Group briefing / updated 2026-10-02
All figures are per person. Excludes personal spending, travel insurance, tips beyond the quoted dinners, anything bought on the ground. Peso figures converted at 16.97 to 17.18 MXN/USD.
The one traveller leaving after Mexico City pays $4,889, almost as much as the $5,024 paid by the six doing the whole eleven days, because the MEX to DTW Delta nonstop is $1,893 one way. Connections that day run $774 to $956. Taking one saves about $1,040 and brings them to roughly $3,850. This used to apply to two people; the drop on 12 October left one.
Mexico City is booked. The Fives is still only held in principle, verified on the resort's own engine.
| Property | Dates | Found | Whole place | Each |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Casa KM Del Valle Norte, 4BR, 4.5 baths, private rooftop |
Tue 29 Dec to Sun 3 Jan 6 guests |
booked 2026-10-18 |
$3,837 | $639 |
| Two Bedroom Oceanview Residence The Fives Oceanfront Puerto Morelos, 1421 sq ft, sleeps 8 |
Sun 3 Jan to Fri 8 Jan 6 adults |
10 units left 32% off, plus 5% loyalty |
$5,323 | $887 |
Everywhere we might eat, drink or go is plotted on the map, colour coded and with the walk from the house.
4 bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms: king, queen, queen, full, and every bedroom has its own full bathroom. Two couples take the king and one queen, both with their own balcony and bathroom. The two singles take the other queen and bedroom 4. Nobody shares a bedroom and nobody shares a bathroom. Checkout is 11:00 and the rooftop is private.
View Casa KM · View The Fives · Full booking details
The beach is cheaper than we had budgeted. The engine prints "Taxes included" and shows the VAT inside the total. Earlier planning grossed these quotes up by 21% on top, overstating the beach lodging by about $250 each. Do not gross up engine quotes.
Mexico City is committed. Free for 24 hours after booking, then partial refund only until 16:00 on 22 December 2026, listing local time. The free window has already closed. Until 22 December only a partial refund is available and after that nothing, so the money is committed. The second payment of $2,251.42 lands on 14 December, eight days ahead of that cliff.
Every leg is nonstop. Priced 2026-09-25, nothing booked. Delta where Delta flies it.
| Date | Route | Flight | Times | Per person |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tue 29 Dec | DTW to MEX all 7 | DL 646 | 08:40 to 12:30 | $1,246 |
| Sun 3 Jan | MEX to CUN the 6 continuing to the beach | Aeromexico | 13:55 to 17:33 | $184 |
| Sun 3 Jan | MEX to DTW the 1 leaving after the city | Delta | 13:55 to 19:15 | $1,893 |
| Fri 8 Jan | CUN to DTW the 6 from the beach | DL 1911 | 15:15 to 19:10 | $493 |
| Your flights, doing both legs | $1,923 | |||
| Your flights, flying home from Mexico City | $3,139 | |||
The stated preference cannot be met on the outbound. Mexico City is 4h50 nonstop and 7 to 8 hours connecting, so every afternoon departure from Detroit lands between 21:50 and 01:15. Checked flying out 28 December instead: same result, plus an extra Airbnb night. Decision is to keep the 08:40 nonstop, because 29 December is one of only two free evenings in Mexico City and trading it for $728 per person is a poor deal.
Exactly one nonstop per day on roughly 130 seats, in holiday week, and we need 8 of them. Seat availability is the real risk, not fare. Book before watching the price.
Three blocks: flights, the city, the beach. Full line by line breakdown on the costs page.
| Block | Doing both legs | City only |
|---|---|---|
| Flights | $1,923 | $3,139 |
| Mexico City | $1,750 | $1,750 |
| Riviera Maya | $1,351 | n/a |
| Per person | $5,024 | $4,889 |
All-inclusive works out to $84.30 per adult per night at the current discount, so full board costs only $98 more each than room-only plus eating in the village. That gap used to be $239 each. Break-even is about two resort cocktails a day. Room-only is still the pick given the 16 minute village walk, but it is now close enough to put to the group.
The first five are this week, and the first two because waiting makes them worse rather than just more expensive. Everything else is on the to do page.