Ten years ago, José Manuel Quintana and Sergio Celis began Pug Seal with a simple question: why is it so difficult to find a hotel that truly feels like home? From the outset, the project was guided by a clear intention—to create a place where staying felt natural, where design carried meaning, and where hospitality was genuine.

Pug Seal was conceived as a signature: an experience shaped through the care of space, the guest, and the everyday details. Here, luxury lives in subtlety—in quiet gestures and attentive presence.

Today, that vision has taken form in three properties: two in Mexico City—Allan Poe and Anatole France—and one in Oaxaca, located in the heart of Downtown Historic District. Each space is distinct, yet united by the same approach: houses designed to be lived in slowly, where every stay responds to its surroundings and context.

In these hotels, design functions as a narrative tool. Each property begins with a different story, translated into spaces that engage in dialogue with their environment. There is context, memory, and a deliberate sense of curation.

At Allan Poe, in Polanco, the concept is built around the figure of Quetzalcóatl. Textiles, latticework, ceramics, and stone create an atmosphere that evokes origin, movement, and ancestral knowledge. It is a space meant to be experienced at an unhurried pace.

At Anatole France, the narrative centers on the waves of migration that shaped Mexico City in the mid-20th century. Each room is named after a migrant family, and over time, individual histories transform into collective memory.

Finally, Pug Seal Oaxaca is embedded within Downtown Historic District as a space that engages with Zapotec cosmovision. Murals, sculptures, and engravings connect with myth, nature, and territory. Here, culture is not observed—it is inhabited. The hotel functions as a contemporary refuge that invites guests to experience the place through its local identity.

A decade later, Pug Seal stands as a project that has matured both conceptually and operationally. Its growth has been intentional, never losing the coherence that defines it.

Today, all three properties are part of the Michelin Guide, each awarded one key—a recognition that reflects the path they have built. Looking ahead, the project points toward new contexts, new geographies, and experiences that deepen the relationship between traveler and place—without haste, and always anchored in the same idea that gave it origin.