$70 million, 600-room Cabo del Sol Resort offers first Fiesta Americana vacation ownership club.

MEXICO CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 10, 1997--Construction of a $70 million, 600-room resort and vacation club in Cabo del Sol has been announced by Fiesta Americana, Mexico's largest five-star hotel chain.

The Fiesta Americana Cabo del Sol, located in an exclusive area of Baja California Sur near Los Cabos, will consist of 250 guest rooms and 350 separately keyed rooms in 175 vacation ownership club villas. It will mark Fiesta Americana's debut in the vacation ownership industry.

The Mexican-style vacation complex will consist of a five-story hotel and single-level villas, built on 27 acres of prime hillside and oceanfront land. The project's first phase, which will include the construction of the 250-room hotel and 50 vacation club villas, is scheduled to begin in April and be completed in December 1998. The balance of the vacation club units will be developed over the following three years.

"The vacation club represents a new and exciting opportunity for us to provide our guests with additional vacation options," said Luis E. Barrios, president of Grupo Posadas. "We believe the development of the Fiesta Americana Cabo del Sol also will contribute significantly to the growth of the area's tourism industry."

The resort and vacation club complex will feature a full-service spa, a convention center building with approximately 20,000 square feet of meeting space, an oceanfront international cuisine restaurant, a cafeteria, two pools (one for the hotel and one for the vacation club area), two tennis courts and the existing 18-hole Desarrollo Cabo del Sol golf course, designed by Jack Niklaus and voted the best golf course in Latin America by Golf Digest.

Each of the 175 vacation club villas will have two bedroom units, for a total 350 units, each with individual separately keyed locks.

"The breakdown of the resort's target markets is 50 percent incentive groups (80 percent from the United States and 20 percent from Mexico), 30 percent leisure and golf travelers from the United States and 20 percent wholesale business from California, Texas and the northeastern United States," said Barrios.

Fiesta Americana's aggressive expansion plan includes the development of new resorts and new management contracts throughout Mexico and Latin America, including the signing of a management contract for the Fiesta Americana Monterrey Centro, scheduled to open in 1997; the construction of a Fiesta Americana in Caracas, scheduled start later this year; and the development of all-inclusive properties in Kohunlich and Punta Herradura, both scheduled to open this summer.

Earlier this month, the four-star Fiesta Inn chain, Fiesta Americana's sister company, announced the opening of five new hotels in Mexico this year.

"These new hotels are examples of our aggressive expansion program, which includes several business class hotels throughout Mexico and Latin America; our goal is to add 16 hotels in Latin America by the year 2000," said Michel Montant, director of Fiesta Inn Hotels.

Grupo Posadas, Mexico's largest owner and operator of hotels, operates 16 five-star Fiesta Americana resorts and 17 four-star Fiesta Inn hotels throughout Mexico. Fiesta Americana/Fiesta Inn hotels are located in the heart of Mexico's business districts as well as in attractive beach destinations, including Acapulco, Aguascalientes, Cancun, Cozumel, Guadalajara, Hermosillo, Leon, Mazatlan, Merida, Mexico City, Monterrey, Oaxaca, Puebla, Puerto Vallarta, San Jose del Cabo and Veracruz.

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