Marriott to open five hotels in the region

Marriott International has announced the operations of five new hotels for the Caribbean and Latin American region with two opening this year and another three in 2010, but no mention was made of one in Guyana.

According to the online edition of The Financial, Marriott International President yesterday announced the opening of the five hotels; the first two to be opened in Guayaquil in Ecuador and Paramaribo, Suriname this year and the remaining three to be opened in 2010.

The three to be opened in 2010 will be in San Pedro Sula, Honduras; Cuzco, Peru; and Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.

The Financial quoted Ed Fuller, president and managing director of international lodging for Marriott International as saying, “We are excited by the range of travel experiences these five properties will represent and that, with the exception of the Courtyard hotel in Suriname, all are additional properties in countries in which we are already operating, thereby enabling us to give local and long distance travellers more opportunities to experience the Marriott International brand of lodging hospitality in these countries.”

The Marriott International portfolio in the Caribbean and Latin American region currently consists of 51 hotels, offering 12,759 rooms spanning seven brands in 20 countries.

Adam Development/ Urbahn Associates Inc (ADUA), a locally registered company which is actually a merger of two New York-based developers, has been granted prime land by the Guyana government to construct a US$52 million hospitality facility under the name ‘Georgetown Marriott – Hotel, Casino and Entertainment Complex’ in the Kingston Seawall area.

According to the project profile, the life of the project is expected to be 30 years covering 2010 to 2040 and it expects an annual turnover of US$11 million per year over the first ten years of operation.

The project was initially scheduled to start by mid June but it was reportedly extended to facilitate an environmental impact assessment (EIA).