Articles
Technical analysis by Fernando Loría, Chief Executive Officer of Hurricane Solution.
26 articles
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Certifications
Why a Component Only a Few Inches Long Can Decide the Outcome of the Entire System
The screen is the part everyone sees. The anchor is the part almost nobody looks at. Yet during a hurricane, every pound of load that enters the fabric ends up looking for its way into those small …
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Residential
What Hurricane Rachel Taught Us on the Costalegre
South of Cabo Corrientes, the Jalisco coast becomes long, open to the Pacific, and short on roads. This week, that stretch was split in two: the north, from Cabo Corrientes to Playa Pérula, under a…
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Certifications
Why Hurricane Solution's IHPA Membership Matters in Puerto Vallarta
Puerto Vallarta has a reputation for being a sheltered place. Banderas Bay and the Sierra Madre do lower the odds of a direct hit, and many years go by with nothing more than heavy summer rain…
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Insurance
Why Mitigation Documentation Has to Change When the Building Changes
One of the most deceptive situations I run into at older properties is this: the administrator has a perfectly organized binder proving that the building received hurricane protection years ago. There …
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Hotels
What Hurricane Rachel Taught Us in Vallarta
On Wednesday, September 30, shortly after midnight, Rachel became a hurricane about 400 kilometers (250 miles) from Puerto Vallarta. By morning, the question coming up again and again in the news and…
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Insurance
What a Hotel Should Receive When a Hurricane Protection Project Is Finished
When a major installation is completed, most owners check two things: that the physical work is finished and that the invoice matches the contract. In hurricane protection, that is not enough. A …
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Hotels
How to Make a Hurricane Protocol Survive Turnover in the Hotel's Staff
A protection system can last many years. The maintenance director probably will not. I do not say that as criticism. It is simply the reality of hospitality. General managers change, security chiefs …
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Hotels
The Mistake of Measuring How Long a Panel Takes to Go Up Instead of How Long a Hotel Takes to Protect Itself
In hotels, one of the questions I hear most often is: “how long does it take to install each panel?” It is a reasonable question, but it is not the one that determines whether the property will be …
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Best practices
How to Protect a Facade Without Making It Look Like a Hurricane System All Year
On high-value properties, the conversation about hurricane protection almost always has two parts. The first is obvious: the system has to protect. The second…
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Best practices
Why Anchoring Must Be Designed for the Building, Not Just for the Fabric
When I arrive at a property to evaluate hurricane protection, one of the first things I do has nothing to do with the fabric. I look at where the anchor would…
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Hurricanes
How to Read a Storm Record Without Inflating It or Dismissing It
There are two opposite mistakes companies make when they talk about hurricane performance. The first is inflating the story: taking the maximum category a storm…
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Hurricanes
Why 155 Storms Tell a Different Story Than a Single Test
This industry talks a great deal about testing. That makes sense: a serious certification tells us that a system was subjected to a defined condition, under a…
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Certifications
What Happens to the Force After a Projectile Hits the Fabric
When someone watches a video of an impact test, attention goes straight to the center of the screen. A 2x4 is fired, it strikes the protection, and the question…
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Certifications
How to Compare Wood, Metal, and Hurricane Fabrics When Every System Speaks a Different Language
One of the most confusing conversations a property owner can have happens when three hurricane protection proposals land on the desk and every vendor uses a diff…
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Certifications
What a Military Hospital Can Teach an Oceanfront Hotel
When we mention that the technology we represent has been installed on U.S. military hospital projects, some people react as though it were an interesting reference but a distant one. A homeowner may…
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Certifications
Why 30 Feet per Second Completely Change the Margin of Protection
When someone asks me what practical difference there is between “normal” hurricane protection and protection tested to a higher level, I usually start with a very simple idea: not every certification…
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Certifications
Who Actually Tested Your System? A University, a Laboratory, a Government, an Association and a Military Branch Are Not the Same Thing
Sales decks often show a row of logos: ASTM, a university, Miami-Dade, Florida, an association, an armed force. Visually they look equivalent. Technically they are not. And for a hotel, understanding…
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Insurance
Los Cabos: The Certification Package a Resort or Luxury Development Should Require Before Approving Hurricane Protection
Los Cabos has an unusual combination: high-value architecture, large expanses of glass, properties that open onto the landscape, intense sun, a marine environment and a market where the guest experie…
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Insurance
Acapulco: How to Write Certification Requirements into a Hotel Reconstruction Contract or Tender
After Otis, Acapulco does not need more generic language about resilience. It needs contracts that translate the word “resistant” into verifiable obligations. The National Hurricane Center documented…
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Certifications
Puerto Vallarta: Why a Hotel Should Demand International Standards Even When Mexico Does Not Require Them
One of the most important calls in risk management is telling apart “what the authority requires of me” and “what my asset actually needs.” The two are not always the same thing. In Puerto Vallarta, a…
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Insurance
Cancún: which certifications a Hotel Zone property should require before approving a hurricane system
Cancún does not need anyone to explain that hurricanes exist. The question in 2026 is what level of evidence a Hotel Zone property should demand before approving a protection system.
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Insurance
The certification matrix a hotel hurricane protection RFP should include
When an RFP asks for “hurricane protection” as a generic category, every bidder interprets the scope in its own favor. A compliance matrix forces them all to compete on the same definition.
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Certifications
A certified system is only as good as the company that installs it
Testing, codes and independent laboratories establish what a system can withstand. What no certificate reflects is the quality of the company that finally puts that system on the building.
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Certifications
Product certification vs. lab test vs. code approval: they do not mean the same thing
A folder of “certifications” usually holds very different documents placed side by side. All of them can be valuable. The mistake is assuming they all answer the same question about risk.
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Certifications
What does IHPA membership mean, and why should a hotel care?
Some credentials prove something about a product, and some say something about the company that sells it, installs it, and stands behind it. IHPA membership belongs firmly to the second category.
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Certifications
Level E: the military impact test that holds a hurricane system to a different standard
In hurricane protection, the word “certified” gets used far too easily. For a hotel, a hospital, an airport, or a critical facility, the right question is not whether a vendor can show you a logo.
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