HOTEL TIKI TIKI IN TULUM

When in Paris last summer I got to catch up with my international spanish speaking friends for dinner and drinks which is always a lot of fun. Arturo Zavala Haag, who I hadn’t seen in a while, told me about his new life and projects out of Paris since he moved to Tulum, Mexico. I had always known him as a photographer working for prestigious magazines both in Fashion and Architecture. Trained as an architect he decided to develop a new life project using his aesthetical tastes by designing and building his own hotel far from the beaten path in the middle of the jungle away from the resort-laden beach. His shrewd decisions have been led by well thought ideas, aspirations and visions that local developers and the city’s development could learn from. When looking at the website you can only but fall in love with what he has built and envisioned. It’s everything that I love and you will as well by booking your next trip to Tulum and room at the Hotel Tiki Tiki. Arturo has kindly given some of his spare time to answer my questions which you will find very interesting about not only the idea behind the Hotel Tiki Tiki but also about the environment in Tulum from a local’s perspective.

Can you tell me a bit about yourself

I was born and raised in Mexico City. From a very young age I can say I had a very strong artistic, aesthetic and creative orientation. I started to become interested in photography as a teenager and bought my first camera at the age of 10. While studying architecture I started shooting buildings and interiors as a hobby and photography became my profession when I started working with architects and magazines for a couple of years. After graduating as an architect from Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, it was time to get out of that chaotic city so I moved to New York to learn fashion photography and took some courses at ICP (International Center of Photography). In 1999 I moved to Paris, and started working as an assistant to fashion photographer Serge Barbeau for over 8 years doing editorials and advertising for the most prestigious fashion brands. In parallel I was also doing some residential architectural projects mainly in Mexico. After 14 years living in Paris my wife and I decided to move with our 2 daughters to Tulum, Mexico. I have always loved Tulum and the Mexican Caribbean, so for me this was a beautiful change, an adventure to move over here and open a new chapter in our lives. Besides being a paradise, Tulum is booming, so there are a lot of opportunities to work on architectural and real estate projects. So here we are very happy living a tropical dream life.

When did the idea of creating a hotel come about?

When we decided to move to Tulum the first idea was to build a house for us, but once here I decided to set up a business first and came with the idea to start a small boutique hotel. Most of the beachfront properties in Tulum beach have some legal title problems, therefore it was a bit of a risky investment. So for me the beach was not an option for 2 main reasons: first of all I couldn’t afford a piece of land here, the prices were already crazy expensive, and second I did not want to invest in a place that could be a risky investment, for example last April 16 landowners were evicted and kicked out of their properties! A good friend of mine doing real estate in Tulum and now is one of my partners in Tiki Tiki was developing a residential area in town, where the choice of hotels is pretty bad, so we decided to do the hotel in town instead and use one of his plots to do the project. Since most of the hotels on the beach are a rip-off, very expensive, badly designed, and with terrible service, we wanted to create an alternative choice for more demanding and sophisticated travelers focusing on great design and architecture, with great quality of space, great service and for a much more affordable price than on the beach. So we created Hotel Tiki Tiki Tulum and can you tell more about it?, which I believe is the best accommodation in Tulum in terms of quality/price by far!

What did you have in mind designing Hotel Tiki Tiki and can you tell more about it?

The term eco-chic in Tulum is almost a definition of the architecture here where cheaply made bungalows of sticks and palapas (thatched roof) is the standard. We are now seeing a tendency towards more elaborate and serious design, and competition is bringing the level up to justify the expensive prices.

I love the art deco architecture of Miami Beach and all the mid-century buildings. We are not that far away from Miami, so I thought if that architecture works very well over there and we have the exact same climate why don’t we bring that kind of architecture and make a revival of it in Tulum. So that was how I came up with the idea of the design.

What difference do you want to bring with Hotel Tiki Tiki?

I think when you do a building with love, passion and good taste, you can transmit that to your surrounding or neighbourhood and bring the level of architecture a notch up. We have a lot of corruption in the government and due to that we have a lack of architectural codes and urban planning is almost non- existent. Unfortunately we have very unprepared and ignorant politicians that only care to become rich as fast as possible and don’t care much about the image and planning of the city in the long term, so Tulum town is already a chaotic mix of all kinds of horrible buildings and styles growing in a very bad way. So the idea was to try to do at least what we can to try and improve the quality of architecture and design in our area and maybe start making a difference.

What are the challenges you find or faced?

In terms of the building process we had some construction challenges, we opened 4 months late, missed the high season and the budget was blown by more than 40%, so it was not easy to start like that. Also we are trendsetting and ahead of our time, we are in the limits of town hidden in the middle of the jungle in a new neighbourhood. So at the moment it’s hard to find us. Another challenge was to set up the business and operations, I don’t have a business or hotel management background, so it has been an interesting learning process.

How would you define Hotel Tiki Tiki in just a few words?

A beautiful tropical retro mid-century-modern oasis in the jungle with a Mexican twist.

What hobbies do you enjoy?

Drawing, painting, carpentry, photography, travel, extreme sports, and I love to play backgammon.

Where do you like to travel most or reside?

I spend most of the year here in Tulum, but in the summer we like to spend it in Europe and stay a couple of months there travelling around and visiting our friends.

What can’t you live without (book, watch, clothing, travel accessory, etc..)?

My camera, my mac, my phone, a piece of chocolate in the afternoon, and my backgammon board.

What inspires you?

Nature is so incredible, so perfect! I love to see beautiful things, arts, architecture, landscapes, humans, music, traveling, meeting people, you can find inspiration anywhere!

Tell us a little secret about the Tiki Tiki Hotel or yourself that would surprise people.

I competed for a few years in a very rare and very extreme sport representing the Mexican Skeleton team, I tried to qualify for the Torino winter Olympics but failed!