About us
✨ The section that no one reads
Tecolutla, Veracruz is an independent tourist platform. It belongs to no government and to no travel company: it is written, coded and maintained by someone from here, backed by the town's own businesses.
Who makes it
Samuel Elías Gaona Hernández, Software Engineer from the Universidad Veracruzana, proudly born and raised in Tecolutla, Veracruz.
See profile on LinkedInHow we got here
2014 · April
A map in your pocket
The idea was simple: an interactive map of Tecolutla with tourist information, built as an Android app.
It took shape fast. The directories of hotels, restaurants, ecotourism and services made sense from day one, and that is where the project was born.
2015 · November
The website
Through 2015 it became clear that visitors wanted that content on a website, not only in an app. It went live in November 2015, written in PHP.
The response was so good that the site drew hundreds and hundreds of people, many more than the app. From then on, the effort went into the website.
The first version of the web platform: the home page and a hotel listing 2015
The model that sustains it
When the project started, support was requested from the town's mayor at the time for eight months, with no favorable answer.
So it took another route: bringing in the people directly involved —the lodgings— and pooling enough resources between them to design, build and maintain the platform. That first year, 38 businesses joined.
2015
The first hundred reviews
People started telling how it went. 101 reviews published in that first stretch, and with them the guide stopped being a directory: it gained the voice of those who had already been here.
2016
Fifty businesses
The directory passed fifty businesses. It was no longer a list of acquaintances: it was half the town's tourism trade in one place.
By then 70 had joined in total.
2018
One hundred businesses
The platform crossed one hundred registered businesses —108 by that year— and stopped depending on word of mouth: whoever was looking for a place to stay in Tecolutla was already finding us.
2020 · December
"Mi Veracruz" Tourism Award
In the middle of the pandemic, the platform received the 2020 "Mi Veracruz" Tourism Award for the best technological innovation in the state's tourism sector.
It was presented on December 10, 2020 in Boca del Río, Veracruz, by the governor in office.
The Universidad Veracruzana story
Receiving the "Mi Veracruz" Tourism Award statuette from the Governor of Veracruz 2018-2024 2023 · February
The third version of the website
The site was designed and built again from the ground up, and that is the version that stayed online until 2026: the one most of our visitors got to know.
The platform in its third version, back in 2023 2024
Five hundred reviews
Published reviews and experiences passed five hundred —570 by that year. They are the voice of the people who visit us year after year, gathered in one place: every rating you see today comes from someone who already made the trip.
2026 · July
Tecokali, the tourist assistant
The platform added its own tourist assistant: it answers questions about the town over WhatsApp and from the chat on this very site.
It is the piece that was missing so that finding information does not depend on knowing which section to look in: you ask the way you would ask someone from here.
2026 · August
The fourth version of the website
The one you are looking at. A complete rewrite of the site, with a more forward-looking vision and the best strategies to make it quick to browse from any phone —even on a bad connection, which is how people browse in high season— and to reach more people.
The fourth version: the lodging catalogue on the phone and the tablet, and a listing on the laptop Today
Always improving
Since then the work has been constant improvement, to give visitors the best experience — and to give every business in town somewhere to be seen.
Over these years, 224 businesses have been part of the platform.
And 730 reviews and experiences published by those who have already been here.
Where else we are
Thank you for visiting Tecolutla, Veracruz!
We keep improving to give you the best possible experience when you come. Thank you for visiting, both this site and our town.
Donations
You can support the development of this platform and the promotion of tourism in Tecolutla.
With your donation ✨, you help us pay for the services to keep this platform online.
Donate with PayPalPlatform version · v4.0.4
The music behind the work
🤔 What music 🎶 plays while the platform is being built and improved 👨💻? This is the current Spotify top ✨
