Hotel - Haiti Observer Blog

Aquin is a municipality and a medium sized town in Haiti's Sud Department in the Aquin Arrondissement. Aquin is a port, situated on Tiburon Peninsula's southern coast and had around 95,004 inhabitants as per the 2003 census. In 1950 the population was around 1799. 100,000 people inhabit Aquin as per current estimates. Aquin is located within the geographical coordinates of 73° 24 '0 West and 18° 17' 0 north.

Enjoyable Activities

It has some of the most amazing beaches and overlooks the Caribbean Sea. A lot of people come here to enjoy bathing in the sun and collect sea shells and coral reefs. The shells get deposited by the tide while it regresses towards the Caribbean Sea.

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There has been an explosion at Montana Hotel in Port-au-Prince. The report indicated that the explosion caused at least four injuries. According to Radio Caraibes, the incident did not cause any lost of life.

The explosion at Hotel Montana took place Monday, May 20 while an outside company was in the process of supplying propane gas to the Hotel. Montana Hotel is located in Port-au-Prince, Route de Bourdon, Pétion-Ville.

Petion-Ville in Picture

Cause of the incident was attributed to a leak in the gas line during delivery

Hotel Montana was built in 1946 and was a popular four star tourist resort. During the 2010 earthquake, the main building of the hotel collapsed and an estimated 200 guests were reported missing the day after the collapse. Some of the victims included: Serge Marcil, former Canadian MP, Sam Dixon, head of the United Methodist Committee on Relief, Clinton Rabb, head of the United Methodist office of mission volunteers and Tran Trieu Quan, president of the International Taekwon-Do Federation.

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Pierre-Marie Boisson, on April 16th, 2013, happily announced the merger of Hotel Villa Creole and Hotel El Rancho. Together, these two hotels have a real estate property of 5 acres of land. Boisson mentioned that in Petion-Ville's living memory, this merger represents the largest transaction in real estate. Boisson is the financial adviser of Sogebank. Sogebank in turn is the adviser of real estate and financial company, FIS.

With this merger of El Rancho and Villa Creole, the shareholders of Villa Creole become El Rancho's shareholders. Of the total of 140 shareholders, the majority of the shares are held by Reginald Boulos followed by descendants of Sogebank, Silvera and bank employees. The renovation work for El Rancho is projected for completion by 2013 end of summer. El Rancho will have 13 apartments and 73 rooms and will have 86 housing units. Villa Creole will add another 40 rooms to this and will also go through some renovation work because of the damages caused by earthquake of 2013. During the Phase 2 of development, El Rancho will have another 50 rooms.

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Carabimmo SA, based in Haiti and Aimbridge Hospitality, based in Dallas have opened a hotel called Best Western Premier Petion-Ville in Haiti. This $15 million worth of hotel has been built in association with Best Western International and it located in Petion-Ville's upmarket suburb. The hotel opened on 28th March, 2013 and is referred to as 'the first full-service corporate U.S. brand hotel in Haiti'. The 7-storey luxury hotel features 3 imperial and executive suits and 106 guest rooms. The Best Western is loaded with amenities like flat screen TVs of 42" each, Wi-Fi, gym and spa with full-service, meeting space of 2000 sq. ft. capable of accommodating up to 160 guests and concierge service.

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The elections were fraudulent! Tens of thousands of demonstrating René Préval supporters took to the streets, or rather, took the streets with this cry after the results of the February 7, 2006 first-round of elections called for a run-off. What had started as a slightly run-of-the-mill election demonstration, complete with burning barricades and the thick, black smoke they create, took a much more direct approach to being heard by the people who count, as the crowd stormed the Petion-Ville gem, Hotel Montana, where the press headquarters of the electoral council was located.

Already deeply stung by the ousting of President Aristide, the demonstrators mobilized after the CEP released figures that made a run-off necessary, though the early count had shown Rene Préval with a lead clearly over the needed 50%. Claims of vote-rigging, incomplete or inaccurate voter lists, sudden relocations of polling stations, discarding of uncounted ballots and direct accusations against the CEP President of tampering abounded. Further fueling the ire of the protestors, communities traditionally for Préval saw an average 3-4 hours of delays in opening; a striking contrast to the noticeably smoother running of stations in areas supporting Préval's contenders. In those areas there were significantly fewer complaints, leading to the assumption that the difficulties experienced by Préval's demographic were artificially and intentionally created. Announcements of sudden changes were made at the last minute and were sometimes contrary to the actual situations met with by voters.

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Haiti has taken another step forward to boost the country's tourism industry. In a bid to improve the quality of the country's tourism services, the Ministry of Tourism is all set to open a training school in Les Cayes. The Hotel and Tourism Training Institute was established to train and hone the skills of only 60 students. Under the program, the students will be taught and trained by professionals who will be recruited from Les Cayes and from the Hotel School of Port-au-Prince.

Students can now enroll as the admission period will last until February 15. The training school will offer various subjects and programs involving the reception and accommodation of tourists, as well as housekeeping and bar services. The program is meant to enhance the skills of Haiti students in order to provide the best of services to tourists.

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National Carnival 2012 Committee announced the arrangements of a three day cruise ship. The cruise ship is expected to be in the Bay of Cayes all through the Carnival festival beginning 19th February till 22nd February. The Adriana Cruise ship M.V. is to serve as a floating hotel in the Cap-Haitian and Jacmel Carnival in 2013.

The Cruise - 18th February To 22nd February

This floating hotel, Adriana Cruise Ship, has a large number of facilities and amenities. It is expected to depart in the afternoon on 18th February, Saturday from Port-au-Prince, Haiti. All night, on board there will be a Masquerade Ball. It will arrive at Cayes on the morning of 19th February.

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Marriott and Digicel have brokered a partnership agreement to build Marriott's first luxury hotel in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The ground-breaking ceremonies took place on Wednesday December 19, 2012.

Anticipating an influx of business travelers flying into Port-au-Prince, Arne Sorenson, President and CEO of Marriott International, feels certain the partnership between Marriott and Digicel can contribute significantly to Haiti's recovery efforts. He asserts job creation of more than 1,000-plus positions in the hospitality industry will actualize the potential talent existing among the population of Port-au-Prince and adjacent areas. He added together Digicel and Marriott can put the country back on its feet and in time re-establish Port-au-Prince as a premier travel destination.

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Petion-Ville, is going to be home to Haiti's first U.S. luxury hotel, a Best Western, just outside Port-au-Prince. The country is desperate for private investors to inject much-needed revenue into their sagging economy, especially after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in 2010 leveled it to the ground.

Carabimmo, owner of Best Western Hotels, had the foresight to recognize a void existed for business travelers in Haiti. He contracted with Haitian-based Aimbridge Hospitality, to operate the 2,000 square-foot property, the Best Western Premier Petion-Ville, a luxury hotel that will serve business travelers, set to open fall 2012.

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Laurent Lamothe, Haiti's new Prime Minister (PM), flew to New York on June 16, 2012 to conduct exploratory talks with Haiti Consul General Charles Forbin about New York labor laws. As part of his visit, PM Lamothe was scheduled to meet with Oscar-winning Actor, Robert De Niro, to discuss his plans to build a hotel in Haiti. If the actor commits to building one, this would be more good news for Haiti, who needs to ramp up its tourism trade as part of the recovery effort from 2010's earthquake, which completely leveled the Port-au-Prince region. Recently, U.S. Best Western began construction on a luxury hotel in Petionville, near Port-au-Prince.

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