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In a short time Pug Seal has positioned itself as a seal of quality in first class lodging. Thanks to its incomparable attention, unique style and extraordinary places, this chain of boutique hotels has become a favorite of the most demanding travelers visiting Mexico City. Learn more about the history of these hotels and their future plans, in an exclusive chat with José Manuel Quintana, their director and founder.
Unexpected origins and the memory of a dream
Back when I was in college, I was focused on economic and professional development, security, and the goal of working for an international corporation. You know, the usual 90s dream. The dream of that generation that wanted to join a big corporation. Develop and retire from it. I was, and still am, very much influenced by my father, and my career and current occupations are not the exceptions.
As for my career, my dad is an ophthalmologist, and he told me about some very sophisticated German companies that develop medical equipment. All the people who worked for them got education and travel, and a good life in general. Right? So, I always wanted to study something that challenged me, and in fact, it did. I studied electrical engineering. To me, it was a great challenge. I dared to choose something hard, so I thought of engineering, but then I thought of electrical engineering. My dad happily encouraged me and told me about them, and I thought, why not? Without much reasoning, in fact.
I did like it a lot. I enjoyed the experience of knowing how things work and how to create them, right? It is indeed a real mental workout.
I was having stunning development in the company and decided to study a business degree at IPADE because I felt hesitant to venture myself. I thought, I only just worked for this company, and despite having many responsibilities, I did not feel so confident. So I went, studied at IPADE and as soon as I graduated I said, bye, now it is time for me to do what I want to do.
Family inspired vocation
I began digging on my thoughts, memories, and within to do very introspective work on myself, and I thought, I have always liked decorating, architecture, design, and such. And as for my dad, he is an endless wayfarer. To give you an idea, he traveled with my mom on his motorcycle from our hometown in Leon, Guanajuato, in the heart of Mexico, to the end of Patagonia in the southmost point in South America. Up and down, and back. And then from Leon to Alaska, back and forth. A real adventure, indeed. And then to Baja California and every ecosystem in Mexico. Chiapas, the potosinian mountain range…So I got to know Mexico. I loved to travel, but I always saw these boutique hotels as unique but very expensive. And I always thought, well, someday. I had a fantasy. I decided that is what I am going to do. Create boutique hotels that show a pretty and welcoming side of Mexico. For all the foreigners and local visitors. I used to travel to fantastic places like Baja California, and we would stay in those unappealing rooms for the night. But when we woke up, we would see a magnificent spectacle of birds, dolphins, and rays. And you could join them and swim, and suddenly that place became a paradise. So, I said it is inconceivable that there are no lodges to match such an impressive natural wonder, right?
Then, I thought that was it. I am taking the chance. I quit my job and started searching for a place where I could begin.
Creating the perfect spots to share Mexico
I didn’t have a lot of money, I didn’t have a house, I didn’t have a hotel nor family in the business, or anything to do with the hospitality world, but I had a dream. And I thought, well, where could I begin? And I saw that the German people that came to the company I used to work for loved to stay in cozy houses. Sort of hostels back in Coyoacan, in Mexico City. Back then, there were several of those. I started to notice them, and I liked what I saw. I used to take them there and pick them up, take care of reservations and such, and that’s when I started to learn a bit from that world.
I thought, here is where I’m starting. Someday I want to own a big chain and have several hotels. But, I had to start where I was, and I began with just four bedrooms in Coyoacán. All to provide services to those who I used to work for back in the company.
I had a lovely place called Casa Piedra that started as an experiment to see if I could provide breakfast, clean, keep tide, taking care of reservations. A whole new world for me.
And yes, it was great. Sales were fast. Airbnb didn’t exist at the time. Booking and Expedia were at their prime, but they didn’t have that many properties listed. So it was relatively easy, I think. I was lucky to start during a good time for business, and boom, I hit it. Everything was great until the authorities came by, as well as the neighbors and started requesting permits. Some of them I was aware of, unlike others. And that was the beginning and the end, after a very short existence. It was running for about eight months, that was enough to give me the confidence to know this could work and the courage to open eight new rooms in a new venue in Coyoacán. I was familiar with the zone and had some agreements with UNAM, INAH, and some laboratories in the south end of Mexico City. It was excellent, but then I started to wonder where this could go next.
