In short
An intimate conversation on luxury travel as cultural discovery, centered on Mexico City and Hotel Asencia in the Riviera Maya. They discuss what “travel today” should feel like (home-like, personalized, design-forward), how Mexico’s hotel scene has evolved, and how authentic craft can shape guest experience.
Guests
Kevin Wendell, owner of Hotel Asencia (Riviera Maya). Background: decades in hospitality; previously a TV producer/executive producer (including Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) and programming for Fox Entertainment Network. Grew up in the U.S. and lived in Paris and the south of France, partnering with architect Joseph Durand near Musée d’Orsay. Carla Martinez de Salas, head of editorial content at Vogue Mexico and Latin America. Background: fashion/cultural tastemaker; grew up in El Paso; lives in Mexico City.
Key claims
Big hotel brands now must avoid generic “cement box” sameness; guests want privacy, anticipatory service, and staff passion (Asencia selected by Michelin for “three keys,” attributed to low turnover and strong team retention). Design should blend European modernism with Mexican artisanship; guests shouldn’t trade their home-level luxury for department-store furniture.
Notable examples
Tokyo hidden gems (37th-floor cocktail bar, karaoke); Kyoto street design; Asencia’s jungle setting, private suites, calm ocean breakfasts; room decor using Mexican ceramics/rugs/huipils; Carla’s planned pink Yucatán house with architect Tatiana Bilbao; bucket-list Egypt/Nile cruise, Petra, Portugal, Greek island hopping.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOMeet Kevin and Karla
0:46 to 1:47
Kevin Wendell and Karla Martinez de Salas share their backgrounds and friendship.
“and reflect on what it really means to travel today.”
Kevin's Journey to Ascensia
1:47 to 2:59
Kevin recounts his career path from TV producer to hotel owner.
“Yeah, all that stuff and then ended up producing.”
The Allure of Paris and Tokyo
2:59 to 6:12
Kevin discusses his love for Paris and the unique beauty of Tokyo and Kyoto.
“Do you think LA is a place that you can just go kind of live?”
Travel Preferences and Expectations
6:12 to 10:18
The hosts discuss what they look for in accommodations and travel experiences.
“I mean, it's just every bar, restaurant, every random place on the street is done with such an eye to design.”
Service and Experience in Mexico
10:18 to 13:32
The conversation shifts to the quality of service in Mexico compared to other countries.
“I mean, even here in Mexico City, I'm very happy with a Casa Polanco.”
Achievements and Passion in Hospitality
13:32 to 14:00
They discuss the importance of staff passion and recognition in the hospitality industry.
“in the service industry, you're waiting really to get an acting job.”
Creating a Memorable Atmosphere in Hospitality
14:00 to 15:02
Learn how personal connections and staff passion enhance guest experiences in hotels and restaurants.
“inside your favorite hotel or your favorite restaurant.”
Embracing Mexican Craft in Design
15:02 to 16:18
Discover the importance of incorporating authentic Mexican elements in hotel design.
A Journey Through Time and Design
16:18 to 17:52
Explore the storytelling aspect of hotel design and the influence of historical figures.
“that you can find in so many cities here.”
Blending Modern and Traditional Styles
17:52 to 19:08
Understand how blending modern elements with traditional aesthetics creates unique spaces.
“And it's so interesting to see that kind of come back together.”
Show all 14 chapters
Cultural Influences on Travel Preferences
19:08 to 20:25
Hear about how personal backgrounds shape travel preferences and city experiences.
“but I try to say hello to everyone to help people feel like, you know, you're in this, you're living this kind of like, you know, fantasy.”
Favorite Destinations and Future Travels
20:25 to 22:22
Discover the hosts' favorite cities and their travel bucket lists for future adventures.
“growing up, you know, like a big mall or a big, you know, Hard Rock Cafe or silly things that you care about when you're younger, you know, like the spot, the kind of chain spots.”
