Iberostar Hotels & Resorts is celebrating its 20th anniversary of operations in Mexico. The brand, which hosts more than half a million guests in the destination every year, has also announced new investments in Los Cabos and Litibu.
In 1997, Iberostar built its first hotels in Playa del Carmen: Iberostar Tucan and Iberostar Quetzal. The brand later acquired and opened the Iberostar Cozumel in 1999. In 2001, Iberostar kicked off its Iberostar Playa Paraiso Golf and Spa Resort project, which for almost a decade would include new hotel property construction beginning with the Iberostar Paraiso Beach and the Iberostar Paraiso del Mar. The brand continued to build additional hotel properties throughout the first half of the decade, including its third hotel in the Paraiso complex, the Iberostar Paraiso Lindo (2003), followed by the Iberostar Paraiso Maya (2005), and finally the Iberostar Grand Paraiso (2007). The completed construction includes a shopping plaza, convention center, an 18-hole golf course and spa facilities, among other amenities.
In 2012, Iberostar opened the Iberostar Cancun. In 2013, it opened its first property on the Pacific Coast, the Iberostar Playa Mita in Riviera Nayarit.
During its first 20 years of commitment to Mexico, the brand has made investments exceeding $775 million dollars in the country’s tourism industry and has created more than 4,500 direct jobs in the country, Iberostar said.
In early 2018, Iberostar regrouped its hotels in three segments: city hotels, ocean resorts and Iberostar Heritage, a newly created category that includes classic hotels steeped in history and tradition. Iberostar hotels with the “Grand” designation are the brand’s luxury category and are present in all three of the new segments.
New Investments in Mexico
Looking ahead, Iberostar is expanding its hotel portfolio in Mexico. In the short term, the brand will be opening a new 13-story tower in its Cancun Golf and Spa Complex in late 2018.
The new tower will be located close to the sea and will have 154 luxury suites overlooking the shoreline, a new bar, restaurant and pool. The new restaurant will have a capacity of 232 people and will serve buffet-style breakfast and lunch, as well as a la carte dining in the evenings.
Iberostar has also announced a new hotel in Los Cabos and a second Iberostar hotel in Litibu. Iberostar’s Los Cabos property, with more than 43 million square feet and 1.24 miles of beach front in Zacatón, was bought in November 2017.
Iberostar is also implementing a plan to eliminate single-use plastics. The project started in 2017 following an internal corporate audit that detected all the products containing plastic. Plastic straws are a case in point: following a campaign conducted in hotels to cut down on their use and replace them with biodegradable alternatives, usage has been reduced by 10 percent, which in real terms means a reduction of 10 million units.
In 2019, Iberostar Group’s portfolio of more than 110 hotels will be free of single-use plastics, following an initial implementation on the chain’s 36 Spain hotels by June this year.
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