Sol Melia Opens Upscale Hotel In Venezuela Capital
<B> Sol Melia Opens Upscale Hotel In Venezuela Capital</B>
By Marshall Krantz
<I>Caracas</I> - Spanish hotelier Sol Melia this month is opening a luxury business property, in what is the first major upscale hotel to be built in Venezuela's capital in 10 years.
The Gran Melia Caracas features 432 guest rooms, 236 two- and three-bedroom full-service apartments and 41,547 square feet of meeting and conference space.
The hotel is located in the fashionable Sabana Grande district, about a half-hour drive from Caracas International Airport.
Sol Melia joins international-standard hotel chains Hilton and Inter-Continental in Caracas. Four Seasons, meanwhile, plans to open a 212-room, 116-residence luxury property--its first in South America-- here late next year or early 2000.
The Gran Melia Caracas represents Sol Melia's 21st property on the continent, with more hotels set to open in Lima and Buenos Aires in the fall. Latin America is the area of fastest growth for the hotel management company, which operates 260 properties in 28 countries.
"In the past two years, there's been more focus on Latin America from big U.S. corporations," said Emanuel Schreibmaier, vice president of sales and marketing. "By the year 2002, we want to be in every capital city in Latin America."
Schriebmaier expects Caracas' favorable geographic position on the continent and Gran Melia's conference center to be a winning combination in drawing business travelers from across the Americas.
"We see a lot of interest from multinational companies that have to gather together country managers and distributors," he said. "There are a lot of flights from Miami and other destinations, so it's very easy to connect to Caracas from North America and from within South America."
Corporate clients already signed include Pepsico, Proctor & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Chevron and Texaco, according to general manager Eberhard Linke.
Guest rooms come equipped with an office desk that includes a two-line telephone and separate dataport. Additionally, the property's 18 suites include desktop PCs with Internet access.
Premium service rooms, called Servicio Real, occupy the top five floors of the property's 18-floor central tower. An exclusive lobby and lounge with separate checkin is located on the 14th floor, where free breakfast, cocktails and high tea are served.
Business guests also can take advantage of flexible checkin and checkout, depending on availability, and private limousine service. The hotel contains underground parking and a helipad. The property also offers extended stay apartments, most of which include an office setup in one of the bedrooms. The business center, open 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily, features two complete offices with computers, six PC desktop workstations with telephones and Internet connections, a conference room that seats 12, and copiers and fax machines. Secretarial and translation services also are available.
For meetings, the Gran Melia offers a 7,268-square-foot ballroom, a 4,957-square-foot ballroom and 25 breakout rooms. Audiovisual equipment includes built-in screens, videoconferencing setups in two meeting rooms and Webcasting capability.