The Allure of Greek Islands
22:22 to 25:08
Uncover what makes the Greek Islands a favorite travel destination and the beauty of island hopping.
“And we decided to go with the pink house.”
Travel Expectations vs. Reality
25:08 to 27:01
Discuss the balance between relaxation and exploration during travels and the guilt of missing out.
“I mean, every island is so different that you feel like it's 10 vacations in one in 10 days.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Kevin Wendle:I would like to feel like I'm in a home of a friend. I mean, that would be my dream if I can find that. Today, we travel to the Asulin Boutique in Mexico City, where two voices from the worlds of luxury travel and culture come together for a very intimate conversation about discovery and the desire to explore. Kevin Wendell, the owner of Hotel Asencia in the Riviera Maya, brings decades of experience in hospitality and a very refined sensitivity to place. He's joined by Carla Martinez de Salas, the head of editorial content at Vogue Mexico and Latin America, a true tastemaker whose perspective is shaped by fashion, art, and cultural life around the world.
0:45Kevin Wendle:Together, they share favorite destinations, talk about the special energy of Mexico City, and reflect on what it really means to travel today. We've been friends forever.
0:56Karla Martinez de Salas:For a long time. I know, I've been thinking, I've lived here for 10 years. Okay. And I've definitely known you well before that.
1:02Kevin Wendle:More, longer.
1:03Karla Martinez de Salas:Longer. I see that you found Ars Pedregal, the Asseline story, which is absolutely beautiful. Thanks for coming to Mexico City.
1:10Kevin Wendle:I mean, what a great city. I mean, I'm so happy to be here. I've been here, I don't know, six, seven, eight times. And I think this is my favorite visit ever. Trip, amazing. And here I am with Carla Martinez, who's head of content for Vogue. I'm head of content for Vogue.
1:23Karla Martinez de Salas:And we've done so many things. We even did a shoot.
1:25Kevin Wendle:Yeah, because let's talk about how we met. Now, I have my memory, one memory. You have other memories.
1:32Karla Martinez de Salas:I remember my friend David Lawrence, who's an interior designer in New York, would always talk about you and how chic you were. And I remember him telling me, oh my God, Kevin bought Ascensia. What brought you to Ascensia?
1:45Kevin Wendle:Okay, what a story. So I was a TV producer for a long time. you grew up in the U.S. grew up in the U.S. New York? New York, NYU, all that and then I was working in local TV news and then picked up because I wanted to be in Hollywood and I ended up running programming for the new Fox Entertainment Network and put together The Simpsons, Beverly Hills, Married with Children, America's Most Wanted. All the good 90s. Yeah, all that stuff and then ended up producing. I was the executive producer of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. I put that together with Quincy Jones, brought Will Smith for his first acting position.
2:31Kevin Wendle:Actually, I hired his first acting coach. And I told NBC, oh, he's amazing. And they said, well, can he act? Yes, he can act. And I scrambled after and called a really good friend of mine who is a casting director and coach. And I said, Dennis, please work with Will for like two weeks. We have to go back to the network and prove that he can act. I mean, I knew he had all this personality, but I wasn't sure he could act.
2:57Karla Martinez de Salas:That's so funny. I feel like we never hear those amazing stories of the producers and like what their experience was like embedding on someone and then kind of changing someone's life, right? Do you think LA is a place that you can just go kind of live?
3:12Kevin Wendle:Well, it was tougher because all the dinner parties are about all that. Like networking and the industry. All the conversations are about, oh, that movie that's coming out next year. Have you read the script? And I hadn't anymore. So I kind of was feeling out of it. Of course, loving Los Angeles is beautiful. I mean, it's a great place to live. But it's really a company town in terms of Hollywood.
3:36Karla Martinez de Salas:Right. Unless you're probably in Malibu. And like, I love that people in LA have weekend homes in Malibu, which is like an hour away.
