tourism

Give a little credit to the Condos there Rob. We, us spend lots at all the business in the Ixtapa district. All bet it would be much worse if these two/three projects were not there. I have seen the change over the years. I also see who is in town. The mandatory AI plan for Ixtapa/Z is a disgrace.

Dave

As much as I like some of the condos and many of their owners, I cannot say we prosper much from them, and not just from what I've seen and experienced here but from what I've also experienced along Florida's Sun Coast. Florida's style of condo commandos have pretty much ruined that entire region of southwest Florida. For example, the deciding votes that unfortunately got Rick Scott re-elected came mostly from the Naples and Ft. Myers area. Most of the condo owners neither live there year round nor rent out their condos year round. Same problem we have. Non all-included hotels tend to generate much more money for the local economy and a greater demand for local services than condos. Once a condo is built it tends to just sit there, but a hotel must keep its rooms occupied to stay in business. The exception is the corporate chain like many of our Ixtapa hotels who have been known over the years to intentionally lose money here to lower their taxes for income generated in other destinations.

Local wisdom pretty much agrees that allowing places like the Sotavento and some Ixtapa high-rise beachfront properties to be condos instead of hotels is a bit of a betrayal to the local economy since hotels tend to generate more local income, setting aside for the moment the problem with all-included hotels. I hope we can turn this around and see the condos generating more income, but I see the daily numbers in terms of visits to my clients' websites for both hotels and condos, and hotels easily win hands down in that department though we offer some spectacular condos with competitive services and prices. We just don't see anywhere near the same number of folks looking for waterfront high-rise condo rentals as we do for any other kind of lodging almost anywhere else. To me it's a bit maddening because I really want to help my clients find renters for their places. But I have so far been unable to change the overall trend among potential visitors.