In honor of this year’s bicentennial celebrations, many of Mexico’s interior cities are sporting new hotels, convention centers and attractions.
The latest to open is the Business of Conventions Center of Queretaro, offering 96,000 square feet of exhibition space and 43,300 square feet of meeting space, with a total capacity for over 9,600 people.
Earlier this year, The Centro Convenciones Puebla, Puebla’s new convention center, made its debut with 100,000 square feet of space. Last year, Zacatecas introduced its own convention center, Zacatecas Convention Palace.
Guadalajara is leading the charge with additional hotels and construction. More than 2,000 new hotel rooms are slated for the city, many in preparation for the Pan American Games 2011, to be held in Guadalajara.
Included are the hotels that opened this year, such as the 204-room Hotel Mexico Plaza. Slated to open by the end of 2010 or early next year are the 232-room Westin Expo Guadalajara and the 550-room Riu Torre Lopez Mateos. Other new hotels on the books for next year include the 100-room Holiday Inn Express. Other properties under construction include the 151-room Hotel Fiesta Inn Galerias, a 100-room Candlewood property and the 300-room Hotel JVC: Jorge Vergara Cabrera.
In Mexico City, the St. Regis Mexico City opened last year with 189 guest rooms and more than 13,500 square feet of meeting space. Hotel Brick, a boutique hotel in the historic La Roma area, opened in April with a small meeting room. Grupo Habita’s Distrito Capital opened last year with 30 guest rooms and a conference center for up to 15 people. Meanwhile, the Sheraton Centro Historico was recently transformed into the Hilton Mexico City Reforma.
Fiesta Inn Monterrey Tecnologico recently opened next to the Tecnologico de Monterrey (ITESM). It offers 201 guest rooms and meeting space for up to 1,000 people.
Earlier this year, Chihuahua debuted The Ibis Hotel, with 126 guest rooms.
In 2011, San Miguel de Allende Rosewood is slated to open with 67 guest rooms, private residences and a spa.
Rosas & Xocolate was unveiled last November in Merida. Once made up of two colonial mansions, the building features 14 guest rooms and three suites. There is a library that can be used as a conference room for 20 people.
Meanwhile, the Casa Grande Morelia is slated to open this year, and a Fiesta Inn hotel is being constructed in Zacatecas.
