I recently attended a meeting put on by the Los Cabos Hotel Association and I’m happy to report that Los Cabos is booming. Major hotel groups, developers and airlines are continuing to invest in Los Cabos, which is helping to spur the local economy.
Whether you are a tourist wanting to vacation here, someone who is interested in buying your dream vacation home or an expat who wants to put down roots in Los Cabos, there is something for everyone.
If you visit Cabo often, you’ll be happy to know that there are now 158 hotels in Los Cabos with over 18,600 available rooms. The occupancy rate is running at 73 percent annually, but of course occupancy is higher during our tourist season, which is officially November through April.
Ten new hotels opened this year with seven more new openings planned in 2019, three in 2020 and four in 2021. Wow! Names like Nobu, Hard Rock, Vidanta, The Marriot Luxury Collection (Solaz), Grupo Velos’ Grand Velas, Park Hyatt and Four Seasons are all here or coming to Cabo.
And, there are new direct flights from Chicago and Las Vegas already available with plans for direct flights from London, St. Louis, Milwaukee and Cincinnati in the works. Oh, and if you fly into our airport, you will see a major airport expansion is in the works. Don’t worry though, the construction doesn’t inhibit you from getting in and out of the airport, which is located about eight miles north of San José del Cabo. The Los Cabo airport is Mexico’s sixth-busiest.
Many of the hotels are offering branded residences, which means you can buy a home or a luxury condo right on hotel property with access to all the hotel amenities. While many of these “branded” homes and condos list in the US$2 to $3 million range, Grupo Velas recently launched a more mid-priced option with their Velamar development.
The condos are about a five-minute drive from the luxury hotel, but with the purchase of one of their three-bedroom and three-bathroom condos, you receive an exclusive 10-year renewable membership to the Grand Velas hotel, which has amenities like a gym, spa, seven restaurants, five bars, pool and beach. These condos are significantly less expensive than many others in the corridor between Cabo San Lucas and San José del Cabo and list at US$500,000 to $600,000 compared with many in the US$2 to $3 million range.
There also are new lower-priced developments being built in both Cabo and San José that are in the US$200,000 to $300,000 range. And of course, you do not have to buy new. There are over 1,000 homes listed in our local MLS (multi-listing service) that are resales with prices starting under US$100,000 and going as high as US$15 million plus.
Booming Los Cabos is a wonderful place to not only visit, but also to invest in a vacation home, a rental property, a retirement home or a year-round home for our growing expat population.
Next time, I’ll begin telling you about some of the best places to live in Los Cabos.
