Grand Velas Goes Upscale with its All-Inclusives

Grand Velas All Suites and Spa Resort on the Riviera Maya held its official opening ceremony in mid-June, during one of the most challenging times for Mexico tourism. Giving the hotel and the destination a publicity boost was the president of Mexico, Felipe Calderon, who participated in the ceremony.

The 490-room, luxury, all-inclusive resort was built at a cost of $250 million by Grupo Velas, a Mexican investment group led by the Velas family.

With the opening of the property, Grupo Velas now operates a total of 1,170 rooms in the new hotel and three others: the Velas Vallarta Suite Resort and Casa Velas Hotel Boutique, both in Puerto Vallarta, and the Grand Velas All Suites and Spa Resort on the Riviera Nayarit north of Puerto Vallarta.

The concept behind the hotels is to offer a level of luxury that meets AAA’s Five Diamond standards, which the Nuevo Vallarta property achieved, said Ana Gon-Ryan, the company’s vice president of sales and marketing.

“We’re developing a whole new concept of all-inclusives,” she said. The summer season will be difficult, Gon-Ryan conceded, because of the economic downturn in the U.S., the H1N1 flu panic and other factors, but the hotel group is looking to the fall and winter seasons for a substantial pickup in business.