By Fernando Loria, engineer and director at Hurricane Solution

Acapulco does not need to be convinced that hurricanes are serious. In October 2023, Hurricane Otis made landfall just south of the city as a Category 5, and the damage to hotels, condominiums and homes along the bay is still part of daily life for many owners. Less than a year later, Hurricane John brought severe flooding to the same coast.

Since then, demand for hurricane protection has grown, and so has the number of people offering it. Some are experienced specialists. Others are general contractors, window installers or importers who added a hurricane product to their catalog after the storm. For a hotel, a condominium board or a homeowner, telling them apart is one of the most important decisions of the rebuilding process.

The problem: everyone says the same thing

After a storm like Otis, almost every offer uses the same words: "hurricane-proof," "Category 5," "maximum protection." Those phrases cost nothing to print. A buyer needs ways to separate a company with real standards from one with good marketing.

There are two kinds of evidence. The first is about the product: was it tested under a recognized standard by someone other than the seller? The second is about the company: has anyone outside it reviewed how it works, what it sells and whether it carries the insurance and licensing to stand behind its work? IHPA membership belongs to the second category.

What the IHPA is

The International Hurricane Protection Association (IHPA) is a Florida-based, not-for-profit industry association founded in 2000. It brings together manufacturers, suppliers, contractors, engineers, architects and code officials involved in hurricane protection in the United States, where hurricane building standards are among the most demanding in the world.

To become a member, a company must show its licensing and liability insurance, document approvals for the hurricane products it sells, agree to IHPA's Code of Ethics, commit to offering only tested and approved protection products, and be approved by the association's Board of Directors (IHPA membership requirements).

What membership does and does not mean

Precision matters here, especially in a city that has seen what a Category 5 storm can do. IHPA membership is not a product certification, and it does not guarantee how any system will perform in a hurricane. No credential can promise that. What membership does tell you is that the company has been reviewed by its own industry, carries the required insurance, sells approved products and has agreed to work under a professional code of ethics.

Product performance is proven separately, through laboratory testing under standards such as ASTM E1996 and approvals such as a Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance. Real-world performance depends on something else again: engineering, anchoring, installation and deployment. A serious buyer looks at all three.

The only IHPA member outside the United States

Hurricane Solution is the only IHPA member outside the United States. Every other member company operates in the U.S. market. In Acapulco, that makes Hurricane Solution the only hurricane-protection company that has gone through IHPA's review and agreed to work under its standards.

We see that as both an honor and an obligation. In a market rebuilding after one of the most destructive hurricanes in Mexico's history, owners deserve a way to know who stands behind the work. Membership is one clear, external answer.

Why it matters for Acapulco properties

Hotels. Along the Costera, in Punta Diamante and around the bay, hotels are reinvesting in their buildings. They need a contractor whose standards are not self-declared, whose insurance is real and whose products are approved. Our hotel protection program combines certified systems, engineered anchoring and a documented deployment plan.

Condominium towers. Many of Acapulco's residential towers are tall, exposed and governed by boards acting for owners who are not always present. A board choosing protection for an entire building needs a contractor it can hold accountable, with an ethics code and insurance behind the work.

Residences. In Las Brisas and the hillsides above the bay, homes are designed around large glass and open views. After Otis, many owners want protection that is serious without permanently changing the house.

Membership plus proof

IHPA membership tells you who you are hiring. Our certified hurricane fabric systems carry their own proof: they are led by the HS-1500, tested to ASTM E1996 at missile Level E, the most demanding projectile level in the standard. Our anchoring and fabric carry a Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance with verifiable file numbers.

And our work has been tested in the field. A design hotel in Cancún that we protected in 2022 deployed its Hurricane Solution system successfully when Hurricane Milton passed off the Yucatán coast in October 2024.

If you are rebuilding or upgrading a property in Acapulco, start with a free technical evaluation through our Acapulco page, or read more about what IHPA membership means.