Price -- and style -- vary significantly, from luxury boutique-style hotels charging $700 per room to sprawling campuses with basic rooms that charge less than $200. Says Adam Stewart, CEO of Sandals, ``all-inclusive can mean anything today.''

And that can cause confusion.

''We're all upgrading our linens and adding flat-screen TVs. But it's no longer homogenous. The term all-inclusive covers so wide a cross-section,'' says John J. Issa, executive chairman of SuperClubs, the Jamaica-based operator of the Grand Lido, Breezes and Hedonism resorts.

''I definitely think the consumer has a hard time distinguishing between the products,'' said John Long, vice president of North American sales and marketing for the Spanish chain Iberostar, which operates 100 hotels around the world. ``At first glance they all look luxurious.''

So, how's a traveler to sort it all out?

As always, price is one signpost; less expensive typically means fewer frills. But beyond butlers, dining options, vintages and spas are other matters of style. Here's a look at some of the options:

Family oriented: Two decades ago, most all-inclusives were designed for couples, and some are still for couples only. But other companies offer family options, and today, parents can take their kids to circus and trapeze classes at Club Med or get their own nanny at the FDR Pebbles Resort in Jamaica. A few even offer off-season rates for single-parent families.

Kids may think they've landed in Disney World-by-the-beach come December, when upscale family-oriented Beaches -- owned by Sandals -- unveils the expansion of its Turks & Caicos resort, with 600 rooms and 16 restaurants. Its Pirate's Island Waterpark will grow to 10 times its original size, with nine water slides and a surf simulator that replicates white water and surf conditions for boogie boards. There's even a separate youth spa menu with facials geared for complexions of teens and tweens, plus makeovers and hair braiding.

Euro-style: Spanish-speaking destinations have long courted the European market. So it's no surprise that if you stay at one of the mid-priced, Spanish-owned Barceló properties in Mexico's Riviera Maya, you'll find a cacophony of languages, a breakfast buffet oriented to European tastes (lots of cold cuts and cheeses) and hundreds of lounge chairs lined up in the sand, a la the beaches of the Mediterranean.

Club Med -- with French roots -- also tends toward a more European style. But other English-speaking companies, long geared toward the U.S. market, offer settings and food more familiar to Americans, such as teppanyaki and Italian restaurants.

Boutique: If the quantity of restaurants and pools at some of these places does not spur a hunt for your passport, there are a number of hotels like Aura Cozumel focused on intimate settings.

In Jamaica, just a stone's throw from a Riu resort, Sunset at the Palms is one of the few properties in Negril that doesn't sit directly on the water (though it has undeveloped beachfront land with a beach bar across the road). The hotel turns its drawback into an advantage by emphasizing an intimate environment among lush, tended gardens away from the beach bustle. With just 65 rooms, you'll get to know both the staff and most of your fellow guests.

Despite having just two restaurants and one pool, the resort consistently ranks at or near the top of Jamaican hotels recommended by Trip Advisor readers. A one-week stay here for two in October is $1,971.

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@