I realized Casa Piedra was a terrible name because there are water, bars, and pretty much anything with that name. But afterward, when I realized that I needed to trade a mark and register it to make this more solid. I went to the Mexican Institute of Intellectual Property IMPI, but every other brand I thought of wasn’t available.
a powerful name and finding your way
So one day, I was deep in my thoughts, searching for a name. Because I wanted to make it personal, this project comes from deep within and holds dearly in my heart. I thought it must be transcendent. I thought of naming it after my daughter and other ideas that didn’t quite fit. One day, I turned around and saw my black Pug sitting over there with me. Mr. Sapo, with whom I had an unbelievable connection, starts telling me, Pug. Me. And I was like, Pug? So I suddenly began to imagine that there wouldn’t be any letter signs, but instead, there would be a paw. I had a vision of having some pug paws joined by the hashtag #FollowThePugSeal, following the seal of the Pug.
If you are in the desert, in the mountains, or jungle, if there is a Pug, follow the Pug Seal. As a value guarantee for a great clean, elegant lodge with an unparalleled location and top-class service. All the values that represent our brand, Pug Seal. Represented by the Pug. My beloved dog, Mr. Sapo. He sadly passed away a few years ago, though now I have his replacement, the second. That is where the name originates. That was the transition from an electrical engineer that worked for a German corporation into an entrepreneur. At the time, it became the trend of the moment. Make your way and make the most of the available opportunities. And well, I learned a lot in my Master’s degree, it gave me a lot of confidence and contacts, and that is how I got to the place we are today, thinking about what comes next for PugSeal.
Extraordinary places with a story to share
When I saw the place to head to was Polanco, for several reasons, one of them being the houses it has, which I could have also found in places like Colonia Roma or others, but with a big difference, Polanco’s lots are enormous. And for example, what I had in Coyoacán had a garden. So, I noticed that vertical hotels with small apartments piled upon another come a dime a dozen. Even the luxury chains are, mostly, like an apartment building – plus that was also the beginning for AirB&B – I didn’t want that. I wanted houses with more character, more history, and greater depth to share their story. Not only to be a place to stay in but to become a home for their visitors. So I began to search places like that, and I realized that Polanco had plenty to offer, very expensive indeed, but backed by having the sort of market we were aiming to please.
So I started an endless home search. I saw everything. I was looking for an opportunity, and a day at a time, I was finding places. And once I saw some potential, I would go into the houses, and from where they are, and what they are, I let them speak to me. I begin to imagine the original owners and the way they conceived it. The architects of the time and what they were seeing. The materials they chose. Are they representatives of the area or the times? The original property palette. Even now, the tones we use in each property come from the shades of the first property floors. For example, right now, I am in the Anatole France venue, it is very green. The deck is green as well, and it is an original from 1940. Allan Poe is white.
For instance, here we can see magnificent glassworks. The glasswork colors, also originals, served me as the keynote to know where the concept would take me. Plus, the history and inspiration for this house. Each property has a particular inspiration, which in a way, models the interior design, and sometimes is the other way around. Along with the decorator, the architect, Pug Seal, the house, and me, something unique takes place. And this one, in particular, Anatole France, is an homage to European families that emigrated to Mexico across history. The bedrooms are named to honor grandparents’ surnames, then the first floor is named after their children born in Mexico, and the second floor, baptized after the grandchildren. All descendants from this first resident generation came to Mexico. And it is related to these frenchlike people we see in the glassworks. And it has to do with everything. The house inspires us, and we create and follow the lead.
For example, what we just did in Oaxaca was scratch the walls to discover natural shapes and colors that reminded me of an artist whose work I like, Rafa Uriegas. So, I immediately called him and said, Rafa, you have to come to intervene in this, and we ended up with a full intervention across the hotel with fresco walls created with natural pigments. All from scratching the walls.
So, it is not that I have any preconceived ideas. I let myself go, get inspired by it, and then it happens.
What is next for Pug Seal?
I am restless. I like to keep moving and what fulfills me most at the end of the day is creation. Create. Create. Create. It is what makes me thrive and excites me. Business planning, models, and operation are things I have to do to keep creating. So, what I do know is that this pandemic has taught us a lot. It completely changed paradigms of what we were doing, and we saw that whenever things could go wrong, they did go wrong. And we had a pandemic situation, and we closed for almost two years. And when you are renting, that’s a huge problem. And then we went to Oaxaca. But after Oaxaca and Mexico City, it is hard for me to find a city with a similar cultural richness. A place with art, museums, galleries, food, archaeology, and all the things that I consider part of our rich and profound Mexico, a country I feel very proud of and want to share with the world. But in a more modern contemporary way.
