This Mexican hotel group is coming for Utah: The Tulum hotelier Casa Pueblo is expanding to develop Utah's national parks.

• Author: Rowland, Sarah
• Position: REAL ESTATE

DEREK KLEIN WAS BORN AND RAISED in Utah, but his career in design and hospitality has led him all over the world--from London to Marrakech, India, and for the last decade, Tulum--before he returned home in the fall of 2020.

Klein first carved his own path as a stronghold within Mexico's hospitality scene as founder of the Tulum restaurant GITANO as well as the Casa Pueblo Hotel Group, and the hotelier and business owner is now a household name across the Yucatan Peninsula. "The best way to describe Mexico is magical," he says. "I first visited Tulum almost two decades ago and fell in love with its rawness. Over time, a close-knit creative community emerged there, and I quickly had a vision for what this area could become."

Klein was mesmerized by the opportunities he found in Mexico when he arrived in 2010. "My arrival in Tulum came after a 3,000-mile journey from LA in a mellow-yellow colored 1978 Mercedes; it was pure gypset! This was a unique moment where creatives like myself were just driving down, making their way into town, and setting up shop. We were all so hungry for collaboration in a supportive atmosphere; it was essentially a think-tank mentality. Together, we pioneered a vision for Tulum that put it on the map in a huge way, and I will forever be proud of being part of something that metamorphic."

BUILDING RESTAURANTS AND HOTELS IN TULUM

In 2013, Klein founded the Tulum restaurant and bar GITANO with the help of a building loan from his father--it quickly became the most trend-forward place to see and be seen. "In that period, Tulum was hot so starting a business there was an extraordinary experience," Klein says. "It was this haven where influencers, celebrities, and fashion icons were coming to find respite within our free-spirited paradise."

Taking on this ambitious project early in his career allowed Klein the time and space to learn the ins and outs of being successful within the industry. A few years after, he stepped out on his own and built Casa Pueblo, an elegantly designed boutique hotel that earned a consistent sell-out rate and a cult-following. For Klein, this was a proofpoint that his business model could work, and two years later he opened a sister location, Casa Pueblo Boca Paila along Tulum's beachfront.

Like the original Casa Pueblo, Boca Paila embraced tropical minimalism with a 50s-era French Riviera twist, while offering a level of luxury that was unprecedented amongst Tulum's more Bohemian and understated...