Photos By: Mike Burnes & Provided by Prana Maya Resort
Upon entering the seaside village of Placencia in southern Belize, the first thing I noticed was the lack of condo complexes, sprawling resort hotels, tourist shops, and expensive restaurants. This wasn’t Cancun, Cozumel, or even San Pedro, Belize’s more well-known resort area to the north. Rather, it’s an uncrowded, friendly, and largely undiscovered town that welcomes vacationers and a relatively large population of unassuming ex-pats.
My wife and I along with another couple arrived in Placencia for a three-night stay at the new Prana Maya Island Resort after a two-plus-hour shuttle ride from the Belize City airport. The drive seemed much shorter courtesy of our guide, who provided a thorough and entertaining orientation on the country and a visit to a local chocolate farm. The coolest part of the drive? Seeing road signs warning of jaguar crossings. Sadly, the jaguars must have been taking their afternoon naps.
At the end of the village road in Placencia, a Prana Maya shuttle boat was waiting to take us on the five-minute trip from the town dock to the resort where we were greeted by the entire staff, a refreshing beverage, and Keith Izydore, the Managing Partner and the man responsible for the logistics of the resort’s development.
Keith and his wife, Ginny, who directs marketing and sales, have worked in the industry for a combined 84 years at resorts such as Blackberry Farm in Tennessee, The Cloister at Sea Island, Reynolds Plantation on Lake Oconee, and Barnsley Resort. While working at Barnsley, they lived in Cartersville but now call Marietta home. In March 2023, while at a family wedding, a guest told them about his plans to build a boutique resort in Belize. In September, he formally offered Keith and Ginny the opportunity to bring the resort online. Ginny told me that when she and Keith first arrived at the site, “there were just sticks in the ground,” but only 18 months later, Prana Maya welcomed its first guests.
The resort is located on a small island, Placencia Caye, and consists of a main inn with ten 800-square foot suites and six two-story, three- and four-bedroom villas ranging from 3,000 to 5,000 square feet. In addition to the restaurant and bar, the main inn houses a fitness room, a full-service spa (one of the largest in Belize), and a pool. The resort also offers free kayaks, paddleboards, and water bikes for guests to use and even provides equipment for fishing off the inn’s dock, which juts into the Caribbean.
When we entered the inn’s lobby, we immediately felt the ocean breezes courtesy of the open-air restaurant and bar area. Our airport shuttle guide had called in our menu order while we were still on the road, so we were soon enjoying a wonderful meal overlooking the ocean while our luggage was taken to our rooms. The chef, handpicked by Keith and Ginny, had developed an eclectic menu. My favorite was, surprisingly, an Argentinian hot dog.
Prana Maya is designed to foster a sense of relaxation and rejuvenation (Prana is translated as “breath of life” or “life-giving force”), and the resort’s open design and quiet location do just that. Watching sea birds dive into the gentle waves while listening to the breezes in the mangrove trees is a great way to forget about work deadlines back home.
Although guests will be tempted to relax at the resort for an entire stay, there is plenty for the more adventurous to do off the resort. The concierge will schedule excursions such as snorkeling, deep-sea fishing, scuba diving, and jungle tours with recommended tour operators. My wife and I spent a half-day snorkeling with tropical fish, nurse sharks, and sea turtles near the Belize Barrier Reef, the world’s second-largest, while our friends caught yellowjack and barracuda on a fishing excursion. As a bonus, the restaurant’s chef cooked the fish and served it to us later in the day.
For a more laid-back experience, the concierge can summon the shuttle boat for a short ride into Placencia to spend a day on the village’s extensive beach or enjoy a traditional meal of Belizean stewed chicken and rice along with a bottle of the national beer, Belikin. One of the unexpected benefits of vacationing in Belize is that it’s the only English-speaking country in Central America, the result of the country’s previous status as the territory of British Honduras. Getting directions, ordering food, and interacting with the locals is easy.
Incorporating the local environment in the design and operation of the resort became a focal point for Keith and Ginny soon after they first arrived. For example, they decided not to offer all-inclusive meals and drinks to encourage guests to eat at the excellent restaurants in the village, stroll down the boardwalk to shop and, if so inclined, stop for drinks in one of the local bars. And no, there are no jaguars in or anywhere near Placencia.
The local emphasis was evident throughout the resort. The entry doors of each suite and villa were carved by a Belizean artist. Signs on the property were engraved in hand-cut slate taken from the nearby mountains. Vegetables are grown on a local farm, and the staff uniforms were hand-sewn in Placencia. Most importantly, the staff were hired from Placencia and other surrounding towns. Our bartender hailed from the Belize-Guatemala border area and spoke English and Mayan.
Until I talked to Keith, I had never really thought about the detailed planning required to open a full-service resort. The things a visitor takes for granted…simple items such as bed linens and pillows; silverware, plates, and glassware for the restaurant; yoga mats for the fitness room; shampoo, soap, and towels for guest bathrooms, all must be sourced, ordered, and delivered. Large items such as furniture, exercise equipment, and kitchen appliances had to be ferried to the resort on barges. He also had to interview and hire all the staff and train them in the customer service techniques expected at a luxury resort.
A new resort also needs a marketing campaign. A common tenet posits that “50% of marketing is just getting people to know you exist.” To tackle this challenge, Ginny had to create logos, select colors and textures, and develop slogans and language to be used for websites, social media, and print media. She attended travel trade shows, hosted presentations, positioned the resort on travel websites such as Booking.com, and developed relationships with agencies and consortia within the luxury travel field. Since the first guests arrived in December, the resort has hosted conferences and a wedding and has been featured in the Robb Report and Forbes Magazine.
When I spoke with Ginny, she had recently returned home to Marietta while Keith stayed in Belize. I asked her about the challenges of shuttling back and forth to Belize (not to mention the travel to trade shows in the U.S.) and the days spent apart. While acknowledging the hardships of separation and constant travel, she said they were sustained by their “passion for independent resort properties.” When asked for the most satisfying thing about developing Prana Maya, she replied, “It was very special to have accomplished this together.”
What they have accomplished is truly special. I’m looking forward to my next visit. And, on the next shuttle ride from the airport, I’ll have my fingers crossed to see a jaguar stroll across the road.
Mike Burnes is a travel agency franchise owner in Rome. He can be reached at mburnes@dreamvacations.com
