Why this Mexico developer embraces all-inclusive, shareable villas

TULUM, Mexico — Elías Barbosa is using his deep knowledge of the construction industry in Mexico and his passion for luxury all-inclusive resorts to build a new series of properties that offer all the amenities but are shareable and built on a smaller scale.

The new-build, 10-villa Trobbu Tulum is scheduled to open this month in Mexico. It’s the first of five properties that will open across the country in the next couple of years. Barbosa, managing director of Tulum, Mexico-based Trobbu Group, which oversees the Trobbu Boutique Collection, said his company found a niche in all-inclusive, three-bedroom villas that can shared with multiple couples or an entire family.

Elías Barbosa

Barbosa and his company have been building luxury properties for Secrets, Dreams and Hyatt for years. Trobbu started developing its own projects in 2012 and, several years ago, developed the concept of shareable luxury villas.

Guests can own a fraction of the villas for $35,000 each.

“You get to be really an owner and decide what you want to do yearly with your fraction,” Barbosa said. “Either you want to use it or you want to get revenue from it.”

The Tulum development is already 70% sold, and Barbosa said the company currently has 1,000 fractional owners. While fractional ownership is an important part of Trobbu’s model, Barbosa said it wasn’t needed to fund the current and future developments (he said they were funded with family money).

“We have all the support and all the capital to invest in our own projects. So, it doesn’t depend on the sales to be built,” he said.

The future properties include a 15-villa property in San Miguel de Allende, which will open in December; the 25-villa in Mérida Yucatán, which will open in July 2026; the 25-villa in Mahahual Riviera Maya, which will open in December 2026; and the 32-villa in Los Cabos, which will open in December 2027.

The all-inclusive villas can be shared with as many as eight people.

Barbosa, who started working at his father’s construction company more than 30 years ago and took over at age 17 when his father died, said there are many all-inclusive resorts in the markets in Mexico where Trobbu is opening, but the differentiator is the diminished price per person when up to eight people share the $1,000 villas. Each villa will have its own private pool and a butler who will organize activities.

He said the pandemic showed him that everything must be a unique experience. “So we don’t want the customers to come and have the same experience they have in an all-inclusive resort with thousands of guests around. We want them to have everything in their own space, in their own villa and all the amenities that we have surrounding the project.”

Expanding to the U.S.

Barbosa said Trobbu would like to expand into the U.S. and is looking at investments in Miami, Chicago and New York City.

The main idea is service, service, service, and ensuring the service is something unique, and the experience for a guest should be something different than they are used to receiving.

Elías Barbosa

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“Those are the three cities that we really wish to be in in the next five years,” Barbosa said, adding that the company would eventually like to be in the Dominican Republic, as well.

The projects in the U.S. will be developed vertically but will share other parts of the model (all-inclusive, three-bedroom units that groups can share).

Barbosa said Trobbu wants to expand its investment side to eventually have 7,000 investors (he said the company has 2,600 investors for other projects right now).

While 90% of the occupancy for the all-inclusive villas in Mexico is expected to come from the U.S., most current investments are from Mexico.

“The real estate side has been very well accepted by the Mexican investors, and we are confident that whenever we receive [guests from] the U.S. they will also invest with us and keep the growth of the company.”

Barbosa said the all-inclusive menu will change daily, and there will be F&B add-ons available that will increase ROI. But he said the company is planning on service being its biggest differentiator, with the architectural details of the details being a secondary highlight.

“The main idea is service, service, service, and ensuring the service is something unique, and the experience for a guest should be something different than they are used to receiving,” he said.