Two things are happening in the world of Guadalajara hospitality this spring.
The first should make a big splash in the corridors of the city’s gringo tourism industry: A Hard Rock Hotel is due to open soon at the clover-leaf intersection of Lazaro Cardenas and Avenida Vallarta, by the iconic “Cubos” statue.
The second should please a somewhat more discerning breed of hotel aficionado: the renovation, set to be complete this May, of the almost 50-year-old El Hotel Posada Guadalajara in Chapalita, which is being given new life as part of the Hilton Curio Collection.
The Hard Rock Hotel, according to its own breathless ad-copy, will come complete with a rooftop “Skybar” and a “specialty restaurant.” Guests will have access to a variety of offerings due to its being situated within the new Iconia development, a “luxury living” complex of high rise buildings on either side of the hotel. Among these are a Body Rock fitness center and Rock Spa, the availability of which indicates that for guests of the Hard Rock Hotel, according to the company itself, “health and wellness take center stage.”
Within the hotel’s capacious property will be five meeting rooms and three board rooms – it’s not indicated what different there may be between the two – available to “fit all of your business needs,” as the ad copy reads.
Meanwhile, the hoteliers behind the reincarnation of the Hotel Posada in Chapalita claim that the new design is inspired by what can only be translated as Mexican-ness, and in particular a “pronounced Tapatio essence” and characterized by “Jalisciense architecture.”
Furthermore, Hilton promises to maintain the old-fashioned charm of the 1970s building while upgrading the structure to conform with all current technological demands of your average modern hotel guest.
The Curio Collection is an upscale hotel brand within Hilton’s portfolio launched in June 2014. Its hotels are supported by Hilton, but retain their own individual branding.