Designing Hospitality Is Designing Experiences

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Our Vision on Hotel and Resort Architecture

During our presence at FITUR 2026 in Madrid, we shared our perspective on the evolution of hotel and resort architecture in a media interview with Sergio Riestra, Principal for Central and South America.

In the conversation, we spoke about what defines our approach today: designing hospitality as the ability to shape experiences rooted in place, culture and identity, where architecture translates vision into environments that are lived, operated and remembered.

A Global Practice with Strategic Presence

We operate as a global architectural practice with a strong strategic presence in Madrid, Miami, San Antonio / Austin, Salt Lake City, Mexico City, Guadalajara and Panama City.

This geographic structure allows us to engage closely with developers, hospitality brands and design teams across Europe, the Americas and the Caribbean, combining regional insight with a consistent architectural vision and global standards.

Our teams collaborate across locations, aligning local understanding with international experience to shape destinations that respond to both place and market.

Hospitality as an Architectural Narrative

We understand hospitality as a narrative expressed through design.

Hotels and resorts are not conceived as repeatable formulas. Each project requires its own architectural logic, informed by site, climate and cultural context. Design becomes the framework through which experience is structured, integrating master planning, interior design, landscape and signage and wayfinding into a cohesive spatial system.

Well designed hospitality environments support how people arrive, move, stay and remember a place, aligning experience, operation and identity through architecture.

Strategy, Experience and Brand Understanding

Behind every hospitality project lies a rigorous process of analysis and planning.

At GVI, design is always supported by strategy. Our work is grounded in a deep understanding of hospitality brands, market positioning and user profiles, allowing architecture to respond with clarity and intention.

Our process starts by listening. By aligning brand values, operational needs and spatial experience, we translate vision into architectural solutions that are clear, functional and memorable.

Projects Shaped by Context

Our portfolio spans beach, urban and mountain environments, each demanding a distinct architectural response.

Recent and ongoing projects include The Santa María, a Luxury Collection Hotel in Panama, St. Regis Quivira in Los Cabos, hospitality projects for Grupo Posadas, as well as resorts and ski destinations in Utah.

We are also developing multiple projects in the Dominican Republic, including a Ritz-Carlton and a Luxury Collection property.

Each destination requires a specific approach. Urban hotels must integrate seamlessly into the city fabric, while resorts are designed to invite immersion and disconnection. Tropical climates demand different solutions than mountain environments. Our expertise lies in understanding these variables and translating them into architecture that resonates with its surroundings.

Global Reach, Long Term Vision

Our participation in FITUR reflects our commitment to contributing to the global conversation around hospitality and destination design.

With more than 60 years of experience and projects across multiple regions, we continue designing hospitality environments that emerge from place, are structured through strategy and come to life through architecture.

For us, architecture does more than shape space.

It connects people, conveys identity and transforms destinations over time.