Tourism company Xcaret and hotel chain City Express have big plans for Mexico: the former will invest US $400 million to build a new hotel and the latter plans to open 40 new properties by 2021.

Francisco Gutiérrez, director of Xcaret’s hotel division, told the newspaper Milenio that the company’s third luxury hotel will be called Xcaret Arte and have approximately 900 rooms.

To be located on land adjacent to the Xcaret theme park south of Playa del Carmen, Quintana, Roo, the hotel is expected to open in 2021, Gutiérrez said.

He explained that Xcaret plans to operate 10 hotels in Mexico.

The US $350-million Hotel Xcaret in Playa del Carmen is already open and the company’s second hotel, a US $85-million all-inclusive resort in Cancún called La Casa de la Playa (The Beach House), will open next year.

“We’re stronger than ever, investing to build high-quality, differentiated products,” Gutiérrez said.

At the Tianguis Turístico tourism fair in Acapulco earlier this month, the business executive said that Xcaret also has plans for the state of Yucatán, including the construction of a theme park and boutique hotels.

Gutiérrez said the company was looking at the area around Valladolid for its projects but declined to indicate when they might start.

Meanwhile, City Express has plans to invest more than US $150 million to build 40 hotels in Mexico during the next two years.

Franchise director Carlos Adams told Milenio that the company’s plans for Mexico are part of a broader Latin America strategy that will also include new hotels in Costa Rica, Colombia and Chile.

He explained that the company’s experience in cities such as Cancún and Puebla showed that it is possible to have more than one of City Express’s five brands in a single city.

“In . . . particular destinations, you have market segments [made up] of different customers,” Gutiérrez said, explaining that two different 125-room hotels can sometimes better cater to guests’ different needs than a single 250-room hotel.

He added that occupancy rates this year have been a little weak but started to improve last month.

City Express has 151 properties in four countries and 30 of Mexico’s 32 states.

Source: Milenio (sp)