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Xueños. The Story of the Dreams behind Xcaret, the Best Park in the World
“Dreaming is visualizing a great idea in action”
Few stories have had such an impact on Mexico's entrepreneurial and social life as that of architect Miguel Quintana Pali, founder and General Director of Grupo Xcaret. In this book, the pioneer of sustainable tourism sums up almost five decades of his own experiences as an entrepreneur and businessman-first as a shop-owner, then as park-maker, and now a hotelier- and adds his advice for those looking to start a business, including the do's and don'ts for success.
Starting with his first business ventures during his schooldays and his invention of a table-lamp that led him to launch his Pali stores, Quintana tells us how he turned Xcaret into a world-renowned showcase of Mexico that welcomes two million visitors a year.
In a journey through his life and through the history of Grupo Xcaret, we discover the origin of his ideas for the parks and the creative process behind some of their most emblematic attractions; the challenges involved in budgeting for "site-specific" architecture that respects nature; the disagreements between partners; sustainability at 360°; operational and marketing strategies; in-house technological innovations; social actions that have become part of the Group's DNA; a philosophy based on happiness within and outside the organization; and finally, the projects that are in the pipeline.
A close look at the creative genius of one of Mexico's most original minds-one fully committed to the country's development.
Few stories have had such an impact on Mexico's entrepreneurial and social life as that of architect Miguel Quintana Pali, founder and General Director of Grupo Xcaret. In this book, the pioneer of sustainable tourism sums up almost five decades of his own experiences as an entrepreneur and businessman-first as a shop-owner, then as park-maker, and now a hotelier- and adds his advice for those looking to start a business, including the do's and don'ts for success.
Starting with his first business ventures during his schooldays and his invention of a table-lamp that led him to launch his Pali stores, Quintana tells us how he turned Xcaret into a world-renowned showcase of Mexico that welcomes two million visitors a year.
In a journey through his life and through the history of Grupo Xcaret, we discover the origin of his ideas for the parks and the creative process behind some of their most emblematic attractions; the challenges involved in budgeting for "site-specific" architecture that respects nature; the disagreements between partners; sustainability at 360°; operational and marketing strategies; in-house technological innovations; social actions that have become part of the Group's DNA; a philosophy based on happiness within and outside the organization; and finally, the projects that are in the pipeline.
A close look at the creative genius of one of Mexico's most original minds-one fully committed to the country's development.
- GenresBusinessTravelNonfiction
247 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2019
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March 21, 2025This was an interesting book that began as a 3-star book for me and progressed quite nicely toward all 5. Indulge my reasoning....
I stayed at one of the parks where I encountered the Spanish version of the book in the room. Intrigued by its descriptions of entrepreneurship loosely translated via my phone's translator apps, I bought it at the resort's store. It stayed in factory wrap since returning from the vacation some months ago. Until last night.
The author, an owner and visionary behind the Xcaret group of resorts and parks has written the book as a memoir. It chronicles his love for Mexico, his family, purpose and approaches quite nicely. Written originally in Spanish, the translated book is, at first, hard to get into. But as the English-focused mind adjusted to the translated text, I found the stories compelling and they sucked me in. Quite like the resort itself :)
I found the last third of the book the most interesting, probably because it discusses the entrepreneurial venture. The author's philosophy about sustainability, human resources, development, partnerships, family, hospitality, community and country are laid bare in this part and fun to read. They are especially meaningful if you've been to one of the resorts already.
The book has a few oddities.... the first being sections pre-highlighted for the reader. They are highlighted to underscore the key points but require attention and discipline to not be landing spots. I found myself reading just the highlights at times and had to force myself to return to the full text. The highlights are important, just not meant to ignore the rest of the text.
The other oddity is needing to force oneself to ignore the translated English text. The translations appear to be automated or not written by someone with English as their primary language. It doesn't take away from the underlying meaning, just that the native speaker would likely not choose the word printed in the book.
Neither oddity removes a star for me, because the epilogue makes up for it all.
A value of a memoir is a collection of the author's life lessons and the epilogue lists many over a few pages.
I stayed at one of the parks where I encountered the Spanish version of the book in the room. Intrigued by its descriptions of entrepreneurship loosely translated via my phone's translator apps, I bought it at the resort's store. It stayed in factory wrap since returning from the vacation some months ago. Until last night.
