Above: the Best Western Premier in Haiti

By Alexander Britell

MONTEGO BAY — The new Best Western Premier in Haiti is off to strong start since launching in April 2013, according to Tom Osborn, Best Western’s regional director for Best Western.

“It’s doing extremely well, very strong occupancy, very strong rates,” he said at the Caribbean Travel Marketplace in Jamaica on Tuesday. “They couldn’t be happier.”

Last year, occupancy rates at the 106-room property in the Petion-Ville neighbourhood of Port-au-Prince were in the mid-70s, with the average daily rate just under $200.

“Out of the gate I think they’ve done really well,” he said. “They went through the growing pains that any new hotel would go through, with training staff, things along those lines, but we have gotten so much great coverage about being there.”

Some of that has included favourable reviews about the way the company has integrated local Haitian art into the hotel.

Osborn said it was possible that the local company Carabimmo, which developed the property, could potentially expand to other areas of Haiti.

“They’ve got some interest in more developments, so we’ll see how that pans out,” he said.

So far, about 85 percent of guests have been corporate or government travelers, with the remainder comprised of leisure travelers, including some from Europe.

“So far, the majority have been pretty much corporate, and they’ve been happy to have that type of product to stay at,” he said.

“Overall for us it’s been a good year company-wide — we’ve continued to grow strategically,” he said.