Tourism Excellence Recognized
RCI Awards Sunset World Group Top Honors for Service and Facilities Excellence
RCI, the world's largest vacation exchange network, has handed Sunset World Group two of its most prestigious honors at its 2026 awards ceremony: the Gold Crown Resort® designation and the Excellence in Service award. The recognition went to Hacienda Tres Ríos in the Riviera Maya and Sunset Marina Resort & Yacht Club in Cancún, according to PR Newswire.
The Gold Crown is the highest of RCI's three resort tiers. The Excellence in Service award goes to roughly the top 10% of RCI's 4,400-plus affiliated resorts worldwide. Securing both in the same year puts Sunset World Group among the network's elite performers, Street Insider reported.
What It Takes to Win Both RCI Awards
The Gold Crown designation is not easy to get. RCI judges resorts on five categories: unit housekeeping, unit maintenance, hospitality, check-in and check-out procedures, and resort facilities. Scores come directly from comment cards filled out by RCI members after their stays. A resort must hit high-percentile marks across all five to qualify, according to Yahoo Finance.
The Excellence in Service award layers on top of that. It tracks service-specific feedback that goes beyond the Gold Crown baseline. Anna Kiseleva, Sunset World's Fulfillment Manager, said the recognition is "clearly reflected in the surveys" guests complete. She called it a testament to the "passion and commitment" of the group's employees, PR Newswire reported.
Hacienda Tres Ríos Has Won Gold Crown for Over 13 Years Straight
Hacienda Tres Ríos is a 326-acre eco-luxury resort built inside a protected nature park with three natural rivers running through it. The property has held the Gold Crown designation for more than 13 consecutive years. Sunset Marina Resort & Yacht Club, a lagoon-side resort in Cancún's Hotel Zone, is celebrating its 24th anniversary in 2026.
Earlier this year, five Sunset World hotels also received the "2026 Hotel Classification Certification" from Mexico's Secretariat of Tourism. Sunset Marina, Sunset Royal, and Sunset Fishermen each earned 5-star ratings in April. Earning both the RCI Gold Crown and a government 5-star rating in the same quarter is rare, according to ADVFN.
RCI Executives Highlight Consistency in the Caribbean Market
RCI's Business Development Account Executive Jazziel Rodríguez presented the awards at the June 18 ceremony. Business Development Manager Carolina Leticia Zapata Bacelis noted that the Gold Crown designation is reserved for the network's top-tier performers and that SWG has shown consistent quality in a competitive Caribbean market, Street Insider reported.
Martha Richardson, Sunset World's Corporate Director of Operations, represented the company at the ceremony. She oversees the physical upkeep and service standards that RCI directly scores. The group has operated for over 30 years as a family-owned Mexican enterprise, according to PR Newswire.
Awards Come as Mexico's Tourism Sector Surges in 2026
Passenger arrivals to the Cancún and Riviera Maya region rose 9.9% in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same period last year, according to Mexico's Secretariat of Tourism. The Mexican government has committed roughly $42.4 billion to tourism promotion and infrastructure. Quintana Roo, the state where both awarded resorts sit, now accounts for 20% of the nation's total tourism investment.
The awards also come with practical value for resort members. Gold Crown status boosts a member's "trading power" inside the RCI network. That makes a Sunset World vacation week more liquid and more valuable than a week at a non-designated resort, according to Yahoo Finance Canada.
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