Grupo Posadas Charts Ambitious Course for Growth through 2011

Although it already runs 104 hotels with 19,042 guestrooms across Mexico, Grupo Posadas is in the process of becoming quite a bit bigger. In 2007, the firm opened seven hotels and launched luxury brand Aqua. By the end of this year, it plans to have opened 15 new hotels, and similar growth is planned every year through 2011.

This expansion strategy is a response to market dynamics, according to Liliana Franco, marketing director.

All but one of the new hotels, the Caesar Park Buenos Aires Obelisco, in Argentina, are opening in Mexico. And all of Grupo Posadas’ recent openings are new constructions, except for the Aqua Cancun, the first of the company’s hotels to carry the Aqua brand.

Franco said Grupo Posadas used the closure of the Fiesta Americana Grand Aqua Cancun after Hurricane Wilma in October 2005 as an opportunity to develop and put into practice the Aqua concept.

Grupo Posadas plans to open two more Aqua properties within two years. First, the Aqua Bosques will debut in Bosques de las Lomas, Mexico City. Franco said the hotel will court business travelers with three celebrity-chef restaurants, a spa and state-of-the-art meetings facilities.

One Hotels outlets will open this year in Acapulco, Aguascalientes, Culiacan, Reynosa and San Luis Potosi. For its part, Fiesta Inn, targeted to business travelers but with a presence in several vacation destinations, is to expand its portfolio to 66 properties, up from the current 58.

The only chain not expanding this year is Fiesta Americana, Grupo Posadas’ original flagship brand. The current construction surge is only the beginning of an overall growth strategy. The company expects to have opened 50 hotels between 2007 and 2011, according to Franco.