Five more hotels announced for Panama City

According to an article in La Prensa today, there are five more hotels that will open over the next 3 years in Panama City. This is on top of at least a dozen mega hotels already underway and expected to open in the next 18 months. These new entries are aimed more at the business traveler and are considered 3-4 star accomadations. Howard Johnsons, Hampton Inn, Wyndham Gardens and Victoria Suites. Combined they will add another 421 rooms to the greatly expanding room availability in Panama. I would expect prices to start falling in the next 12 months.

alex e. hernandez
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T he construction of new hotels is not only focused on projects whose rooms break record prices. It also points to a segment of three and four star hotels, where to stay for a day can cost between 100 and 300 dollars.

In the next 36 months, will open five hotels which combined represent an investment of 56.5 million dollars.

One of them will arise in the area of El Cangrejo, land adjacent to the residence of the Panamanian boxing legend Roberto Mano de Piedra Durán. This is a U.S. hotel chain Howard Johnson. There are 100 rooms and an investment of 10 million dollars.

Fidel Reyes, director of Fr Consulting, a firm that managed the Howard Johnson, said he also signed an agreement with the Hilton chain to build two Hampton Inn, one on Via Argentina and another in the La Boca, Ancon.

In each will invest $ 13 million and will feature 125 rooms, respectively.

Reyes said there are executives who only visit Panama on business, and prefer to stay in luxury hotels are not expensive, but neither are in the economic category.

Another project that stands in the capital city and overlooking the executive market is the Wyndham Garden, which will begin operations in November.

The executive Jaime Campuzano, who leads the project which invested $ 8 million, said the hotel on Calle 58, Obarrio have 70 rooms.

In addition, in May 2011 is scheduled to open at the Victoria Hotel & Suites, where he spent 13 million dollars and is built on the Via Veneto.

Carlos Herrera, president of Five Star Management, investment firm composed of Panamanians and Guatemala, found that Victoria will have 127 rooms.

For three years he studied the market and found that there was potential for an independent hotel and geared to the executive segment. Thus, 5 hotels will add 421 rooms to the building 5700 in 2012.