By Robert Adams //
In the centennial year of its founding, the venerable Mayaland Resorts tourism company is embarking on a new era with help from a dynamic young scion of the storied Barbachano family of Yucatan.
Synonymous with tourism in Yucatan since 1918, the groundbreaking Mayaland Resorts ventures are charting several new courses conceived by Fernando Barbachano Ortega, the sixth generation of his distinguished family to help plot strategy for the company.
His family tree includes one of the early governors of Yucatan state, whose descendants were for many years the owners of the Chichén Itzá and Uxmal archeological sites.
The 20-something Barbachano has already achieved notoriety as a fledgling GT race-car driver in the U.S. and is now completing a Master’s degree in hospitality management and marketing at the renowned Cornell University School of Hotel Administration.
Barbachano has combined his two main passions – cars and hotels – in a new venture for his family: management of Gray Line Yucatan. The Yucatan operations of Gray Line, a world-wide company specializing in bus and van tours, offer guided excursions to Mayan archeological sites, haciendas, cenotes, beaches and other points of interest.
Since taking the helm two years ago, Barbachano has radically restructured Gray Line Yucatan’s focus from a low-cost, high-volume tour operator to an upper-market provider catering to discerning travelers who want to visit Uxmal, Chichén Itzá and other tourist destinations.
“Gray Line’s deluxe tour may be $25 higher than the competition, but our price includes everything. You pay once and get the whole experience. The $25 difference is absolutely worth it,” Barbachano said in an interview at Gray Line’s offices in Merida’s hotel zone.
A unique offering Barbachano has pioneered is custom tours of the Uxmal and Chichén Itzá archelogical zones using more than 20 vintage 1970s Land Rovers. Clients are picked up at their Merida hotels and shuttled to Uxmal and Chichén in deluxe Gray Line vans. At the sites, they pick up their Land Rover for several hours of touring with the help of a private guide.
Another new feature is guided sunrise tours of Chichén Itzá. “You arrive at 5 a.m. with a private guide,” Barbachano noted. ”There are no vendors at the site yet. You watch the sunrise and get a full tour of the site before the crowds arrive.”
Gray Line is the only tour company authorized to offer meal service at the iconic Mayaland Hotel at Chichén, Barbachano said. The emblematic hotel is the original guest accommodation at Chichén and has been operated by the family-run Mayaland Resorts for nearly a century.
Reflecting on his visions for Gray Line and Mayaland, with a vintage Rolls Royce displayed a few feet from his desk, Barbachano said he is delighted to be combining his passion for vintage and luxury cars with a new direction for the two companies.
“For hotels, marketing and brand design are key,” he said. The new marketing tack will emphasize the “boutique” qualities of the five Mayaland Resorts hotels at Uxmal and Chichén.
Eventually, Barbachano hopes to launch a hotel brand of his own. Using the hospitality credentials and entrepreneurial flair he has already developed, the plan would seem to be destined for success in keeping with his family tradition.
–Robert Adams
