After a month of talking, learning, seeing and sweating a lot, we – Joost van Duin and Geertje van der Pas – are now in charge of Hotel con Corazón. It’s an honour!

In April we worked together with managing couple Hans and Monique van Hal, who ran the hotel and education program for one and a half year and did this very well. For us a challenge trying to keep it that way, and even improve where possible.

A working day begins early here, so we start with making our own cappuccino; an easy task with the authentic Italian coffee machine. Guests are having their breakfast in the beautiful first patio and they all look very happy, which reflects on the whole Corazón-team. This is one of the most positive things of working in Hotel con Corazón: all the compliments that you receive of guests who are happy, especially with our friendly and professional staff!

Conversations
After the cappuccinos we had long conversations with Hans and Monique. Joost learned all about the administration, booking- and financial system, mainly done by the reception, the heart of the hotel. Geertje visited the school projects several times, and met with La Esperanza and Empowerment International. We will focus on those subjects the coming months.

Besides that, running a hotel also means: find out how the pool stays clean, how the plants in the gardens stay alive, how the storage is maintained, what kind of official permits we need to arrange within which deadlines, how we keep everything ‘spic-and-span’, what are the operating procedures for all the activities of our staff, where we buy our products, etcetera.

Correct names
One anecdote for now: changing the ownership of our bank accounts in Nicaragua means a lot of bureaucracy: handing in many documents, many copies, each time showing your passport even if you are already well known by all the staff in the bank. Our new bankcards first showed the wrong names, then the second time again the wrong names, but almost correct. The third time the names were correct but the cards had been blocked for some unknown reason. So now we are waiting for the fourth set of bankcards. No worries, it is cool in the bank building and Internet banking is up and running.

Running Hotel con Corazón means a lot of fun, a lot of positive vibes and people and a great hobby for the coming months… We’ll keep you posted!

Last Saturday we celebrated the birthday of the Dutch queen at Hotel con Corazón with a ‘Fiesta Naranja’ (Orange Party). This typical Dutch party is becoming a tradition now in Granada. We organized the Fiesta Naranja for our hotel guests and the people of Granada for the third year!

The party was a big success. Around 250 people were having a great time on the dance floor, dancing to trendy music, salsa and merengue. Enjoying a beer or a Nica Libre (the local variant to the Cuba Libre) and chatting with each other or with the Dutch people. The Dutchies were getting crazy when DJ German played Marco Borsato, followed by Guus Meeuwis. The Nica’s were impressed by the Dutch language and by the typical Dutch dance of the ‘polonaise’. After this short interruption we went back to salsa, and more hips were moving around.

Hotel con Corazón was very proud to serve the classic Dutch snack ‘Bitterballen’, not to be missed on any Dutch party. In the Netherlands you can buy them ready made. Here we made them ourselves and we have to say; the result was delicious!

Last night we experienced our 5 minutes of fame on Dutch television. The popular travel show BNN’s ‘3 op Reis’ (3 on Tour) visited Nicaragua. The entire crew, headed by Chris Zegers, stayed at our hotel.

The crew arrived by boat from El Salvador. After a spectacular ride off one of the youngest and still active volcanoes in Nicaragua, the crew headed for Granada. They arrived at the hotel during salsa class. The next day Jimmy the Man gave them a tour of the city. The entire crew also visited our education program in Las Lagunas.

Watch the program: including Floortje Dessing’s visit to China.

Or go to the BNN site: April 29th, BNN 3 op Reis, 19.55 pm Nederland 3 (Dutch spoken)

The popular Dutch travel show BNN’s ‘3 op Reis’ (3 on Tour) is broadcasting an item about Hotel Con Corazón on April 29th at 19.55 pm on Nederland 3. The crew, with TV-host Chris Zegers, stayed at our hotel while discovering Granada with their cameras. They filmed our hotel, our education projects and the city and it’s surroundings. Don’t miss this, Dutch friends and fans!

April 29th, BNN 3 op Reis, 19.55 pm Nederland 3

On 10 May 2012, Hotel con Corazón launches Goldmakers, network of social entrepreneurs in the Netherlands. Goldmakers gathers entrepreneurs with a cause. Entrepreneurial spirits that tackle social issues with a business approach. People with good ideas, which they turn into gold together!

Read the full program (Dutch)

Goldmakers is started by: Hotel con Corazón, De Alchemist and Eye Five.

Hotel Con Corazon is looking for a receptionist (M/F) for 24 hours per week (including weekends), starting April 2012. For more information go to our Vacancies page. Apply before: March 26, 2012.

We are very proud to announce that we won 3 Traveler’s Choice Hotel Awards 2012 on Tripadvisor. We were rated nr. 5 Best Bargain, nr. 24 Trendiest and nr. 25 Best Service in Central America! 

We owe this to our guests who have given us great reviews on the independent online travel community Tripadvisor. The Traveler’s Choice Hotel Awards give an overview of the top 25 best rated hotels in the region in several categories, as rated by millions of travelers that shared their experience on the Tripadvisor web pages. We are very grateful to each one of you! Needless to say we will continue providing our guests with our high standard quality and service throughout 2012 – and beyond.

Check out the Traveler’s Choice Award pages on Tripadvisor here.

Joost van Duin (43) and Geertje van der Pas (42) will take over the management tasks from Hans and Monique van Hal in April 2012. Before they do, let’s get to know them a little better and talk a about their plans with the hotel and the educational program.

Congratulations on your appointment! Can you tell us about yourselves?
“We currently live in the Dutch city of Nijmegen and will travel to Granada in March. After two months of studying Spanish and getting used to the hotel we will take over the management of the hotel and the educational program from Hans and Monique van Hal.”

What will you bring to the hotel?
“Joost has a lot of working experience as interim manager in the energy industry; Geertje is a freelance developer of educational material for television. So we both have our specialization: Joost will use his experience as a financial manager in the hotel management and Geertje can leverage her educational skills in the educational program. We are really looking forward to our new jobs.”

Ideally, what would you want to achieve?
“We expect to stay in Granada for 1,5 to 2 years. Our goal is to make ourselves redundant before the end of this period, both in the hotel and in the educational projects. By teaching the staff to operate more independently of management, we aim to increase the ‘couleur locale’ of the hotel. Now, strategical decisions such as the customer focus and the optimal furnishing of the restaurant are often in the hands of management.

It concerns a postion for 24 hours a week for the Hotel con Corazón education program in Las Lagunas.

More info: check out the job description.

We have been working hard this year on improving the educational program and hotel operations in Nicaragua. Here’s a short overview of our activities so far.

Homework coaching
Together with NGO Pro Mosaico we have added homework coaching and English classes to the program for our 4th and 5th grade students. Extending our focus to the students in upper grades is part of the Corazon strategy to accompany children until the end of their educational career. In co-operation with Hotel con Corazon and a local contractor, a few of our members have donated toilet and washing facilities to both schools so children can enjoy streaming water and proper facilities now.

A la carte
The restaurant has been renewed to an a la carte restaurant with typical Nica cuisine and an international twist that has proven to be successful so far. Travel agency Tree House Travels has been fully integrated into the hotel and the two local guides offer tours to experience the ‘real’ Nica way of living, i.e. join a forester during the Mombacho tour, join a local fisherman or join a workshop Nicaraguan cooking.

3rd Star
Hotel con Corazon continues to be well received by guests and travel organizations and we are very proud we received the 3rd star of INTUR, Instituto Nicaraguense de Turismo this year.