AMResorts, Grupo Hotelero Santa Fe continue Mexico growth

Six months after joining forces to open three resorts, Apple Leisure Group's AMResorts and Mexico's Grupo Hotelero Santa Fe are expanding their scope. The companies have signed a new resort-management deal to bring the Breathless Resorts & Spas brand to Tulum.
 
AMResorts will oversee brand management, sales and marketing of the resort, while Grupo Hotelero Santa Fe will be responsible for operating the property. ALG is a top seller of U.S.-based vacation packages to Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica, and one of the largest to the Caribbean, moving 2.3 million passengers annually to these regions.

Javier Coll, EVP and chief strategy officer of ALG, commented in a statement, “As Tulum welcomed more than 300,000 visitors this summer alone, we are excited to expand our presence in one of Mexico’s top travel destinations.”
 
Breathless Tulum Resort & Spa—a Grand Tourism category resort as designated by the Mexican Secretary of Tourism—is slated to open in 2021 and will have 300 all-inclusive suites. This will be the third property to fly the brand flag in Mexico after openings in Cabo San Lucas and Riviera Cancun, as well as Punta Cana, Dominican Republic and Montego Bay, Jamaica.
 

“Breathless is the perfect match for Tulum, as it is the first to offer all the services and amenities of a Grand Tourism category property in the area, which will allow more-sophisticated travelers to reach this destination,” said Francisco Zinser Cieslik, EVP of Grupo Hotelero Santa Fe. 

ALG's Caribbean Growth 

AMResorts and Grupo Hotelero Santa Fe first partnered earlier this year, co-branding three resorts in Cancun, Los Cabos and Nuevo Vallarta under AMResorts’ Reflect Resorts & Spas and Krystal Grand Hotels & Resorts brands.

“Grupo Hotelero Santa Fe’s growth trajectory in the country makes them an ideal partner for us to launch our new brand, Reflect Krystal Grand, which will offer an innovative take on the traditional beach resort,” Alex Zozaya, CEO of Apple Leisure Group, said at the time. 

The three properties were managed under the Krystal Grand brand up through June 30.

Grupo Hotelero Santa Fe invested $8 million to renew and adapt the three properties, and maintains ownership and operational control of the resorts. In October, AMResorts officially opened the Reflect Krystal Grand Cancun.

This partnership with AMResorts is aligned with Grupo Hotelero Santa Fe’s diversification strategy, which is focused on growing in the resort segment through partnerships, according to the company. With the Breathless Tulum deal, Group Hotelero Santa Fe’s portfolio will reach 28 hotels and 6,932 rooms in 18 cities across Mexico, including hotels currently in construction or expansion. In August, Grupo Hotelero Santa Fe signed a contract to acquire a 50-percent stake in the Cleviá Grand Hotel Leon in Leon, Mexico, and is "evaluating brand alternatives" for the property.
 

AMResorts, meanwhile, currently has 54 resorts with 20,000 rooms under several brands in Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America. The company also has approximately 10,000 rooms in development. In the first half of 2018, ALG added 12 new hotel projects to its portfolio in seven locations across Mexico, the Caribbean and Europe. In August, the company entered the St. Martin market with the signing of a new resort brand management deal to open a Secrets Resorts & Spas property on the island. ALG's pipeline in the Caribbean alone has more than 6,000 guestrooms in development as of August.