BajaNomad - HOTEL LOS ARCOS, LA PAZ

HOTEL LOS ARCOS, LA PAZ

desertcpl - 7-4-2010 at 03:24 PM

I have stayed at this hotel numerous times but its been along time now, I understand that the hotel was closed , some thing about a dispute with the employes union or something like that, I really liked the Hotel

so what is the up to date infor on this, is it going to open again

[Edited on 7-4-2010 by desertcpl]

osoflojo - 7-4-2010 at 03:28 PM

Los Arcos is owned by the Coppalas, same as the Fini in CSL. Friends there tell me it is a dispute with the unions and likely will not repoen unless it is sold, no word on that.

desertcpl - 7-4-2010 at 03:31 PM

thanks for the info

thats to bad

Bajahowodd - 7-4-2010 at 04:13 PM

Not so sure that the Coppola family is still involved with Finesterra. They've got myriad other things going. What many do not know, however, is that Luis Coppola was a USAF pilot during WWII.

desertcpl - 7-4-2010 at 04:23 PM

I think I remember something about that,,maybe read it here not sure. he was a very colorful guy if I recall

desertcpl - 7-4-2010 at 04:34 PM

now I remember reading about him. it was the book by Ray Cannon and Baja Legends

capt. mike - 7-5-2010 at 07:55 AM

as i recall Greg Neiman covers it well in baja legends or was it Marv Patchen?
anyway the son i think was a WWII flyer and after the war he started a DC3 airline service up and down the peninsula?

but was later killed in a crash? or was that Bud Parr's son?
the Finnisterre becoming THE grande Dame of baja sur fly in fishing resorts along with the Hacienda and the Hotel Cabo San Lucas.

Bajahowodd - 7-5-2010 at 02:00 PM

"the Finnisterre becoming THE grande Dame of baja sur fly in fishing resorts along with the Hacienda and the Hotel Cabo San Lucas."

Alas. Only one of them left!

osoflojo - 7-5-2010 at 06:36 PM

I think Luis Jr, the one who was kidnapped about 10 years ago, is running the place but you still see the old man around once in a while.

bajalera - 7-5-2010 at 08:50 PM

The old men? Sheesh! I remember him as young and good-looking.

longlegsinlapaz - 7-5-2010 at 09:44 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bajalera
The old men? Sheesh! I remember him as young and good-looking.

JESSE - 7-5-2010 at 10:15 PM

Mario Coppola told me they will get the Hotel back in a few months, they have won every single challenge in court and its only a matter of time. Whats not clear to them, is what to do when they get it back. Should they keep operating the same Hotel? should they upgrade? or should they demolish the whole thing and build condos?

My impression is that they are going to go with condos.

vandenberg - 7-6-2010 at 07:02 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by JESSE
My impression is that they are going to go with condos.

Let's hope your impression is faulty.
Los Arcos's bar and restaurant have been many gringo's favorites for many years, me included.
Hotel could use a major upgrade though, if they decide to go that route. Annex (Cabanas) included.

JESSE - 7-6-2010 at 09:00 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by vandenberg

Quote:

Originally posted by JESSE
My impression is that they are going to go with condos.

Yeah, i prefer the Hotel back, in fact, its been very tough for us not having them open during this recession. But my impression is that the Coppolas are tired of dealing with labor issues down here (who isn't).

desertcpl - 7-6-2010 at 06:59 PM

well I for one would like the Hotel back, had alot of fond memories.
but the owners have got to do what is best for them.

maybe some one on this forum would want to buy Los Arcos.

so what really was the beef with the Unions , I guess other than wages

Paula - 7-6-2010 at 09:28 PM

Boy, do I miss las cabañas de los arcos!! We've stayed at La Perla a few times since, and lately at La Concha and El Moro, but nothing has that great La Paz feeling like los arcos.

so how does La Perla hang in there with no apparent problems, while Los Arcos has come and gone through several strikes?

JESSE - 7-6-2010 at 11:35 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Paula
Boy, do I miss las cabañas de los arcos!! We've stayed at La Perla a few times since, and lately at La Concha and El Moro, but nothing has that great La Paz feeling like los arcos.

so how does La Perla hang in there with no apparent problems, while Los Arcos has come and gone through several strikes?

