Your Cancun Personal Host or Tour Guide

[Cancun Manny]

This is the service I enjoy provide the most. I love socializing and sharing the Mexican culture. I like encouraging tourists to try new things, after all that is the idea of traveling to a new country no?

Cancun is a relatively safe place, so hiring me as a personal host for safety reasons wouldn't be a good reason. Now outside the hotel zone you will run into a language barrier, starting with the taxi drivers, to the waiters and bar tenders. Also, looks are very deceiving when it comes to businesses in downtown Cancun. In the hotel zone, it is all about marketing, big flashy signs, that is what attracts clients. In downtown Cancun that doesn't work as well for locals, we are more of a word of mouth kinda crowd. If fact the other day I realized with a friend of mine, that we don't even know the name of many of our favorite food places, we just know how to get there. Often, a rundown looking place is the one that offers the great flavors.

I will be doing write ups of pretty much all the spots that I know off, so it is not like by hiring me as a personal host I will be able to take you to a secret special spot, but the experience is always much different when you have a local with you. When locals see tourists, they think $$$$. They will try to over charge you and scam you any which way they can, specially in touristy areas like Cancun and Riviera Maya. As a host, I can help you translate, help you make sure you don't get over charged, etc. Also, because I am a regular at many of these spots, they treat me and my guests a bit better.

I don't wear a uniform, or anything that identifies me as being hired service, so this usually helps me blend in with the group. I made this decision because when I did use my CancunWIthMe shirts, it created this odd barrier between my clients and me, so I quickly got ride of them. Basically I become part of your group, your local buddy hanging out with you for a while.

I am relatively good at reading people/groups and coming up with ideas. Simple things can be fun. For example, a fun afternoon could be visiting El Meco ruins then having a late lunch. Or perhaps, late dinner, around 8 or 9pm, than couple of hours of Karaoke before heading back to the resort?

Don't be afraid to mingle with the locals! Cancun's hotel zone is gorgeous, but honestly it is too much like USA. If venturing into downtown Cancun on your own intimidates you, then hire me for a few hours!

[LindaLeeK63]

Hi Manny,
If we are booking through you and you assist us with our itinerary and our scheduled stops, etc., what is the need then for a personal host besides having a local with us who speaks the language (which I am well aware is a huge asset)? Thanks!

[Cancun Manny]

My official write about a personal host is here

I do want to emphasize that a Personal Host is not the same as a Tour Guide. Locally, tour guide implies they are certified by secretary of tourism. With their certification they can charge a fee to provide the historical facts at archaeological sites and national monuments. Our personal hosts don't hold any certifications, so the historical guided tours is out of the scope of the service we offer.

As a personal host we help you out with everything else, except the actual historical narrations at the different sites. Hosts speak spanish fluently, so they can help you out with translations. Another benefit of a host is that they can steer you in the right direction since there are many tourist traps trying to scam people. A host can help you take pictures of your group, share local info, etc.

The best way to describe the personal host service, is like having a local buddy that knows the area hanging out with you all day long. If I went to visit your home town, I could research until I was blue in the face, but I am confident I would enjoy a one day outing much more with the company of a local than just with my research.