Luxury travel was in the spotlight at the recent VIP Summit in Los Cabos. The invitation-only event showcased the destination’s newly opened and recently renovated show stoppers.
Event venues included The Cape, a Thompson Hotel, The Resort at Pedregal, Las Ventanas al Paraiso and the brand-new JW Marriott Los Cabos Beach Resort & Spa.
Event host the Los Cabos Tourism Board was also eager to get the word out about future development. In the next two years, nearly 4,000 new hotel rooms will come on line. Most will come from familiar names such as Le Blanc, Montage, Park Hyatt, Auberge and Ritz Carlton, among others. Others are new to the North American market.
Case in point: Hong Kong-based hotel development and management company CACHET Hotel Group. They’re entering the resort market with Cachet Corazon on Medano Beach. The dual-branded project consists of Cachet Beach, debuting in late 2016. The second phase, Cachet Deluxe, opens in 2018.
Cachet Corazon will feature 309 guestrooms, 5 restaurants, an outdoor pool bar and terrace plus 20,000 square feet of meeting and event spaces. A globally-known nightlife company will operate the beach club.
Cachet Corazon’s owner-developer is Cabo Villas Beach Resort and Spa Development Group. The family-owned company has been in the Los Cabos market since the late 1980’s. In 2000, Cabo Villas transformed a 6-room hotel into a 142-room resort that became known as Cabo Villas Beach Resort & Spa. The new Cachet Corazon project will renovate one of the existing towers plus add a new 204-guestroom structure.
Cabo Villas Group president Christopher Erickson tells Travel Agent that the partnership with CACHET makes sense. For one thing, CACHET has a strong history of successful projects throughout Asia.
“Asia is a market that hasn’t been tapped into for Cabo. They plan to cross-promote and send them here,” said Erickson.
Increased global attention will help the entire destination, according to Ventanas al Paraiso managing director Frederic Vidal.
“You want to attract the type of guest who can vacation anywhere. You want them to compare it to the best vacations they’re had in the Maldives, Bali, the Seychelles or Mauritius. The new properties coming up are going to be good for everyone. The competition is a good thing,” Vidal tells Travel Agent.
Erickson agrees the competition is good. And he isn’t daunted by the prospect of going up against better-known names.
“There are definitely some other beautiful properties going up. But they’re five miles out of town and don’t have swimmable beaches. We’re within walking distance to the marina, the mall and nightlife. We’re going to bring in a lot of the market that presently stays in the Hotel Corridor. We’re in the heart of the main beach, and you can’t beat that,” said Erickson.
Of course, other brands are also touting location. Hard Rock Hotel Los Cabos is part of the 1,500-acre Diamante Cabo San Lucas resort on the Pacific coast. It will open in 2017.
“We have a mile of beach front. There won’t be anything else like it,” Frank Maduro, vice president of marketing for the All Inclusive Collection tells Travel Agent.
The All Inclusive Collection heads sales and marketing for the Hard Rock.
“We customize each of our properties with amenities that showcase the destination. In Los Cabos we wanted something very high end with great golf. Diamante provides that with world-class championship courses. One is by Davis Love III and the other by Tiger Woods. Diamante also provides great access to the widest stretch of beach in Los Cabos. And across the street, we will own and operate a Nobu-branded property,” said Maduro.
Agents, said Maduro, should see the rapidly-evolving face of Los Cabos as a great opportunity.
“We invest heavily in the trades. We have an ownership group that’s very aggressive and really believes in the product. We’re always in need of agent support. They’re the reason we’ve had so much success in the last several years,” said Maduro.