interview / entrevista “PERU IS A REGIONAL CAPITAL” “El Perú es una capital regional” JORGE MELERO CEO OFel LIBERTADOR HOTELS, RESORTS & SPAS Jorge Melero, CEO de El Libertador Hotels, Resorts & Spas The investment of millions of dollars by the El Libertador hotel chain is a symbol of Peru's current success and that of Lima, which, through projects such as The Westin Lima Hotel & Convention Centre seeks to take advantage of the business tourism sector and promote the Peruvian capital as a destination for business visitors as well as tourists. La millonaria inversión de la cadena hotelera El Libertador refleja el excelente momento por el que pasa el Perú y la ciudad de Lima, la que, mediante proyectos como The Westin Lima Hotel & Convention Center, busca captar el segmento del turista de negocios y potenciar la capital peruana, además de como destino turístico, como destino empresarial. S paniard Jorge Melero has lived in Lima for five years, in charge of what is today one of the largest projects of the local tourism industry: the El Libertador hotel chain. The company has been operating in Peru for 35 years and decided some time ago to change its product line and concentrate on luxury tourism and business travel. One of these projects is The Westin Lima Hotel & Convention Centre, the tallest building in Peru, which required an investment of 140 million dollars. As well as this hotel the company has seven properties, each one in different Peruvian cities, that offer a total of 1147 rooms How does the Hotel Libertador chain differ from its competitors? Libertador Hotels offers a lot os local knowledge. It has been operating in Peru for 35 years and in that time has learned to grow while taking national, provincial and regional politics in its stride. Once we started the process of expansion and particularly in the last five years, this experience has enabled us to design hotels "little jewels" I would say, aimed at more sophisticated clients. Sophistication that, among others, concerns care for the environment. Indeed. We own the first LEED certified hotel anywhere in Latin America (Westin), granted by the US Green Building Council, which means it complies with all the requirements for a "green" hotel. But it goes much further than that; it means everything involved in major environmental management such as at the Tambo del Inca hotel in Urubamba (Cusco), the recovery of the Bay of Paracas (Ica) including a luxury E l español Jorge Melero lleva ya cinco años viviendo en Lima a cargo de lo que hoy es una de las más grandes apuestas de la industria turística local: la cadena hotelera El Libertador. La empresa, con 35 años operando en el Perú, decidió hace algún tiempo repotenciar sus productos y orientar sus esfuerzos a los segmentos turísticos de lujo y de negocios. Uno de esos proyectos es The Westin Lima Hotel & Convention Center, el hotel y edificio más alto del Perú, construido con una inversión de 140 millones de dólares. A este hotel se suman siete propiedades, cada una en diferentes ciudades del Perú, que ofrecen en su conjunto 1147 habitaciones. ¿Qué diferencia a la cadena del Hotel Libertador de la competencia? Hoteles Libertador ofrece un generoso panorama de aprendizaje. Opera en el Perú hace 35 años y, en ese tiempo, ha aprendido a crecer en las coyunturas políticas del país, de las 46
47 Jorge Melero, CEO de El Libertador Hotels, Resorts & Spas