3:44Kevin Wendle:Yes. Yeah. A great escape. So basically I then said, you know what, what am I doing here? What I really want to go is to live in Paris. So I had the money. I put my house on the market. I sold it for a crazy price. I moved to Paris and I was, you know, single. I had no children and I wanted to learn about art and architecture. And so I went there. I got a place in Paris. I got a place. Then I ended up buying a house in the south of France. I partnered with this incredible architect by the name of Joseph Durand. Okay. Right next to the Musée d 'Orsay. Gorgeous. Yeah.
4:20Karla Martinez de Salas:That's like the dream.
4:22Kevin Wendle:That's right. Right. Musée d 'Orsay and the Assemblée Nationale. I was right there. And again, I was living, I was having a great time. And I was learning all about art and architecture and design. and just taking it all in, all the culture.
4:38Karla Martinez de Salas:And you knew Joseph or you met him in your parents?
4:41Kevin Wendle:No, he was 26, 27. I was asking around because I wanted to find an architect who was inexpensive but brilliant. He had done like one little boutique.
4:51Karla Martinez de Salas:Okay.
4:52Kevin Wendle:And so I kind of took a chance, rolled the dice, I said, okay, you do this apartment for me and I'll let you kind of do whatever you want, you know?
5:00Karla Martinez de Salas:So what would you say are two cities that, I don't know, kind of changed your perception of travel or places that you love being in where you really connect aside from where you grew up?
5:13Kevin Wendle:Yes. So, of course, Paris. I mean, Paris was my first international trip of my entire life. And I'm still connected to Paris in such a big way. I lived there, of course, for a long time. But I then went on in the last few years to discover Tokyo and Kyoto. And I found out that Tokyo and Paris are sister cities.
5:38Karla Martinez de Salas:Oh, really? I didn't know that. Yes.
5:40Kevin Wendle:And it makes complete sense because they're both about design and culture and art and joie de vivre. even.
5:52Karla Martinez de Salas:Tokyo takes a while for, I feel like a little bit longer than Paris. It's so big.
5:57Kevin Wendle:Yes.
5:57Karla Martinez de Salas:Right. And you kind of really have to know the secrets in the same way as Paris, but a little different.
6:03Kevin Wendle:Yes. You know, it's the same way of Paris. There are all these kind of little hidden gems. You'll find a really cool cocktail bar on the 37th floor of an office building.
6:13Karla Martinez de Salas:Right. Or the funny karaoke places.
6:17Kevin Wendle:Yes. It's just endlessly surprising, Tokyo. and Kyoto is endlessly beautiful. I mean, it's just every bar, restaurant, every random place on the street is done with such an eye to design.
6:33Karla Martinez de Salas:Right.
6:33Kevin Wendle:And this is why I'm so attracted to Kyoto and Tokyo. Yeah. Because like in Paris, you have that incredible feeling and aesthetic that you kind of can't find anywhere else.
6:48Karla Martinez de Salas:it's it's hard to make a list for people of tokyo for tokyo right it's almost impossible kind of like yes you want to recommend the places that you want to be you also want them to get lost in an alley and find somewhere like obviously the alleys in tokyo are not like alleys in mexico and just find you know a great place to eat or a place great ramen place but how do you choose
7:09Kevin Wendle:like where you stay i mean you can stay anywhere so what are what's your kind of criteria of course there's some places you kind of need to go but you personally when you're going for you what are
7:24Karla Martinez de Salas:the kind of places you like when I'm going for me it's usually I'm going with my kids who are 10 years old and so I try and find somewhere that's family friendly you know something interesting I never knew why people wanted um like the plunge pools right hotel rooms now you
7:41Kevin Wendle:have kids.
