The media plays it all up to get you to watch. There are tens of millions of CNN and FOX news disciples out there that follow no other news sources. My wife and I just returned from the Middle East (Qatar), right before the festivities started a day ago. If we were still there we would just stay till it blows over.
People are very paranoid with a plethora of excuses not to do things. Especially applies to Americans.

 

[Sierrajean]

Just wondering what anyone thinks about future visits to Westin villas in Mexico or Mexico vacations in general in light of the recent cartel violence. Is anyone canceling their vacations or going elsewhere in the near term and intermediate term like spring and summer?
Good luck to all and safe travels wherever you go.

We canceled our April trip to Cabo. Don’t think we’ll be going back to MX. for a few years and maybe not even then.

 

[ForeverYoung]

We look forward to our 2 week Cabo San Lucas trip every Easter! …no matter what!

 

[geist1223]

We canceled our April trip to Cabo. Don’t think we’ll be going back to MX. for a few years and maybe not even then.

How sad and unnecessary. We do not plan on changing any of our plans for visiting Los Cabos.

 

[cohenru]

We are planning to fly into Cabo tomorrow and will be there for 13 days. Originally, we were flying Cabo to MXC and take the bus to Puebla. We scraped those plans and staying in Cabo only. Anyone in Cabo now, how is it ?

 

[Jimster480]

Just GO and have a nice time. The media plays it all up to get you to watch. There are tens of millions of CNN and FOX news disciples out there that follow no other news sources. My wife and I just returned from the Middle East (Qatar), right before the festivities started a day ago. If we were still there we would just stay till it blows over.
People are very paranoid with a plethora of excuses not to do things. Especially applies to Americans.

I have a friend who lives in Mexico and he himself is stuck inside as there is constant gunfire outside especially once it gets dark. He said it is extremely dangerous and that everyone is staying inside and only going out for supplies if they need them. Schools are closed and he is in Tamaulipas which is not even where the fighting is reported.
However he said everything will blow over in some weeks he thinks.

 

[Larry M]

I’ve felt the same way in the 15+ years of ownership. Plenty of other places to get a dose of sun and unique atmosphere..

We did have a Disney Cruise that made a stop in Cozumel, and that was an overall good experience, but it did not increase my desire to spend a full week in a timeshare there.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The Cozumel port is not the same as Cozumel. If you walk inland a few blocks, there's an 8-foot corrugated, galvanized fence. If you find a spot where it's coming loose from a post and you can sneak through, you will find an entirely different world.

 

[Ckhawaii]

I have a friend who lives in Mexico and he himself is stuck inside as there is constant gunfire outside especially once it gets dark. He said it is extremely dangerous and that everyone is staying inside and only going out for supplies if they need them. Schools are closed and he is in Tamaulipas which is not even where the fighting is reported.
However he said everything will blow over in some weeks he thinks.

That is like a normal day in Tamaulipas. I have family there and will never visit them .

 

[easyrider]

FYI, if you do an Internet search for Murder Rate by Country, most results indicate that the murder rate per 100k population for Mexico is 2 to 3 times greater than that of the USA. Some standouts in the Americas for very high murder rates appear to be relatively small countries and they are Ecuador, Haiti, Jamaica, Honduras, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. It appears that data is not available for Venezuela. For any given country that has vacation resorts, the percentage of resort properties that are all-inclusive may be a rough indicator of how safe the country is. I think 100% of the resorts in Jamaica are AI. Danger is not necessarily confined to murder. There have been reports of sickness where methanol has been substituted for ethanol (vodka, etc..) in mixed drinks.

It's all true, but the fact is the Mexican gangs primarily kill Mexicans as they don't violently target tourists for the most part. A few years ago some gang members killed tourists at the border and the cartel gave the gun men up to authorities and apologized.

AI
How many American tourists were killed in Mexico last year?

The US State Department reports that 120 Americans of the 5.7 million who visited Mexico last year were murdered, which is a rate of 2.1 of 100,000 visitors. Regardless of whether they were or weren't connected to drug trafficking, which is often not clear, it's less than half the US national rate.