We are aiming to change our model. As culturally rich cities, we already have Oaxaca and Mexico City. Now we will probably look for more nature. That has always been Pug Seal’s dream, to be among nature. But, I didn’t have the resources or the land, and I had work and a family to provide. That’s why I didn’t start there. But now, that dream is making a comeback. So, now I am finally saying, it is time for us to start playing with different natural environments. And for example, Coyoacan. We have a hotel in Coyoacán, where we started, and currently, we are turning it into a manor that you can rent as a whole. Not just a bedroom. Or by bedrooms. More like a place for a family or group of friends. That is the operative model or business model that would probably function better for natural environments. Because running a hotel with thirty bedrooms of 300 USD a night in places like Real de Catorce, doesn’t seem very practical. Maybe in a destination like Cabo, it would, but probably not in Guerrero Negro, or Palenque. So, I can begin to see two different models, a hotel that rents rooms and a six or eight rooms manor rented as a whole. The first is for places like Mexico City or Oaxaca and the latter to play in natural environments. Mexico has breathtaking places like deserts, jungles, mountains, or the thousand kilometers of Baja California, which are an experience of its own. But well, we still have a long way to go in our city properties, which are coming back to life. We are expanding ourselves when it comes to food and beverages. Which was something we were behind in. We are founding sorts of speakeasies to activate and founding our way after our principal market changed. Before COVID, our guests were 65% from corporations. Now, that number is zero. So we had to expand our pleasure guests’ offers, after Oaxaca’s opening. So we are also moving with that. You could think that being the same house, the same place, and the same everything, but for us was a daunting change. Tourists spend more time at the hotel and aren’t in a rush is a different kind of work. It requires a new type of attention.
Pug Seal Entertainment
Well, there are a few things I feel particularly proud of after the pandemic. First, still owning my hotels, opening Oaxaca. That wasn’t easy but made us very happy, and three, Microenormous.
Microenormous was a very original immersive play. Something unique and never seen before. Because, back to what I said earlier, I am glad I didn’t study tourism, or acting, or anything like that because it allows me to know how an electrical engineer would do something, run away from paradigms, and do things my way. But considering the audience or the guests. So, we made Pug Seal Entertainment and presented two shows. One was a magic show in a closed venue with Victor Castañed. A fun, entertaining, and familiar Vegas-like show. And we created another show that we scripted, produced, and showcased.
We contacted some artist friends who had real masterpieces all tucked away. Because there were no museums or galleries open. So, we figured we have this beautiful venue here in Anatole, just sitting there. You have all these masterpieces hidden; we should get them together. Yes, but how? So, that was when Sergio and I thought a play would be a great idea. Because there were not many travelers, no tourists, we figured we needed to sell to locals. That was back on the brief economic comeback we had during late August, September, and October last year. So we thought, now is the time to sell to locals, that was all we could do. So, we thought, we have the art, the house, and the rooms, and we have COVID, so we created a format where each room had a maximum capacity of six guests per room. Plus, sanitizing procedures between each group. It was no easy task to present something like that at the time. It was a huge success, a fantastic immersive play with art masterpieces, with a philosophical experience. What the actors shared was a pondering exercise of self-knowledge. Some people cried because all of us were sensitive to what was going on. Many of us lost loved ones. Death was there, and life was there. Go outside or stay home. That was the topic of the play. Return to living, celebrating life and death, not being afraid. Take care of yourself and go back to ancient medicine. So, it was a bit rebellious, a bit reflexive, and a bit critical. Yet very empathic with what was going on. And are still going. So, now the question is, when is Microenormous coming back? We are working on it. We are doing everything on our behalf to be able to present it before the year is over. But, anyway, PugSeal Entertainment is here to stay. We are keeping busy with our hotels, Coyacan is starting to work as a manor, we are providing more services to take better care of our guests and make the most out of our venue in Oaxaca. So, Microenormus is there, but its comeback is still on hold.
Thanks so much.
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Pug Seal.