The author, an owner and visionary behind the Xcaret group of resorts and parks has written the book as a memoir. It chronicles his love for Mexico, his family, purpose and approaches quite nicely. Written originally in Spanish, the translated book is, at first, hard to get into. But as the English-focused mind adjusted to the translated text, I found the stories compelling and they sucked me in. Quite like the resort itself :)
I found the last third of the book the most interesting, probably because it discusses the entrepreneurial venture. The author's philosophy about sustainability, human resources, development, partnerships, family, hospitality, community and country are laid bare in this part and fun to read. They are especially meaningful if you've been to one of the resorts already.
The book has a few oddities.... the first being sections pre-highlighted for the reader. They are highlighted to underscore the key points but require attention and discipline to not be landing spots. I found myself reading just the highlights at times and had to force myself to return to the full text. The highlights are important, just not meant to ignore the rest of the text.
The other oddity is needing to force oneself to ignore the translated English text. The translations appear to be automated or not written by someone with English as their primary language. It doesn't take away from the underlying meaning, just that the native speaker would likely not choose the word printed in the book.
Neither oddity removes a star for me, because the epilogue makes up for it all.
A value of a memoir is a collection of the author's life lessons and the epilogue lists many over a few pages.
July 18, 2022
If you’ve been to the Cancun or Playa del Carmen areas of Quintana Roo, Mexico, you’ve undoubtedly seen the signs for many of the attractions under the Xcaret (ish-cah-ret) umbrella of parks and hotels (you’ll know you’ve found one if it had an X at the front of the name). I picked up this book in the gift shop of one of the parks I recently enjoyed (Xplor).
Miguel Pali is a fascinating businessman with a widely varied background of side hustles and business ventures beginning early in his youth. Despite his wide range of skills and talents, designing a long-form narrative (i.e. a biographical book) doesn’t appear to be a strong skill in this book. You’ll have to forgive his sudden stops and starts of new topics as you read this book.
The first half of the book explains his upbringing and business ventures before becoming a “tourister.” It really is a small section that just quickly summarizes all the twists and turns that brought him to his current long-time profession. I was a little frustrated that he spoke of so many different projects and businesses, yet he never revealed exactly how he learned the skills to succeed in them. His writing makes it appear that on a whim, he decided to pivot into a completely different job requiring a completely different skill set, and in short order he’d find enough success with it—again and again. I feel it likely wasn’t exactly like that and that there’s a part of the story he isn’t telling us.
In the end, though, I think this ends up being a minor concern because my positive takeaways from the book are weightier and they come from the second half of the book. This book gave me a greater appreciation for the underlying vision and mission of Xcaret, as well as how that mission is fulfilled through each of the attractions and services they offer. I was impressed that not only was the focus on “xcellent xperiences” for their guests, but also on driving business and government reform throughout all of Mexico. Sr. Pali also did well to introduce the reader to each of their “products” and pique my curiosity to experience them for myself. Finally, great pains were made to be sure to call out general nuggets of advice for all business leaders and entrepreneurs out there.
I love what Xcaret’s parks are accomplishing and highly recommend visiting them for yourself—and learning a bit more about them by trying this book out!
Miguel Pali is a fascinating businessman with a widely varied background of side hustles and business ventures beginning early in his youth. Despite his wide range of skills and talents, designing a long-form narrative (i.e. a biographical book) doesn’t appear to be a strong skill in this book. You’ll have to forgive his sudden stops and starts of new topics as you read this book.
The first half of the book explains his upbringing and business ventures before becoming a “tourister.” It really is a small section that just quickly summarizes all the twists and turns that brought him to his current long-time profession. I was a little frustrated that he spoke of so many different projects and businesses, yet he never revealed exactly how he learned the skills to succeed in them. His writing makes it appear that on a whim, he decided to pivot into a completely different job requiring a completely different skill set, and in short order he’d find enough success with it—again and again. I feel it likely wasn’t exactly like that and that there’s a part of the story he isn’t telling us.
