The Art of Intimate Hospitality

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Before El Cortés was a hotel, it was the house Carlos Zaragoza noticed whenever he walked through Roma Norte. He had moved to Mexico City after nearly five years in London and found his first apartment in the neighborhood, where he still lives, only three blocks from the hotel. Of all the historic façades he passed, this one stayed with him.

The house sits on a quieter stretch of Colima Street, removed from the activity surrounding restaurants such as Rosetta, Máximo and Meroma. Zaragoza was drawn to the calm of the corner and the seriousness of the building. Even before he knew he would be able to buy it, he was convinced that the property should one day become a hotel.

By the time Zaragoza acquired the house, much of its original interior had already been altered. Instead of trying to recreate a past that no longer existed, he concentrated on saving what remained. “My approach was to recover everything I could,” he says. He estimates that close to 90 percent of the elements that were still in a condition to be restored were preserved.

The windows were one of the most difficult decisions. The house is more than a century old, and the movement of Mexico City’s ground had left its floors, walls and frames uneven. New windows would have provided better protection from street noise, but replacing the originals completely would have taken something important away from the building. Zaragoza restored the fixed wooden frames and replaced only the sections that needed to open.

From the beginning, he wanted the interiors to carry the same character he had seen from the street. He also knew that charm alone would not be enough. “I love boutique hotels, but I like boutique hotels that feel like hotels,” he says. El Cortés needed the intimacy of a private residence, but also a restaurant, room service and the reliability guests expect from a luxury property.

Its size made that possible in a very personal way. El Cortés has only 15 rooms and suites, allowing Zaragoza to select the art, furniture and finishes himself over a period of approximately three and a half years. “The scale allows you to create something with much more personality and detail,” he explains. It is difficult to imagine him taking the same approach in a hotel with 70 or 80 rooms.

One of the details he cares about most is an original stained-glass window from around 1910. It was too large to fit anywhere in the new design, so Zaragoza found a master craftsman who could carefully divide it into three sections. Parts of the glass now appear in two guest bathrooms, continuing a story that began with the house itself.

Much of the art also comes from Zaragoza’s private collection. The oldest piece in the hotel is a tiny Mexican oil painting on metal from 1828, depicting a woman in remarkably fine detail. He placed it in one of the largest and tallest communal areas, where its scale feels almost unexpected. Zaragoza has long been fascinated by small works of art and the way they ask people to move closer.

That eye for detail also shapes his idea of service. “Hospitality today has to go beyond designing beautiful spaces,” he says. Once a guest walks through the door, the team has to deliver an experience that feels as thoughtful as the rooms themselves.

Zaragoza wants the staff to be warm and attentive, but never overbearing. He often speaks to his team about protecting the guest’s privacy and learning how to anticipate a request without constantly making their presence felt. “You have to be there, and you have to know how to read what they need, but they should not have to see you,” he says. The service should appear when it is needed and almost disappear when it is not.

He was equally determined that El Cortés would have a real relationship with Roma Norte. Lotti, the hotel’s restaurant, became the natural way to create that connection. Zaragoza wanted it to be a place the neighborhood would use, not simply a restaurant serving travelers staying upstairs. He did not want international guests to spend several days in Mexico City without seeing or interacting with the people who live here.

This matters at a time when the city’s luxury hotel scene is growing quickly. Zaragoza believes travelers are increasingly looking for independent properties with character, rather than spaces where every surface feels new and everything is beige. They want a hotel that feels connected to its surroundings and, perhaps, one that is not quite so perfect.

El Cortés is Zaragoza’s first hotel, and he admits he was not prepared for how quickly people would respond to it. The restoration took longer than expected and brought the delays, expenses and doubts that often come with working on an old building. “I knew I was creating something very special, but I did not expect the response we have had,” he says. The response from guests, travel advisors, the press and the neighborhood made the difficult parts feel worthwhile.

What does he hope guests take away from their stay? Nothing overly complicated. He wants them to leave well rested and to remember the smile with which the team welcomed them. For a hotel shaped by so many individual decisions, that simple feeling may be the detail that matters most.

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Photo: Courtesy of El Cortés

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Behind the Stay is an editorial series by The Curated Itinerary exploring the people whose leadership shapes some of the world's most memorable hotels. Through conversations with general managers, founders, and hospitality leaders, the series looks beyond the rooms and into the philosophies, decisions, and people that define exceptional stays.