7:43Karla Martinez de Salas:And so I've been, you know, to many places, obviously you guys have them at Ascensia everywhere. Sometimes, you know, sometimes since I love enjoying like the grounds of a place. I remember the last time I went to Ascensia, I, you know, we stayed, we were, it was during COVID and it was just so nice to be away and, you know, in fresh air. I love that like morning calmness at a hotel and like especially at Asensia in that you know the breakfast area where you can oversee the ocean and there's not a lot of noise except for like the wind and the water and the birds and the birds and that like kind of morning feeling is for me if I don't have that kind of morning calm it's like my day is messed up what are you looking for when you travel I mean, since you have, especially you have such an impeccable eye that I can imagine if you go somewhere with that's a little bit less developed, like what's kind of what are your non-negotiables in travel?
8:52Kevin Wendle:I mean, for me, I would like to feel like I'm in a home of a friend. I mean, that would be my dream if I can find that. Um, I, of course there's some great, you know, big hotel brands that do a phenomenal job.
9:12Karla Martinez de Salas:And that's really changed in the past couple of years. I feel like, especially the big hotel brands. I remember, you know, when I would first start going to Cancun, everything looked the same. You know, the gold chandeliers and the blue kind of, you know, Mary Antoinette inspired carpets. That was the look in Cancun. That was the look in Charlotte. it that was the look in miami it was all the same right and i think in the past couple of years because of hotels like essencia people have been paying it like the big brands have been paying attention and said people don't want to come to mexico and have it look like you know a big cement box exactly or like feel like they're in miami you want to go to a place and feel like you're at someone's home or in Mexico, right?
Read the full transcript
10:03Kevin Wendle:Sure, sure. I mean, we're just lucky because we're immersed in the jungle and you feel each suite feels completely private. And that's what I look for when I'm traveling. If I can find that, it's hard to find. I mean, even here in Mexico City, I'm very happy with a Casa Polanco. I mean, wow, what a lovely space.
10:25Karla Martinez de Salas:Right, but it's so special because you do feel like you're in someone's home. In someone's home, in like a
10:31Kevin Wendle:refined home. And the only 20 rooms and it's lovely.
10:36Karla Martinez de Salas:Right. And Mexico is really, since I moved here 10 years ago, the hotel offerings have really, really changed. And where, you know, people like to stay, we've seen like a shift from the big hotel chains, which are obviously great. I remember my husband used to come once a week for work and he used to always stay at one of the big chains in Polanco. He used to say, listen, they know my name. They remember, you know, they know that I'm going to want some tacos when I come home after, you know, a long day. And everything's ready when I come home. And that's, you know, when I come back to my room, which is not a feeling that you can get anywhere.
11:19Karla Martinez de Salas:It's kind of very personalized.
11:21Kevin Wendle:Well, the bar has been raised. I mean, the biggest, kind of most well-known hotel flags like Four Seasons always has done such a wonderful job of knowing the customer and customizing the experience and making it personal. I remember I was in Hawaii at one of the great ones 20 years ago, and I was sitting at the beach with a friend, and there was nobody around, no other customers. And a waiter came over and said, you look like you could use two complimentary glasses of champagne right now. And I was like, where did this guy come from? How perfect is this? That's anticipatory service. Right. And so that's what we try to do now.
12:15Kevin Wendle:I mean, I tell my staff, let's surprise, delight, not be too heavy, but. Right. Delight is such an accurate word for what you want from service.
12:30Karla Martinez de Salas:I remember going on my honeymoon to Africa and one of my friends said, you've never had service like you're going to have on safari or at these hotels. And now I see what she meant, but I do feel like, especially in Mexico, we have excellent service here.
12:49Kevin Wendle:Oh, we're so lucky in Mexico. The warmest hearted people who love what they do, who have a passion for what they do. And our guests fall in love with them right back.
13:04Karla Martinez de Salas:it's it's hard sometimes you know when you're when i travel to paris or for or to france when you when you go to a restaurant it's it's hard to like your expectations living here in mexico are so high then you're like okay i'm in france i mean yeah and because in other
13:26Kevin Wendle:countries the service industry is a stepping stone right or a holding place you know if you're in la in the service industry, you're waiting really to get an acting job. The next big job, right? Or to be a director or whatever. So it's the passion and the love from the heart is maybe not there.