In the end, though, I think this ends up being a minor concern because my positive takeaways from the book are weightier and they come from the second half of the book. This book gave me a greater appreciation for the underlying vision and mission of Xcaret, as well as how that mission is fulfilled through each of the attractions and services they offer. I was impressed that not only was the focus on “xcellent xperiences” for their guests, but also on driving business and government reform throughout all of Mexico. Sr. Pali also did well to introduce the reader to each of their “products” and pique my curiosity to experience them for myself. Finally, great pains were made to be sure to call out general nuggets of advice for all business leaders and entrepreneurs out there.
I love what Xcaret’s parks are accomplishing and highly recommend visiting them for yourself—and learning a bit more about them by trying this book out!
June 26, 2022
Hace unos días terminé de leer XUEÑOS - la historia detrás del Grupo Xcaret-, escrita por su creador Miguel Quintana Pali.
Es una historia realmente inspiradora. No solo permite recorrer paso a paso la historia de Miguel como empresario, también indica los #MustDo, #MustBe, #MustNot y los #EntrepTip para los emprendedores.
Además, da lecciones increíbles de Branding experiencial. Nos muestra la manera en cómo se ha posicionado en un mercado que ha venido tomando fuerza en los últimos años en México y el mundo. Incluso, ha convertido a Xcaret, y a todos sus parques, en un Landmark de Cancún.
Hasta ahora, la referencia más importante de una marca experiencial era Disney. Sin embargo, visitar Xcaret me dio una perspectiva de aprovechamiento de su propuesta de valor ecológico y natural: su patrimonio cultural e histórico, a favor de su territorio marítimo, responsabilidad con su gente, bilingüismo y el valor de los detalles mediante la claridad de su customer Journey map.
¡No dejen de leerlo!
Es una historia realmente inspiradora. No solo permite recorrer paso a paso la historia de Miguel como empresario, también indica los #MustDo, #MustBe, #MustNot y los #EntrepTip para los emprendedores.
Además, da lecciones increíbles de Branding experiencial. Nos muestra la manera en cómo se ha posicionado en un mercado que ha venido tomando fuerza en los últimos años en México y el mundo. Incluso, ha convertido a Xcaret, y a todos sus parques, en un Landmark de Cancún.
Hasta ahora, la referencia más importante de una marca experiencial era Disney. Sin embargo, visitar Xcaret me dio una perspectiva de aprovechamiento de su propuesta de valor ecológico y natural: su patrimonio cultural e histórico, a favor de su territorio marítimo, responsabilidad con su gente, bilingüismo y el valor de los detalles mediante la claridad de su customer Journey map.
¡No dejen de leerlo!
August 3, 2025
I very much enjoyed this book; although, it does suffer from the same faults as most autobiographies: the writer is always the most brilliant and faultless individual in the story. It’s too bad most of the more recent and future projects he focuses on in the book have all failed. Xavage is already permanently closed. Coba tours have ended. Xibalba never opened because they were found to have violated environmental regulations. Another park, renovated haciendas, and a series of small hotels in Yucatán state have never progressed, let alone opened.
April 17, 2025
This book is written by a Mexican entrepreneur about his personal background and his parks. The book, which I purchased in the Xcaret gift shop, is more of an entrepreneur book than a real history. It's full of gimmicks like using 'x' to start a lot of words and having entrepreneurship tips scattered everywhere.
Ignoring that, the history of the parks is neat.
Ignoring that, the history of the parks is neat.
January 11, 2026
Such an interesting look into the business side of the greatest hotel and amusement parks in the world, Xcaret. Miguel Quintana Pali is a fascinating businessman who puts his workers, customers, and environment first. I loved visiting this park with my family when we went to Mexico, but reading the owner’s memoir makes me want to return again and again.
December 26, 2025
Este libro nos transmite que los sueños, cuando se sostienen con perseverancia, visión y respeto por la naturaleza y la cultura, pueden convertirse en proyectos extraordinarios. Xcaret es prueba de que es posible crear éxito empresarial con propósito, identidad y legado.
August 1, 2022
Reseñas sobre la historia de la creación de los parques
May 28, 2023
The first part of the story was about how he started the business and was inspiring, however, the later chapters were more like some type of promotional activity.
March 4, 2025
This is an interesting book to read if you were planning on visiting one of the XCaret parks or hotels.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews