Firm Negotiates With Hotels on New Flag

SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA-A new flag has entered the global hotel industry. Developed by Vancouver, Canada-based Oriens Travel & Hotel Management Corp., the First Hotel Pure brand was launched this August. Right now the firm is in negotiations with seven hotels in Costa Rica as part of its initial rollout.

The operating premise of the flag, according to Ken Chua, president and CEO of Oriens, is to brand small, modestly priced local hotels that can provide a good experience for travelers. “These kind of hotels have no exposure internationally,” he tells GlobeSt.com. “If you were to travel to Costa Rica, for instance, you could research hotels and find the Marriott or Hilton or Holiday Inn. But you couldn’t find a smaller hotel that is nice and clean but relatively inexpensive.” The hotels Oriens is targeting for its management services, he says, range between $40 and $70 per night. The company expects to realize $15,000 in finance fees per property.

Based on the company’s activities thus far, Chua is projecting the company will realize $14 million in the next two years in management and sign up fees. “Judging from the pace so far that is what I think we can realistically expect.” The firm expects to increase the number of Hotel Pure properties to 120 properties within the next two years and to 400 properties in five years.

The next markets the firm intends to target include Nicaragua, Panama and then China. “We are in negotiations with the Chinese government right now and expect to roll out our first Beijing properties in early 2008,” Chua says. South America is also on the list of potential sites once the company’s base in Central America is established, he adds.