13:47Karla Martinez de Salas:I know. And I love that, for example, like at Essencia or even like at a place like Contramar, like everyone knows Juan Carlos, everyone knows Armando from Contramar. And I remember W did a thing on like the world's kind of most sought after maitre d's or creatives inside your favorite hotel or your favorite restaurant. And it really speaks volumes about the owners, right? And what they want people to feel when they come to their restaurants. And you want someone to, you want to walk into a restaurant, you want to walk into a hotel and say, have someone say, hola, Carla, hola, Kevin, no?
14:26Kevin Wendle:I mean, we're very lucky this year. We were selected by Michelin for the three keys. We're the only hotel in the Riviera Maya to achieve that. And I think a large part of that is, out of 400 hotels, is the selection of the staff and, frankly, the passion of the staff and the lack of turnover that we have. Our waiters could be captains somewhere else or restaurant managers. We hold on to them. We take care of them. we make them happy so that they stay so the next time you come in they say hello it's martinez nice to see you i have your favorite tea is ready for you and that's the kind of magic that we want
15:16Karla Martinez de Salas:to create you want that so one of the things that especially when we're speaking last week over zoom that you i think started a trend and it's something that i've seen in the past couple of years and we've obviously at Vogue Mexico been really excited about it is really choosing pieces for the rooms that are made in Mexico like those beautiful blue vases that you implement and the rugs and just the way you've yes brought in European design but really also like the heart of Mexican craft. Why was that so important to you?
15:59Kevin Wendle:Well, it's interesting. I mean, in addition to the fact that, of course, we're in Mexico, we wanted to feel authentic, and we wanted our guests to feel
16:13Kevin Wendle:the Mexican warmth and design and beauty that you can find in so many cities here. so the the main house was built in the 90s but it kind of looks like it could have been built in the 50s right and so I really wanted to kind of craft this story of of the duchess um and wanted people to feel like okay I'm going back in time to this home of the duchess and she was this very refined woman of you know a lot of this is not necessarily fiction but a lot of this was, you know, obviously developed as I wanted to develop the brand. I wanted to develop a story around her. I felt like, wow, what would she have done, this refined Italian woman?
17:02Kevin Wendle:And I look back in time to the mid-century period, kind of the birth of, if you will, modernism and, you know, in Europe and then also, but coincidentally, I mean, at concurrently in Mexico at that time. And I went and spent a lot of time visiting museums and galleries here in Mexico City and was just so blown away by the artisans and the crafts and the ceramics and the beauty, the tapestries.
17:36Karla Martinez de Salas:So interesting to hear that, especially Barragan and Clara Porcet and all of that design that I feel, you know, wasn't talked about so much in Mexico until recently. I don't know if maybe it's the internet and maybe, you know, the people that dedicate themselves to, you know, the Barragan house, like specific accounts that love, you know, a specific architecture movement or a designer. And it's so interesting to see that kind of come back together. And what people think of Mexican is very, you know, kind of like what you were saying, the main house at Asencia, you know, the very Spanish inspired, like very Californian.
18:21Karla Martinez de Salas:Yeah. We did a lot in California. And then we have this, you know, brutalist movement that you see so much in Mexico in design. And the way you brought those two things together is really interesting.
18:33Kevin Wendle:Well, I was really drawn to the simplicity of the main house. And I, you know, we painted everything white as a base and just this white epoxy, as you may recall, and brought in these incredible pieces that are sculptural and comfortable of design, as well as, as I mentioned, ceramics and paintings and drawings. and I wanted it to really feel like you're coming into someone's home. So I really want everyone to feel like you're coming into now Kevin's home. Right. And I say hello to everyone, not everyone, but I try to say hello to everyone to help people feel like, you know, you're in this, you're living this kind of like, you know, fantasy.
