Remote workers flee luxury beaches while waiting for vaccines

Source: Auberge Resorts Collection

When Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that California would enter its tightest closure so far in mid-December, some of its wealthiest residents ran the other way, as far as they could, to places like sunny Belize. . Others, who had seen the writing on the wall long in advance, had long since passed away.

Unlike the first wave of Covid-19 closures, which sent people on road trips and second homes, the second wave has triggered worldwide the desire for more permanent, warmer and more distant getaways.

In the UK and Europe, the rich have flown to climates as warm as Dubai, the Maldives and Spain to escape winter closure, says Justin Huxter, founder of the British headquarters Cartology trips. Americans have more options for tropical bunkers: Hawaii has eased its travel restrictions and the borders are open to Mexico, Costa Rica, Belize and many parts of the Caribbean. After all, what good is a second home on Lake Tahoe or Napa, California, when nearby ski lifts, wineries, and restaurants are periodically inaccessible, as they were for much of December and January?

Read more: So you want to ski during Covid-19? What you need to know

“People with blockage fatigue have realized that they can continue living in places with much less stress and much more room to breathe,” says Jack Ezon, founder of Embark further. You’re watching East Coast customers flock to luxury hotels and resorts in Florida, South Carolina and the Turks and Caicos Islands, while West Coast guests flee to Arizona, Puerto Vallarta and Cape Town in Mexico, anywhere. place with an equally good climate and Wi-Fi.

According to him, the average cost is $ 70,000 a month, with most customers booking stays of two to four months.

Discounts for extended stays, the reopening of certain international borders and a better awareness of the precautions to be taken when traveling have also allowed for a second-wave exodus. While social isolation in a five-star complex may have been a novelty at the beginning of the pandemic, it is now a necessity for a certain class of consumers; in Thailand, is a business plan.

“In October, people started realizing that they would face another winter in San Francisco without restaurants, entertainment or offices, really where to go. They wanted to get out,” says Leigh Rowan, founder of the San Francisco area. Bay Area Savanti Travel, whose customers buy one-way tickets and work remotely from villas on the beach or hotels with amenities.

This time, he says, they will not return until an appointment with the vaccine is promised.

Indefinite order, please

Melanie Woods, a 39-year-old graphic designer, left San Francisco long before a winter closure was notified. Since October 1, the day Belize reopened its borders, it has been working with the rustic luxury of director Francis Ford Coppola Resort Turtle Inn, where his desk is next to a window with a sea breeze.

“I swim to exercise between calls. On weekends I feel like I’m on vacation. I can snorkel, zip line, swim, ”he says.

Belize requires travelers to have a negative test of the Covid-19 on arrival, which gave Woods peace of mind. The 27-room hotel, located on the beachfront in Placencia, is also almost completely open-air, making it easy to eat and socialize in distant and outdoor environments. Rooms start at $ 329 per night, but extended stays get a 20% discount on both accommodation and food; Woods rents his apartment at home to offset the expense.

“I probably won’t be back until the summer or when I can get a vaccine,” he says.

Los Angeles-based Alan and Bonnie Cartwright, 71, are also seeking indefinite payment for their current escape. The couple had holiday hopes in the Maldives and Capri last year; in September they had accepted that if they wanted to flee, Cabo was the easiest option.

They originally booked 10 nights at the Auberge Resorts Collection Chileno Bay, where rooms average $ 1,000 per night. But well-being for their mental health was important and a deal with extended stays offered savings of up to 40%, so they decided to expand and expand, expand and expand.

“We have been married for 51 years and after all the holidays we wonder if we really have to go home. This time the answer was no, ”says Alan Cartwright, who has no plans to leave until the couple can have the same quality of life in California. Bonnie Cartwright, immunocompromised, says hotel staff have made her feel incredibly safe.

“They even catch the temperature of taxi drivers before they get in their car,” he explains.

Improved creativity and productivity

Going out to a sand paradise is not just a work of life. Travel advisor Rowan says many of her clients can do their job better in a different environment.

“Many creatives, startups and technicians are realizing that they can find interesting investors in places like Oaxaca or San Miguel de Allende,” he says.

Cheyenne Quinn, 39, a partner in a consulting and branding firm in Los Angeles, is among that set. “When LA closed again, it was much more intense,” he says. “It consumed me the idea of ​​escaping.” In October, he flew to Tulum and has been renting homes all over Mexico for just $ 20 a night.

“This trip has benefited me financially, socially and emotionally,” he says.

Prior to the pandemic, Quinn worked with such important clients as Louis Vuitton and Modelo. This business has disappeared, but through his travels he has met artisans and small business owners who have helped rebuild his business; several have hired her to make inquiries about strategy and marketing on social media, she says.

Shawn Garvey, executive director of a 55-year-old energy innovation company in the Bay Area, has also seen productivity gain from his long vacation in Mexico. He had been crawling into his empty office simply to stay productive.

“She was lethargic and tired. My inspiration was dwindling, ”he says, adding that most of his days consisted of“ getting out of bed and working from the laptop with my underwear on. ”

His wife Kimberley Garvey owns a court information firm that now runs a distance; his three children are older. “For the first time in decades, we had nothing to stop us from leaving,” he says.

Now they live in the Modern Elder Academy near Todos Santos, on the Pacific coast of Mexico; was named one of the Bloomberg Pursuits The best places to travel in 2021. A two-month stay, including meals, costs $ 7,500, which Garvey estimates is half the couple’s monthly living expenses at home.