A number of companies are expanding their footprints in Central and South America—signing, adding or opening new hotels across a range of regions in the last days of 2021 and first of 2022.
Grenada
IHG Hotels & Resorts has signed the 150-room InterContinental Grenada Resort for La Sagesse Beach, approximately 30 minutes from the Maurice Bishop International Airport and the town of St. George’s.
The InterContinental Grenada Resort will have more than 30 private suites, several restaurants and bars, a spa and pool with a dedicated bar and grill, a fitness center, approximately 6,000 square feet of meeting space and a business center. The property is expected to open in 2025.
As of Q3 2021, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts has 13 properties in Latin America and 205 open globally, along with 73 hotels in the pipeline.
Belize
The Belize Collection, a boutique resort group, recently added the Umaya Resort on Maya Beach in Placencia to its portfolio. The 60-room resort includes 430 feet of private beach, nearly 7,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor event space, a freshwater pool with cabanas and a spa.
The property also has a Belizean restaurant, Restaurante Laguna, led by executive chef Rahim Melendez.
Colombia
Apple Leisure Group has signed the Dreams Karibana Cartagena Beach & Golf Resort, the AMR Collection’s first property in South America. Slated to open on April 1, the resort will have 268 guestrooms (many of which can be connected for families), all with a private terrace, balcony or swim-out suites. Public spaces will include five bars and lounges, three dining choices, a private beach club and an 18-hole golf course designed by Nicklaus Design.
The resort will also have more than 24,700 square feet of meeting and event space.
Brazil
Marriott International has signed an agreement to debut the JW Marriott Hotel São Paulo in Parque da Cidade, a mixed-use complex located in one of the city’s main business districts. The JW Marriott Hotel São Paulo will be converted from an existing luxury property and is anticipated to be Marriott International’s first luxury hotel in São Paulo when it opens in the second quarter of this year.
Located close to major business and entertainment areas in the city, JW Marriott Hotel São Paulo is expected to have 258 guestrooms, a full-service restaurant, a lounge/bar, a spa with five treatment rooms, an indoor/outdoor swimming pool and a fitness center. The property also will have six meeting spaces covering more than 1,000 square meters.
Marriott International currently operates 11 properties in Brazil and more than 300 across the Caribbean and Latin America region.
At the same time, the Rosewood São Paulo has opened as Rosewood Hotels & Resorts’ first property in South America.
Located close to the Avenida Paulista, Rosewood São Paulo part of the Cidade Matarazzo, a complex of preserved buildings from the early 20th century that have been converted into private residences, stores and entertainment venues. Anchoring the 30,000 square-meter mixed-used development, Rosewood São Paulo occupies the former hospital, Matarazzo Maternity, as well as a new vertical garden tower and the Chapel of Santa Luzia. The conversion of the heritage buildings is rooted in sustainability and makes Cidade Matarazzo Brazil’s largest upcycling project.
Spearheaded by entrepreneur Alexandre Allard and designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel and artistic director Philippe Starck, the hotel reflects its location, with a majority of the design materials both locally sourced and inspired by the country’s culture. The new hotel also displays 450 site-specific artworks created in partnership with local artists whose work draws from the Brazilian experience.
The hotel has 160 guestrooms and suites along with 100 suites.