19:22Kevin Wendle:And the reason is it's like our guests, they live at this level of luxury, many of them at home. So why should they leave their home to go stay in a hotel that has just Ikea or department store furniture, which most hotels have? If they're living at home with these beautiful works, maybe not from the same era, but they're living with quality and luxury and refinement and art.
19:48Karla Martinez de Salas:And discover a new kind of luxury, which are these beautiful ceramics from a Mexican artisan or even at the store where you might have a beautiful huipil from one of the local women in Quintana Roo or the Yucatan.
20:03Kevin Wendle:Just so interesting. Carla, what about your favorite cities?
20:07Karla Martinez de Salas:Oh, goodness.
20:08Kevin Wendle:And your bucket list.
20:09Karla Martinez de Salas:I grew up in El Paso, so I love the Southwest. I love that kind of feeling in July when you walk out and it's 102 degrees and it's kind of like a blanket. But living in El Paso, we didn't have, you know, all the, now that I look back, all the things I wanted El Paso to have growing up, you know, like a big mall or a big, you know, Hard Rock Cafe or silly things that you care about when you're younger, you know, like the spot, the kind of chain spots. I'm so glad that I didn't have them and that El Paso still doesn't have them, you know. So I feel like, but it did help me appreciate traveling and seeing, discovering new places.
20:55Karla Martinez de Salas:I want to say New York because I think New York is such -
20:58Kevin Wendle:Endlessly interesting.
21:00Karla Martinez de Salas:Endlessly interesting. I remember living there in the early 2000s and leaving my house at nine on a Saturday and literally not coming back until 10 PM and, you know, going shopping, going to museums, seeing friends. And I always say that New York is a city that doesn't sleep, but it's a city that doesn't let me sleep either because there's something about it that I wake up at 5.30 a.m. ready to go, which doesn't happen to me in any other city in the world. I lived in Paris briefly, and I absolutely adore Paris. Every time I go, I'm in awe. but I will say one of my favorite cities that we are actually it's not a city it's a it's a beach town which is Cizal in Yucatan we're building a house there it's almost finished and I was very much inspired by the interiors of Essencia but actually my house is pink okay it's not white but when I when when we were thinking about you know making the house we're building it with Tatiana Bilbao is a Mexican architect.
22:10Karla Martinez de Salas:And I love the colors of Mexico. And I always found myself taking pictures, of course, of the Barragan houses. But even if you drive around Mexico City, you see pink houses, mint. And we decided to go with the pink house. So let's see. I don't know. We did it with Chucun, which is a very...
22:32Kevin Wendle:I know. Like that... It's like a stucco. Like a stucco. Yeah.
22:36Karla Martinez de Salas:That's very much from the Yucatan. So that is exciting. I can't wait for you to see it. That's a great look. We can do a house swap. Okay. But I'm excited to see it. We're going to be going in a few weeks when it will be finished. But I think my bucket list, gosh, I am dying to go to Egypt. I've traveled a little bit in Morocco, and I love Morocco. And I feel like my descent, like I have, I have like, I feel so connected to it. Physically, I remember walking and everyone looks like my brother and people coming up to me and speaking to me in Arabic. But, and so I'm dying to discover kind of Egypt.
23:22Karla Martinez de Salas:And everyone says it's so magical and amazing. And those going down like a cruise on the Nile sounds so amazing.
23:30Kevin Wendle:Absolutely. It sounds really so romantic, right? and fulfilling in a way. So hopefully I'll get there. What about you?
23:36Karla Martinez de Salas:Is there somewhere you haven't been?
23:37Kevin Wendle:I mean, Petra. I mean, I'm dying to discover Petra. I know. They're a lot less tourists now, for better or for worse. But what a magical place. I am really curious to discover Portugal more. Have you been?
23:52Karla Martinez de Salas:Yes. I've been once quickly, but I know so many friends who are going
23:59Kevin Wendle:who are telling me, you know, come now. I know.
