Marriott International's Caribbean & Latin America division is repositioning food and beverage programming from amenity to anchor, embedding chef-led dinners, indigenous ingredient rituals, and structured sunset ceremonies into the itinerary design of at least six luxury properties across Mexico and the Caribbean.
The move surfaces a pattern worth tracking: luxury hotel operators are increasingly using F&B activations — not room upgrades — as the primary tool for driving longer stays and incremental spend. Marriott's Grand Getaways promotion, which offers up to 10% off premium rooms on minimum two-night bookings at participating properties, is the commercial wrapper around what is otherwise a culinary and cultural programming story.
Where the F&B Plays Land
The sharpest operator signal is at Salterra, a Luxury Collection Resort & Spa in South Caicos, which will host a three-day Food & Wine Experience in November featuring Chef Adrian Forte. The format — an island cookout on a private cay, beachside celebrations, and a chef-led dinner spotlighting Caribbean-sourced ingredients — mirrors what independent boutique operators have used to command premium pricing and earn media without paid advertising. When a brand with 10,000 properties across 146 countries and territories starts executing at that format level, it compresses the differentiation window for independent F&B-forward properties in the same region.
At The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman, the culinary programming is anchored by a private immersion at Blue by Eric Ripert, where guests work alongside the kitchen team. That format — positioning the back-of-house as a guest-facing experience — is increasingly common in high-RevPAR properties and represents a direct revenue opportunity that doesn't require additional covers or expanded dining room capacity.
What Operators Should Watch
The "dusking" trend Marriott is naming — evening rituals centered on the sunset transition — is less a new behavior and more a codification of something independent bars and beach clubs have monetized for years through golden hour programming. W Punta de Mita's weekly Golden Hour ritual at the Living Room Bar combines handcrafted cocktails, sound healing at AWAY Spa, and follow-on dining at Rubra. Solaz in Los Cabos runs monthly Jazz & Wine on Baja Beach events pairing curated wine selections with live music. What Marriott has done is brand the format, systematize it across properties, and build it into the pre-trip marketing narrative — a playbook any multi-unit operator or hotel F&B director can adapt.
For suppliers and beverage brands, the Cacao Ceremony programming at both The Ritz-Carlton Mexico City and W Punta de Mita signals continued operator appetite for indigenous-ingredient storytelling as a menu and experience differentiator. Brands with provenance-forward positioning in cacao, agave, or regional botanicals have a clear entry point into this programming model as sourcing partners or experience co-sponsors.
For operators building out their own beverage and menu trend strategy, the Marriott CLA playbook offers a practical framework: anchor each daypart with a culturally specific ritual, link that ritual to a named culinary or wellness partner, and structure the experience so it generates both direct revenue and owned content. The properties doing this best — Salterra, Blue by Eric Ripert at Grand Cayman, Solaz — are also the ones most likely to earn third-party press placement without a dedicated brand launch or PR budget.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
