I'm writing this newsletter while looking out at the ocean from the deck of that room above. If I asked you to guess where that gorgeous resort room was, I'm pretty sure your first answer would not be "Honduras." But it is, at Indura Resort near the Caribbean mainland town of Tela.

We haven't written much about Honduras the past couple years and few other people have either when it comes to upscale travel articles. These days you're more likely to hear about the crime woes in its two largest cities in real news outlets rather than escapist features in leisure publications. The developers of Indura have plowed on despite the adversity, however, and opened an amazing resort this year with world class facilities, a great spa, and a PGA golf course designed by Gary Player.

Will it work?

If forced to place a bet I'd say yes because the owners have deep pockets and they've got great management in place. Homes and condos going up will inject some cash and this is now the place in Honduras for high-end weddings, corporate meetings, and political summits. There is some precedent too for one pioneer company being the tipping point for a country or city. Think what Orient-Express (now Belmond) did for Peru, how Faena changed the narrative for Buenos Aires, or what Mukul has done for getting high-end travelers to visit Nicaragua. The challenges are steep, but hopefully they can pull it off. Watch our social feeds for pics and look for a review to be linked in next month's newsletter. Meanwhile see their website here.

We've been busy behind the scenes this month moving pages over to our snazzy new mobile responsive layout and painstakingly uploading larger photos story by story. Bear with us!

We're updating some hotels and resorts as we go though and the latest revamp is lovely Hotel Esencia in the Riviera Maya. New owners instituted a slew of upgrades and it's really a terrific property. See the full review here or a video tour here.

Our latest tour story is on a region that should be staggeringly popular but due to a variety of factors, still hasn't taken off with foreign tourists. That's Mexico's wine region and we expect things to change since many of the top wineries and places to stay have an expat presence. See the full story here: Under the California Sun: Mexico's Wine Trail.

Stay tuned to Luxury Latin America because in January we're launching a new reader survey and anyone who enters will win a stay at two different resorts in Belize via Chabil Mar!

Meanwhile, you can win a trip to New York City--including airfare--from our travel insurance partner Allianz Global Assistance. You'll get admission to the New York Times Travel Show, the chance to hobnob with travel experts, a nice hotel, and a goody bag that includes a new GoPro action camera. Follow this link right now though because the contest ends tomorrow at midnight! Enter here to score.

Soon we'll be posting a tour story from the Amazon region of Peru and a tour of Nicaragua's top draws of Granada and San Juan del Sur.

This month I'll be posting fresh reviews of Le Blanc and Viceroy Riviera Maya in Mexico.

We'll have some new hotel additions from Colombia soon and early in the new year there will be a Honduras feature story and a review of Indura Resort.

I'm traveling to Los Cabos in Baja in a couple weeks. I'll be revamping some reviews after seeing the post-hurricane renovations at some old favorites like Las Ventanas and Pueblo Bonito, as well as checking out the brand new Thompson hotel, The Cape. I'll also be playing golf at the new Quivira Club and seeing the real estate development there.

The best way to keep up with what's new each week is to check out the Luxury Latin America blog, where we cover travel tidbits from resort excursions to rum to new hotels. You can also follow us by clicking on the buttons below for Facebook, G+, and Twitter. Hey kids, are you on Instagram? You can come join us here and see some nice pics from our travels.

Hasta Luego,
Timothy Scott, Editor