Business
Haiti rising from the ashes – Construction of hotels
Villedrouin said Port-au-Prince officially has a 60 percent occupancy rate but many of the hotels are too rustic for international travelers. The better rooms in the city quickly fill up, with huge demand for the relatively few places with better amenities.
“Right now there’s such demand that the market can absorb several hotels,” said Alejandro Acevedo, an executive for Marriott International, which is building a US$45 million, 174-room hotel in partnership with mobile phone company Digicel Group.
Acevedo said even he had to share a room with his boss on a recent visit because of the dearth of hotel space.
“There’s nowhere to stay,” Acevedo said.
Other projects include the US$15.7 million Best Western in Petionville that’s due to open this summer. Also in Petionville is the Royal Oasis, a 10-story building that will include an art gallery, three restaurants, a commercial bank and high-end shops. Construction on the Royal Oasis began before the earthquake and is expected to finish by the end of the year.
The project received a US$2 million equity investment from the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund along with US$275,000 from the Oasis Foundation, a nonprofit group set up by the hotel, to train workers in the hotel industry. It’ll be run by the Spanish firm Occidental Hotel & Resorts.
“This is going to be one of the most palpable signs of modernity emerging from the ashes of the earthquake,” Jerry Tardieu, President and General Director of the Royal Oasis, said from the hotel’s leafy courtyard amid the clang of construction.
