Caribbean Groups to Develop Haiti’s First Airport Hotel

Caribbean Groups to Develop Haiti’s First Airport Hotel

Argentine entrepreneur Rolando Gonzalez-Bunster, president and CEO of Basic Energy Ltd., and Haiti-based WIN Group, announced an agreement to build a 240-room hotel adjacent to Port-Au-Prince’s Toussaint L’Ouverture International Airport. The $33 million project, to be Haiti’s fist airport hotel, will break ground in late 2010 with an 18-month construction timetable, according to the groups.

The as-yet-unnamed, seven-story hotel will be independently operated and feature full conference facilities with capacity to accommodate up to 400. Plans also call for food and beverage outlets, a work-out center, swimming pool, and spa facilities and lounges, plus lush, tropical landscaping. The hotel will be built to meet or exceed all international earthquake standards.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, the United Nations’ special envoy to Haiti and co-chair of the Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission (IHRC), said, “Our goal is to encourage long-term sustainable investment in Haiti. An adequate network of hotels is crucial to the country, and this venture is one example that the numerous facets needed to rebuild Port Au Prince are slowly getting under way.”