Luxury Hotels Atlas / The Maison / Velas

Velas hotels

Multi-course dinners and large suites give the Mexican all-inclusive resort a more formal rhythm.

Velas brings a Mexican family’s approach to an all-inclusive resort stay, with substantial dining, spas, and attentive service central to the experience. Its Grand Velas hotels reach across Riviera Nayarit, Riviera Maya, and Los Cabos, while smaller sister properties offer different expressions of the same family’s hospitality.

6 Velas hotels in 1 country on the Luxury Hotels Atlas, each placed on the six LHA Tiers.

• Owned and run by the Vela family
• Worldwide: 7 hotels, all in Mexico, concentrated in three destinations — Puerto Vallarta / Riviera Nayarit (Velas Vallarta, Grand Velas Riviera Nayarit, Casa Velas), Riviera Maya (Grand Velas Riviera Maya), and Los Cabos (Grand Velas Los Cabos, Grand Velas Boutique Hotel Los Cabos, Mar del Cabo) — with no international expansion to date; the Luxury Hotels Atlas curates 6 of the group's 7 properties
• On the atlas: 2 Grand Luxury, 3 High Luxury, 1 Accessible Luxury

History

Eduardo Vela Ruiz began with condominiums in Puerto Vallarta before a difficult sales period led him into hospitality. He built relationships with travel partners to establish Velas Vallarta, and the family later developed further resorts. The next generation continued the all-inclusive approach after his death, retaining the family’s close involvement in the hotels.

Timeline

• 1951 — Eduardo Vela Ruiz is born in New York and raised in Tampico, Mexico.
• 1977 — At age 28, after training and working as a trial attorney, Vela founds his first construction and real-estate companies in Tampico, the capital base for his later tourism ventures.
• 1989 — Vela begins developing a condominium project in Puerto Vallarta's Marina Vallarta district; as the local real-estate market shifts, he converts the unsold development into a hotel rather than continue selling units.
• 1989–1990 — Velas Vallarta opens in Puerto Vallarta with 345 suites, the founding hotel of what becomes Velas Resorts.
• 2002 — Grand Velas Riviera Nayarit opens in Nuevo Vallarta as Mexico's first luxury all-inclusive resort.
• 2005 — Casa Velas opens on the Marina Vallarta golf course as the group's first adults-only boutique hotel, its walls displaying more than 350 original works by Mexican sculptor Sergio Bustamante.
• 2007 — Grand Velas Riviera Nayarit receives AAA's Five Diamond Award, the first time a Mexican hotel chain is honored with the distinction for an all-inclusive concept.
• November 2008 — Grand Velas Riviera Maya opens on the Caribbean coast, a $250 million, entirely Mexican-financed project; Mexican President Felipe Calderón formally inaugurates the resort the following June
• 2016 — Grand Velas Los Cabos opens on the Sea of Cortez, completing what the family calls its "trilogy" of premier Grand Velas destinations.
• 2017–2018 — Velas acquires a 1950s-built former student-housing property in Los Cabos, most recently operating as Marbella Suites, and reopens it in December 2018 after a $4 million renovation as Mar del Cabo, the group's only European Plan, adults-only, pet-friendly property.
• Late 2023 — Grand Velas Boutique Hotel Los Cabos opens as the group's seventh hotel and third address in Los Cabos, with two-Michelin-star Dutch chef Sidney Schutte (of Spectrum, Amsterdam) as consulting chef
• 2023 — Eduardo Vela Ruiz dies; leadership passes to his sons, with Juan Vela Ruiz serving as CEO, keeping Velas Resorts fully family-owned and operated.
• February 2026 — Grand Velas Los Cabos's restaurant Cocina de Autor earns a Michelin star, making the resort the only all-inclusive hotel in the world to simultaneously hold a Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star rating, AAA Five Diamond status, and a Michelin star
• 2026 — Velas Resorts joins the World Travel & Tourism Council as a regional member, and completes a $30 million suite renovation at Grand Velas Riviera Nayarit.

The houses to know

1. Grand Velas Boutique Hotel Los Cabos, San Jose del Cabo, Mexico — The 79-suite hotel offers an intimate Grand Velas stay, with suites larger than 750 square feet and dining guided by a Michelin-starred consulting chef.
2. Grand Velas Riviera Maya, Playa del Carmen, Mexico — A $250 million, entirely Mexican-financed resort formally inaugurated by a sitting Mexican president.
3. Grand Velas Riviera Nayarit, Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico — Mexico's first luxury all-inclusive resort, and the property that first won Velas its AAA Five Diamond pedigree.
4. Grand Velas Los Cabos, San Jose del Cabo, Mexico — The all-inclusive resort holds Forbes Five-Star and AAA Five Diamond recognition, with Michelin-starred dining.
5. Casa Velas, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico — An adults-only hacienda hideaway on the Marina Vallarta golf course, displaying more than 350 original Sergio Bustamante sculptures.
6. Mar del Cabo By Velas Resorts, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico — The pet-friendly hotel occupies a rebuilt 1950s building and offers a stay under the European Plan.

Newest openings

• No new Velas-branded hotel has opened in the last 12–24 months. The group's most recent addition to its portfolio remains Grand Velas Boutique Hotel Los Cabos, which opened in late 2023 — the seventh hotel in the family collection and the third Velas address in Los Cabos, offering 79 suites over 750 square feet each with private terraces, jacuzzis or plunge pools, and access to Sidney Schutte's Cocina de Autor at the adjoining Grand Velas Los Cabos.

Opening next

• No new Velas-branded hotel is publicly confirmed as of 2026. The group has instead announced a roughly $135 million investment across its existing Mexican portfolio for 2026, concentrated on its original Puerto Vallarta properties — Casa Velas and, reportedly, Velas Vallarta — rather than new construction; specific scope and completion timelines for that investment have not yet been detailed publicly.

Every Velas hotel on the atlas

Mexico

• Grand Velas Boutique Hotel Los Cabos — Los Cabos · Grand Luxury
• Grand Velas Riviera Maya — Playa del Carmen · Grand Luxury
• Casa Velas — Puerto Vallarta · High Luxury
• Grand Velas Los Cabos — Los Cabos · High Luxury
• Grand Velas Riviera Nayarit — Nuevo Vallarta · High Luxury
• Mar del Cabo By Velas Resorts — Los Cabos · Accessible Luxury

Open The Maison in the atlas for Velas's full dossier, with prices and maps.

Every house in The Maison

How the six LHA Tiers work