Bill

 

[MJCaptain1]

I found this post by a prominent historian illuminating, in terms of another perspective about how to view what happened in Mexico this past week. Thought some of you here might appreciate it as well:

Jermaine Fowler

February 23, 2026 (Monday) Yesterday in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, someone posted from their resort: “We are safe and sipping margaritas. Our resort is isolated but we see the smoke from the...

www.facebook.com

In the past five or six years, we’ve been all over Mexico, Cabo, Nuevo Vallarta, Puerto Vallarta, Riviera Maya, Cancun, Tulum Playa Del Carmen we never had any trouble people are great, the sun is great, beaches are great. We’re planning on going there the last week of November and we look forward to that. Just check all your cities in America. How many of them had up rises violet protesters and people don’t stop going. The people in Mexico need to tourist dollars they are not the problem.
My wife and I the following year of 911 we flew from Philadelphia to California and we were one of five people that were on that plane we felt like millionaires that we owned the plane. That’s what Mexico probably will feel like when we’re there. Sure we will watch the news and if there’s really some big uprising in Mexico, maybe we’ll change our mind but I don’t think so.
Captain MJ

 

[WorldT]

I have a friend who lives in Mexico and he himself is stuck inside as there is constant gunfire outside especially once it gets dark. He said it is extremely dangerous and that everyone is staying inside and only going out for supplies if they need them. Schools are closed and he is in Tamaulipas which is not even where the fighting is reported.
However he said everything will blow over in some weeks he thinks.

Tamaulipas has always been dangerous. Even then, it depends on which part of the state. Some parts of the state are worse than others. It shouldn't be surprising as it is on the border with the USA.
Of course there is going to be some agitation in an area with a lot of cartel activity even when the actual fighting is taking place in a different part of the country.

You started out speaking about the whole country of Mexico and only narrowed it down to Tamaulipas later. You need to understand that just like travel in the USA, not every place has the same level of risk in the entire country. It is NOT accurate to generalize what is happening in a city in Mexico as applicable to the whole country.

 

[Jimster480]

Tamaulipas has always been dangerous. Even then, it depends on which part of the state. Some parts of the state are worse than others. It shouldn't be surprising as it is on the border with the USA.
Of course there is going to be some agitation in an area with a lot of cartel activity even when the actual fighting is taking place in a different part of the country.

You started out speaking about the whole country of Mexico and only narrowed it down to Tamaulipas later. You need to understand that just like travel in the USA, not every place has the same level of risk in the entire country. It is NOT accurate to generalize what is happening in a city in Mexico as applicable to the whole country.

Tamaulipas I don't think is more dangerous than other specific areas of the country unless they are purely tourist spots. My friend who lives there (Tampico) thinks that Mexico City and other bigger cities are way more dangerous, he and his family avoids traveling to those places. He says it is around 5-6 hours into Mexico, it is not the border town where his brother lives (Matamoros).
That is true, but there are several bulletins about the fighting. As time goes on it will change, but to say that it would be fine to travel while there is a cartel war going on just because you are going to a resort I Think is wrong.
However each person gets to make their own decisions.

 

[JohnnyO]

We are planning to fly into Cabo tomorrow and will be there for 13 days. Originally, we were flying Cabo to MXC and take the bus to Puebla. We scraped those plans and staying in Cabo only. Anyone in Cabo now, how is it ?

We just got back from Cabo on Tuesday. We were there when all the smoke was flying in PV. We were at the Hilton Club La Pacifica, then the Waldorf Astoria and then back to the Hilton Club LP because the flights were too full on Sunday March 1st. People talked about what was going on and weren't scared as Cabo was very peaceful as usual. The only precaution we took was the DW wouldn't drive with me to go diving at Cabo Pulma which has been on my bucket list forever. This was because we would have had to leave when it was dark at 5 am to make an 8 am boat. We finally got clarification of the "shelter in place" and "avoid nighttime driving" advisory which didn't include south Baja. We did end up driving to Todos Santos and La Paz and all was well. I ended up diving at Pelican Rock and Land's End by the Arch and it was ok but certainly not Cabo Pulma. We have several trips planned to Cabo area in 2027. It's so convenient with a direct, non-stop, under 2 hr flight from Phoenix.

 

[GT75]

We are currently in Cabo leaving tomorrow, arriving on Saturday, February 21. We have been coming to Cabo for over 10 years now. To me, everything is how it has been for the last 10+ years. We go about our normal activities visiting our favorite restaurants and finding new ones. This also includes some day trips. We will again be back in late April/early May. Each person must evaluate what they are comfortable with. For us, we believe Cabo to be safe for us to travel to and enjoy.