Latin America and the Caribbean in
plans of Sonesta
These developments are expected to
provide Sonesta with the infrastructure to expand beyond its Sonesta Hotels
& Resorts and Sonesta Posadas del Inca brands and introduce seven new
brands—Sonesta Select, Sonesta ES Suites, Sonesta Simply Suites, The Royal
Sonesta, The James, Red Lion Hotel/Red Lion Inn & Suites and Signature
Inn—to the markets.
Source: Hotel Business
Sonesta International Hotels
Corporation has revealed several key developments to support future expansion
in Latin America and the Caribbean, including the renewal of its ongoing master
franchise relationship with GHL Hoteles and the hiring of three lodging
development leaders with extensive hospitality experience in these regions.
“The demand we are seeing in Mexico,
the Caribbean and Central and South America encourages us to expand Sonesta’s
footprint across these key markets,” said Brian Quinn, chief development
officer, Sonesta. “We look to build upon our long-standing presence in Latin
America by renewing our significant relationship with GHL Hoteles and by hiring
regional lodging development leaders to expand the Sonesta and Red Lion brands.
We are excited to pursue our first opportunities in Mexico, where there is
strong interest in both city and resort destinations, and to increase further
our presence in the Caribbean beyond Sint Maarten and Puerto Rico.”
Sonesta first established a presence
in the Latin American region in 1998 when it flagged the Sonesta Hotel El
Olivar in Lima, Peru. The company, through its master licensee, has since added
Sonesta Hotels in Colombia, Ecuador and Chile, as well as introduced Sonesta
Posadas del Inca in Peru to leisure-focused destinations like Lake Titicaca,
the Sacred Valley and Cusco. Through its master franchise agreement with GHL
Hoteles, based in Colombia, Sonesta has added hotels via ground-up development
and conversions.
As recently as April, Sonesta,
through its master franchisee GHL Hoteles, introduced Sonesta Hotel Cali, a
180-plus room hotel, marking the 14th property in Latin America and the eighth
property in Colombia. In the Caribbean, Sonesta has two resorts in Sint
Maarten—family-friendly Sonesta Maho Beach Resort (2004) and adults-only
Sonesta Ocean Point Resort (2014) and the Royal Sonesta San Juan in Puerto Rico
(2020).