This luxury resort lets guests hear chart-topping artists unplugged
PUNTA MITA, MEXICO ‒ Alvaro Mackissack ambled across the sandy beach.
It was just before sunset as he joined several friends on a gathering of soft couches oriented toward a small stage with waves lapping behind.
Most people have to crowd into a packed 1,000-seat venue for a show like this. But Mackissack and his family got an ocean sunset – and a front-row seat to see singer/songwriter Marc Scibilia – with only 20 or so others in attendance.
The small crowd is not something Scibilia is used to, but this one was by design.
Scibilia was a guest at Naviva, a Four Seasons Resort in Punta Mita, Mexico. It's a property that, at full capacity, houses only 30 guests in 15 tented bungalows. The resort is a frontrunner for "experiential tourism," and the most recent addition to the lineup of experiences there is its unplugged concert series.
But this is not just a resort offering live music. The evening is an experience for both the guests and the musician, who flips a typical performance on its head a bit. It's the Naviva way, really. Instead of packing guests onto the property or arranging a show where there's pressure to fill the room, this one focuses on an intimate evening that ends up being wonderfully unexpected for both the artist and the guests.
"It is music, but the experience is not just the concert," Naviva Resort Manager Eduardo Sampere told The Tennessean, part of the Paste BN Network. "It's the dinner, it's being on property during the weekend with the artist. It's for the artist to be able to experience the property with the other guests. So the 45-minute performance is just a small piece of what an unplugged Naviva weekend offers."
Scibilia said that after being on tour for three months, the Naviva experience was a beautiful way to end traveling around the world.
"Their willingness to cater the night to my music and what I do was amazing," he said. "The integrated experience between what they do and what I do offered a great way for me to recharge as I go into writing and recording a new album. This reminded me of where it all started."
Shooter Jennings kicks off the unplugged series
The idea for the unplugged experience came to Sampere after he observed an A-list musician who recently stayed at the resort. The property is protective of its guests' privacy, so he couldn't reveal the artist's name, but said the performer is of arena-level status.
"The musician decided to start playing the guitar at the pool because that's what he loves to do and he felt relaxed and comfortable at Naviva to be himself," Sampere said. "Lucky for a couple that was here on their anniversary, they were at the pool at the same time, so they got an unexpected and impromptu concert from this person."
Sampere saw the artist talking to the guests and realized how important it was for artists who are always in the spotlight to have a moment of freedom to actually be themselves and meet people without any pressure.
" I also saw how amazing it was also for the other guests to have this interaction with someone that they felt they could never be able to interact with," he added.
Mackissack and his family were visiting Naviva from Guadalajara. He said seeing raw talent like Scibilia, among only a few other people, and being a few feet from the ocean was "something unreal."
"Enjoying some incredible music, watching the sun go down, surrounded by people with whom I’d later have the most amazing dinner and without knowing, make lifelong friendships was awesome," Mackissack said.
Sampere and his team began by direct messaging artists on Instagram and even made a trip to Nashville to spread the word. "The connection felt natural," said Kimberly Giblin, commercial director for Naviva. "Both Naviva and Nashville share a passion for genuine hospitality and understand how music can build meaningful bonds between people."
'This is too good to be true'
Sampere asked musician Shooter Jennings to kick off the series in early May. Jennings happily obliged. "The minute I got there, I'm like, this is too good to be true," he said.
He realized none of the guests at the resort knew who he was – and that was a good thing.
"I said to the small crowd that this feels like I'm just sitting in my living room and you guys are all here at my house looking at me," he said. "It felt totally different than a normal gig. There was no pressure. I could play one of my songs, one of my dad's songs, a Hank Jr. song, or something I played the night before, and nobody would know the difference. There was a feeling of everyone involved were friends, even though I hadn't met anyone yet."
Sampere's idea worked.
"I wanted to find a way to give artists a space to maybe fall in love back with music," he said. "Or to be creative about it and just chill and not have to worry about how many tickets are we selling and how order are we going to play the songs in, and how is my voice going to sound? We want to give them an opportunity to remember why they fell in love with music in the first place and, at the same time, give our guests an opportunity to meet a master of their craft and see them in a way they never thought they would."
Jennings said, "The sun was setting and we're having some drinks and food, and I played for like 45 minutes and literally everybody afterward came up and thanked me and were grateful for the experience. It felt like a whole different experience for me as well. The idea is brilliant. I got to play my songs in front of some people who had no pre-judgment."
Other artists on the Naviva Unplugged lineup include Lee Brice, Brittney Spencer, Moriah, Cassadee Pope and Mat Kearney.
Naviva was founded to create authentic connections to nature and each other
John O'Sullivan is a regional vice president and general manager at Four Seasons, and the brainchild behind Naviva, a concept that took him seven years to develop.
" I love the idea of smallness and I love the idea of authentic immersion in local communities," he told The Tennessean. "I love the idea of creating those authentic connections. The first time someone comes, they are a guest. The second time, they come back as a member of our community or tribe."
The property has no reception desk. No check-in or check-out. No televisions and no menus. All of the resort's drinking water is extracted from the air and bottled on-site. The coffee is roasted a few miles away from the property.
"I think it's totally about how do you genuinely create unique, customized soul-centric relationships," he said. "To me, music is a natural extension of nature. When you are at Naviva in the morning, you hear all the birds around you. That's the first unplugged series we ever had."
He added that providing a venue like Naviva for artists can offer a full-circle experience.
"For an artist who is becoming successful to be able to go back to playing around a campfire for 20 people is amazing," he said. "Think of when musicians were at their purest. Was it U2 playing at The Sphere in Vegas? They were amazing there, but the purest U2 was when they were playing in the Baggott Inn in Dublin in 1972 and you could get in to see them for free."
Jennings said he and his wife, Misty, "had the best trip ever."
"I was rejuvenated," he said. "I read like two books. We sat out in the sun for two days by our private pool and then went and did a show and had the best ribs we've ever had and just hung out."
Melonee Hurt covers music, music business and travel at The Tennessean, part of the Paste BN NETWORK – Tennessee. Reach Melonee at mhurt@tennessean.com or on Instagram at @MelHurtWrites.
If you go:
What: Naviva, A Four Seasons Resort
Where: Punta Mita, Mexico
Booking: https://www.fourseasons.com/naviva
Pricing: $2,600 and up per night. Double occupancy. All-inclusive.
(This story was updated to fix a typo.)