24:02Karla Martinez de Salas:everything from lisbon which is so magical it's kind of like a small reminds me a bit of san francisco because it's very hilly um but it's beautiful and the food is fantastic and then you have comporta which kind of they say is a little bit similar to the hamptons and like since it's on the atlantic and it's like not so hot and has this like you know just beautiful
24:25Kevin Wendle:kind of long stretches of beach and there's so many places to see i know i you know i'm still a huge fan of the Greek islands. I mean, you can't go wrong by, if you're lucky enough to get on a boat, any boat, and just go island hopping, then it's a different vacation every day.
24:43Karla Martinez de Salas:I haven't been to Greece in a while. I should say that's kind of my bucket list. It was kind of my, I think of my, the first time I went, I said, oh my God, this is my
24:50Kevin Wendle:favorite vacation ever. And I was not on a big mega yacht. I was just on a, like a very normal little boat.
24:57Karla Martinez de Salas:They say that that's the best way to do it. No, it's like on a sailboat.
25:00Kevin Wendle:Yeah, because every day is a different vacation. You go to the island, it's just fishermen. You go to the party island. You go to the architectural island. You go to the religious island. You go to the foodie island. I mean, every island is so different that you feel like it's 10 vacations in one in 10 days.
25:18Karla Martinez de Salas:That's a good way to think about it. Greece, 10 vacations in one.
25:22Kevin Wendle:10 vacations in 10 days. I know.
25:23Karla Martinez de Salas:It's so interesting the way that we travel because sometimes, for example, in August, if I went to Asensia in August, I would not leave. I would just stay at the hotel, enjoy, swim. But if I went maybe, let's say, April for a spring break, I might want to go to the ruins. I might want to go. So I feel like sometimes we just want to go and escape and not see anything. And then I get this kind of guilt of, I didn't go see a ruin or I didn't go to a museum. Does that happen to you too?
25:54Kevin Wendle:Absolutely. Well, I got to say, so July, August are wonderful in a sense. I know. Because Americans or non-Mexicans don't think about Mexico in the summer, but we're right there on the beach. So I've never been hot sitting beachside in Mexico in July and August. No, it's perfect. And there's no seaweed. The beach is empty. And I see all these other people flooding the beaches of Italy or the Hamptons or whatever and can't even get an umbrella in the sand. I know. And we're empty. And I walk around saying, oh, my gosh, I wish people could be here now when it's just so perfect. The temperature is perfect.
26:36Kevin Wendle:There's nobody here. As much as I travel, I have not been to Antigua. I have not been to Turks and Caicos. I have not been to enough of these places that are right nearby, you know, Bahamas. And yet I'm, you know, running this, you know, I've not been to Grand Cayman. I hear, you know, nice things about that. So there's so much to see and so little time.
27:03Karla Martinez de Salas:I know. We need more time. Kevin I'm so happy we got to do this I hope to see you in a few weeks
27:10Kevin Wendle:Carla what a great excuse for me to come to Mexico City one of my favorite cities in the world and spend time with you it's been so great to catch up thank you so much for your time and we'll see you on the beach at Asensia very soon thank you thank you for joining us in the Culture Lounge we're so glad you're here each episode is a carefully curated conversation a celebration of the arts ideas, and people that make life more beautiful. We hope you live with a little more of that beauty today. New episodes arrive every other Friday at 9 a.m. Eastern. Listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and be sure to subscribe so you never miss what's next.
From the publisher
In this episode of the Culture Lounge podcast, recorded at Assouline's Mexico City boutique, Karla Martinez de Salas, Head of Editorial Content at Vogue Mexico and Latin America, and hotelier Kevin Wendle come together to reflect on the cities that have shaped them, and the one that continues to captivate them both. From the meditative stillness of Kyoto to the effortless sophistication of Paris, and the unhurried ease of the Riviera Maya, they trace the places that have left their mark, and what each has taught them about the art of being somewhere fully. The conversation turns to the enduring magic of the Mexican capital, a place of relentless creative energy and deep cultural memory.
