Ibizan Style Comes to the Mexican Coasts

Q: What is Palladium Hotel Group’s main offer for the Mexican market?

A: Palladium Hotel Group is a Spanish group committed to the Mexican market. We have two hotel complexes, one in Riviera Nayarit with 521 rooms and another in Riviera Maya that has four hotels and a total of 1,554 rooms, including our new TRS Yucatan Hotel, which is a conversion and rebranding of what used to be The Royal Suites brand (TRS Hotels). We destined US$30 million for the conversion of the TRS Yucatan, which went from 135 rooms to 454 rooms. The TRS Hotel brand is our adults-only, upscale offering that we are trying to position with unique offerings such as the Helios Beach Club, which is our effort to import the entertainment concept and atmosphere of Ibiza to our beach clubs. Another distinguishing factor is our Chic Cabaret & Restaurant Cabaret, which is listed on platforms like TripAdvisor as the No. 1 restaurant in Playa del Carmen. These are the elements through which we create a differentiated offer. 
Since November 2018, we have a new hotel complex in Costa Mujeres with two hotels totaling more than 1,000 rooms: a Grand Palladium with 676 rooms and the TRS Coral Hotel with 476 rooms. Our hotels have the necessary infrastructure to hold weddings and all kinds of events. Particularly at Costa Mujeres, we see a great opportunity to develop this segment. 

Q: Palladium Hotel Group targets a very specific market segment. How do you position your offer among the numerous options that can be found in the Mexican market?

A: We understood that to conquer the segment of the Mexican market with the highest purchasing power, it was necessary to make some changes to our products. For instance, we now offer premium drinks at all our hotel bars, which attracts another profile of visitors. Mexican guests tend to demand better-quality products and services than other guests and that is something we are willing to cater to.
Our main challenge is to communicate and explain our new offer to the local market. The story we want our hotels to transmit is that we offer the freshness and essence of an Ibizan company. We used to think that we competed with other Spanish hotel chains but after all this investment we are competing at a higher level. We must be consistent with the delivery of the product so that the customer perceives the relationship between quality and product. We are a company that is highly focused on the client.    
Since we are targeting higher-level customers in the national market, we are also making changes to our distribution strategy. We work through channels such as Viajes Palacio, Aeroméxico, Interjet and Viajes El Corte Inglés to reach clients with greater purchasing power. 

Q: What value do your destinations in Mexico add to your portfolio?

A: Including Costa Mujeres, we contribute around 3,200 rooms to the Mexican market. That is 44 percent of the total rooms Palladium Hotel Group has in the continent. Globally, Mexico represents 25 percent of our inventory.
Fifteen percent of the clients at our Riviera Maya and Riviera Nayarit hotels are Mexican, while in Puerto Vallarta we have a 50 percent Mexican occupation between the months of May and October. The Costa Mujeres complex is aimed at the Mexican market since the Cancun area does not receive many European visitors as they prefer the Riviera Maya; this means that for our Costa Mujeres project we have to develop a more Cancun-oriented clientele. For instance, most Brazilians and Colombians coming to Mexico stay in Cancun, rather than going to the Riviera Maya. Since we do not have that many origin markets for our Costa Mujeres hotels, the development of the national market has become very important and strategic for us. Costa Mujeres is a zone with significant development potential and the expectation is that it will host up to 30,000 rooms.