Cancún Hotels Offer Free Nights as Industry Faces Worst Year, Vara Says

Cancún, Quintana Roo — Hotels in this Caribbean resort city are giving away free nights and tours to lure visitors as average occupancy hovers near 50% and room rates fall to levels “never seen before,” said Abelardo Vara Rivera, honorary president of the Cancún Hotel Association.

Vara, who also heads Grupo Cancún and is one of the pioneers of the hotel industry in the city and the state, said the sector is enduring one of its worst years on record — possibly the worst — forcing hotels to add perks such as complimentary tours and extra nights at no charge.

Asked whether the industry operates under a policy of persecution, he said it does. “It isn’t written anywhere, but every time there’s something the government doesn’t like, things start arriving. So … yes,” he said. He acknowledged that speaking openly about such matters is difficult out of fear of drawing an audit.

From Select Destination to Mass Market

Vara said he does not expect rates to recover strongly, because Cancún and the Mexican Caribbean have shifted from a select destination to a mass one, where visitors hunt for the best value for every peso they spend.

“That’s definitive,” he said. “When growth began, success also began to cheapen the destination.”

Marriott is now the only hotel operating on the European plan, he said. The rest have migrated to all-inclusive models, serving food and drinks “at cost” to keep rates down.

Government Policies Blamed

The causes of the crisis are “too many,” Vara said, including those cited by officials, but he argued the main ones stem from the government itself: rising wages, the shift to a 40-hour workweek, the absence of federal tourism promotion, the authorization of digital lodging platforms and repeated tax increases ultimately paid by visitors.

“At the end of the day, it’s the governments that have helped drive the tourism industry into the ground,” he said.

He singled out the lodging tax, saying it is no longer earmarked for promotion as it was when created. Officials gradually diverted portions to other expenses until the levy lost any direct allocation, he said. As a result, only three or four people handle promotion, spending most of their time traveling the world to attend trade fairs.

“I’m going to get an audit for saying all these things,” Vara said.