Isla Navidad

The hotel is the only part of the asset producing recurring revenue, so it anchors any valuation. A buyer wants audited statements, the STR-style monthly series (occupancy, average daily rate, revenue per available room), the group and wedding book, the mix of all-inclusive against room-only, and capex history. The offering material describes rooms and restaurants in detail and contains none of these figures.

A development built over three decades usually carries layers: construction loans, trusts granted as collateral, tax claims, embargos from old suppliers. Each parcel has its own folio at the Registro Público de la Propiedad of Jalisco, and the certificado de libertad de gravámenes is the starting document. Nothing in the offering addresses it.

In Mexico the first 20 meters of beach and the lagoon water are federal. The private beach and the marina both depend on concessions: ZOFEMAT title from SEMARNAT for the beach strip, and the port-area concession for the marina water, administered under the federal ports regime with the local Capitanía de Puerto. A buyer checks that each is current, transferable with the sale, and paid up. A marina without a valid concession is docks on water you do not control.

Coastal Jalisco has a long history of ejido land. A buyer traces each parcel to its origin and confirms full domain (dominio pleno) was obtained where relevant. A foreign buyer also needs to hold coastal land through a bank trust or a Mexican company, because the restricted zone covers 50 km from the coast.

The lagoon behind the property, Laguna Barra de Navidad, is a Ramsar wetland of international importance. Whatever is still unbuilt (the second marina, 505 condominiums, the mountain golf holes) depends on an environmental impact authorization that names the works, the conditions and the term. An authorization from the 1990s may have lapsed or may not cover today’s plan. PROFEPA’s inspection record shows whether conditions were met.

The offering describes a plan for 1,120 rooms and 2,038 condominiums. What matters is what Cihuatlán and the Jalisco urban development authority have actually approved: land-use certificates, densities, subdivision authorizations, and whether the approvals are still in force. The difference between a plan and an approved plan is most of the land value.

The hotel opened in 1997, joined the Grand Bay brand, later carried the Wyndham name under a franchise, and now markets itself as Grand Isla Navidad. A buyer needs every current agreement, its term and the cost to exit it, because an operator contract can make a hotel cheaper to buy and more expensive to own.

A resort of this size employs hundreds of people. Under Mexican labor law the buyer of an operating business generally becomes the substitute employer, with seniority carried over. Pending claims before the labor courts and the IMSS and INFONAVIT compliance record belong in the room.

Predial (property tax) is paid parcel by parcel to the municipality, and unpaid predial attaches to the land. At the company level a buyer asks for the SAT compliance opinion (opinión de cumplimiento), open audits and the transfer tax exposure, which in Jalisco is levied by the municipality on the deed value.

A self-contained development usually runs its own water and wastewater systems. A buyer asks for CONAGUA water concessions and discharge permits, the CFE power contract and capacity, and whether the internal roads and services were handed over to the municipality or remain a private cost.