Hotel Casa del Balam
El Hotel Casa del Balam, is one of the oldest and most distinguish hotels in Merida and the Yucatan Peninsula,it is also one of the few original Mexican Art Deco houses left in this colonial city. Newly renovated, this historic mansion has been carefully outfitted with today’s modern comforts and conveniences.
The Casa del Balam has an advantageous location, situated only two blocks from the Main Square or Plaza Grande in the heart of the Historic Center, and near The Jose peon Contreras Theater and The University of Yucatan. From our premises you will be able to stroll to most popular parks, churches, coffee shops and new art galleries.
The hotel was built in 1970 incorporating facets of the original home of Fernando Barbachano Peon, pioneer of tourism in Mexico. His daughter, Ms. Carmen Barbachano Gomez- Rul, left the original façade of her parents’ home to serve as the main entrance. The hotel has a traditional Yucatecan home ambiance with a flair for the eclectic; Its tranquil elegance welcomes guests as they walk through its original stone doorway. Antique Carrera black and white marble floors and Moorish arches frame the main interior fountain gardens and Ms Barbachano’s love for art permeates the main lobby and corridors. Antique furniture, Pre-Columbian Mayan art and Colonial artifacts are found in every corner of the hotel.
The passion for her company and for her family made Ms Carmen named the hotel “Casa del Balam” which literally means “The House of the Jaguar” in honor to her father who was nick named ”Balam” or jaguar for his sharp visionary mind, a characteristic only a few business men are endowed with. Fernando Barbachano had Yucatan in his heart and certainly has his daughter, its traditions and history were an essential part of their lives and identities and they made everything to preserve them.
Ms Carmen Barbachano loves challenges; at the age of 34 she expanded the legacy of tourist services her father left her at his death. Since that moment Doña Carmen has exhibited a vigorous work style and a brilliant character unusual in most upper class women on her society. She decorated the hotel with a colonial style that characterized the age, large wooden furniture, rocking chairs and wrought iron accessories; she even picked the hand painted basins in the bathrooms because she wanted a hotel that felt like “home” to guests, a place where each detail spoke quietly of the serene nature of this City and where she welcome “guests” instead of clientele.
