Iberostar Cancun
The largest of IBEROSTAR Cancun’s seven swimming pools features a swim-up bar.

 

For years, IBEROSTAR Hotels & Resorts has been a major player in the always-competitive Mexican all-inclusive market. But for years, it was also missing a major selling point: a resort in Cancun.

That is, until this February. Travel Agent was there on the second day of that month for IBEROSTAR Hotels & Resorts’ official grand opening of the new resort in Cancun. Miguel Fluxa, executive chairman of the company, and Spanish actor Antonio Banderas, the resort’s celebrity spokesperson, were among those on hand for the inauguration ceremony.

About the Resort

The brand invested $100 million in the purchase and renovation of the former Hilton Cancun Hotel, which closed its doors in August of last year for major refurbishments. Among the improvements made to the beachfront resort were the refurbishment of its main lobby areas and the lobby at the hotel bar, as well as the construction of new terraces at the swimming pools.

In order to enhance the gastronomic offerings, a new El Laguito Buffet Restaurant was opened in addition to four new specialty restaurants: La Horma Gourmet Restaurant, Naga Hibachi Japanese Restaurant, La Parrilla Steak House and El Maguey Mexican & Beach Restaurant. With the aim of further developing entertainment options, a new stage/theater was built as well as a new Mini Club for children including a water park and a Teenie Club for teenagers.

Now a five-star resort hotel, IBEROSTAR Cancun is located in the first line of the seaside and just 15 minutes away from Cancun International Airport, aiming to become a landmark for tourism in the Caribbean, in both business and leisure travel, although Travel Agent highly recommends this for vacationers, particularly young couples.

 

Iberostar Cancun
One of the oceanview double rooms at the IBEROSTAR Cancun.

 

The hotel has 426 rooms and villas, including 16 Junior Suites and four Master Suites, a Presidential Suite and two Beach Suite Villas. It has seven swimming pools perfectly integrated within the garden setting, a professional football field, two tennis courts, and a spa, gym and a beauty salon, among other services. During our visit, Travel Agent stayed in #427, a Superior Room with twin beds and a balcony overlooking the pool area and ocean.

 

IBEROSTAR’s Global Growth

IBEROSTAR Hotels & Resorts recently announced results for 2011, highlighted by global revenues of roughly $1.2 billion, a 7.8 percent increase from the previous year. The Spanish hospitality chain also shared details of a series of investments and expansions executed in 2011, as well as those planned for 2012. Currently, the brand has a portfolio of more than 100 hotels, 67,000 beds and more than 21,000 employees in 15 countries worldwide.

In line with the previously announced plans for thoughtful global expansion, nine hotels were added to the Iberostar portfolio in 2011. The brand developed its already strong presence in Spain, with the opening of two four-star hotels in Marbella and Malaga last spring, and expects to soon add three more in Majorca and two in Cadiz through a roughly $122 million agreement with Thomas Cook.

Other acquisitions include a hotel in Crete, Greece, and three new hotels in Cuba: an urban resort five-star hotel in Havana and two new four-star resorts in Cayo Coco. In South America, properties are slated for development this year in Buenos Aires and in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia.

Additionally, IBEROSTATE, the real estate division of the IBEROSTAR Group, is continuing its plans for the consolidation and development of residential projects in the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Brazil, with strategic and strong development in each market in 2012.

 

Conference Facilities

For meetings, IBEROSTAR Cancun also features a 50,000-square-foot Peninsula Convention Center with a versatile layout divisible into 22 meeting rooms, and 90,000 square feet of outdoor areas for social events and activities. Further, the resort is home to Cancun’s only 18-hole golf course, which has stunning views of the Caribbean Sea.

Agents should direct their queries to Marketing Manager Ashley Parden ([email protected], 678-714-8487, ext. 104).

Future Plans in Mexico

Other highlights from our coverage included interviews with actor and brand ambassador Antonio Banderas, and Miguel Fluxa, executive president of Grupo IBEROSTAR. During our chat with Fluxa, he told us about IBEROSTAR’s plans to expand north of Puerto Vallarta.

Fluxa told us IBEROSTAR already owns land there and plans to begin groundbreaking in one year. The main appeal for the destination, he says, is a new Greg Norman-designed, 18-hole championship golf course, located on the land that IBEROSTAR currently owns. The resort will be in Litibu, which is located in Riviera Nayarit.