Its a political fight betwen senator Coppola of the PAN party, and the governor Agundez from the PRD.

bajajazz - 7-7-2010 at 11:06 AM

In my time I have encountered and worked with some very high maintenance ego trippers and in my experience the worst are rock musicians, television "faces" and politicians. The rockers are rude jerks, the TV types are incredibly conceited and politicians are the pettiest people alive. If their feathers are ruffled they seem incapable of putting aside personal differences and working together for the common good. They are what we used to call small people -- small, narrow, mean and vindictive, with elephantine memories for slights and a pathological tendency to keep alive old scores. Words like forgive and forget are simply not in their lexicon. They are moral midgets.

What a shame to lose Los Arcos Hotel. I used to stay there every trip to La Paz for the few days it took to get my house opened up and ready for habitation. The last time I stayed there they put me in the cabanas and I asked to be moved back to the original hotel. I have a thing for old hotels with thick walls, heavy doors, room service and character. I was also very fond of the Victoria in Chihuahua and was disappointed to see it abandoned when I last visited in '99. It was the kind of place where you could imagine Pancho Villa riding his big white horse up the grand staircase from the lobby to the rooms with a pretty girl draped over the saddle . . . with a rose in her teeth.

La Paz needs more condos like a hole in the head. The building of the hundreds of condos that are under construction right now is not market driven and despite the boosterish crap that gets printed in our English-language press their sales are abysmal. Where the money comes from to fund the construction of units for which there is no market is a good question indeed. The people putting up that money either have so much of it they don't care, or the powers-that-be will soon have to mount a massive PR/sales campaign that will probably involve Fonatur, the Mexican Tourism Board and Carlos Slim's Volaris airline.

Granted, the Los Arcos Hotel site is prime real estate for condo development, but so is the new La Concha project, and of all those units it looks like only one has been brought to completion, all the other units are standing gapingly vacant even though the original La Concha condos enjoyed a wonderful sales record, both when newly on the market and later, when they came onto the resale market.

It makes no sense to build more condos in a market that is already in over-supply with enough inventory to last for the next ten or twenty years, at the current rate of closings. In the meantime, letting the Los Arcos Hotel deteriorate before our eyes and drag down its end of the Malecon makes no sense, either. If there isn't a master plan in place or under construction to move all the housing product that's underway, there should be, and I wonder if anyone who contributes to this board has any knowledge on this subject they'd care to share?

BMG - 7-7-2010 at 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by bajajazz

In my time I have encountered and worked with some very high maintenance ego trippers and in my experience the worst are rock musicians, television "faces" and politicians. The rockers are rude jerks, the TV types are incredibly conceited and politicians are the pettiest people alive.

As a former steel guitar playing child star and prime time news anchor who has recently retired from the U.S. Senate, I resent those remarks. I won't be forgetting this.

Bajatripper - 7-15-2010 at 09:54 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by JESSE
Mario Coppola told me they will get the Hotel back in a few months, they have won every single challenge in court and its only a matter of time. Whats not clear to them, is what to do when they get it back. Should they keep operating the same Hotel? should they upgrade? or should they demolish the whole thing and build condos?

My impression is that they are going to go with condos.

That would certainly be too bad. The Los Arcos, along with the Hotel Perla, have been local institutions since La Paz was first added to the international tourism map. What a shame. More "progress and development," I guess.

longlegsinlapaz - 7-20-2010 at 09:40 AM

Well that'll be an interesting development to follow....I'm not holding my breath for a "Grand RE-opening Celebration" just yet either!

Alan - 7-20-2010 at 04:59 PM

Me thinks that once again someone has negotiated themselves right out of a job!

monoloco - 7-20-2010 at 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by morgaine7
From today's ElSudcaliforniano:
http://www.oem.com.mx/elsudcaliforniano/notas/n1714700.htm
Apparently the court ruled in favor of the union, ending the strike, and ordered the owners to pay the back salaries and benefits for 81 employees (~ 20 million pesos). When that's done, the hotel is apparently free to reopen.

No comment yet from the owners, but I'm not holding my breath ...

Kate

I believe they have the right to 3 appeals. These cases take a minimum of 10 years.

JESSE - 7-20-2010 at 06:15 PM

I wouldn't take anything el sudcaliforniano says very seriously, they are puppets of the governor, and thus, support the union.