Roughly a year after Grupo Hotelero Prisma, the largest third-party hotel operator in Mexico, was acquired by Aimbridge Hospitality, a strategy to grow the portfolio in the resort and upscale hotel space is coming to fruition.
In an interview with HNN at the Hotel Opportunities Latin America conference, Leandro Castillo, president of what is now Aimbridge Prisma, said the deal has worked out well for his company.
In 2018, Grupo Prisma’s strategic planning efforts determined a need to expand from business hotels into operating upscale hotels and resorts. Potential deal partners wanted to know about the company’s experience in managing resorts and upscale hotels, and having none, Prisma decided to seek out other operators to work with, Castillo said.
Company executives met with Aimbridge Hospitality later that year and began discussing a deal that was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and ultimately signed in May 2021.
“We thought that will give us the leverage to go back to the…