Ecuadoran taste: Jose Luis Alvarez has not only survived Ecuador's worst economic crisis. The CEO of the country's largest hotel chain has also capitalized on it��and on the local yearning for Ecuadoran culture

TWO YEARS AGO, WHEN banks were collapsing and Ecuador's biggest companies were closing down, Jose Luis Alvarez did what any good entrepreneur would do: expand. His company, Apartec, bought a 15-floor office building whose owners could not finish it because of the crisis, and turned it into a luxury hotel.

A few months later, the entire cast and crew of Castle Rock's Proof of Life -- including Academy Award winner Russell Crowe -- rented the facilities of the brand new Alameda Plaza, choosing it over better-known roosts such as the Marriott, Hilton and Sheraton. The modernistic, chic hotel hosted more than 160 actors, technicians and photographers for almost four months.

For Alvarez, converting an office tower into the Alameda Plaza was one more step in his quest to create Ecuador's top hotel brand; the 66-year old CEO has already built the country's largest hotel chain, which competes with the world's most prominent hotel names. "We have a tougher and greater challenge, because we have to deal with the economic situation and with international competitors at the same time," he says, with obvious relish.

Founded in 1978 by Alvarez and partner Guillermo Vasquez, Apartec opened its first hotel, the Alameda Hotel (the Plaza's sister hotel) in Quito in 1982. Surrounded by cafes and bistros in the downtown, the 10-floor Alameda was the first hotel to reflect the country's cultural and geographical diversity in its decor -- including paintings by local artists - and in the dishes on its menu. "It has a very national and warm personality, nothing cold and impersonal, like other hotels have," says Javier Espinoza, a Spanish chef who teaches at the Universidad Tecnica Equinoccial in Quito.

Since then, the chain has grown to eight hotels around the country, including the newly opened Alameda Plaza, for a total inventory of some 450 suites and rooms. All have created their own identity, says Alvarez, who began to grow his chain after Hilton, Marriott, Sheraton, Radisson, Swissotel and Howard Johnson arrived in the country In the face of the competition, he says, "We grew up and extended our business."

In addition to its hotels in the capital, Apartec has focused on second-tier markets. The firm has two hotels in Cuenca, Ecuador's third-largest city, along with charming countryside hotels such as the Ushupud, nestled along the Paute River. Later this year, the chain plans to open the Alameda Garden hotel in Miami, its first outside of Ecuador, followed by a US$17 million, 150-room hotel in Guayaquil, Ecuador's second largest city, by yearend 2003.

Like other local businessmen, Alvarez has had to weather severe hyper-inflation and recession during the last three years, considered the country's worst economic crisis. Last year, the government tamed inflation and restored confidence by replacing its devalued currency, the sucre, with the US dollar. "We have struggled through the crisis and we even took advantage of it," says the CEO. The Rumipamba hotel, for example, was bought from a failed bank and turned into a luxury suite hotel. "So now that the economy is recovering, we have to do much better," he says.

Alvarez continues to push local boosterism. His Apartec Club, which offers discounts and limited free nights in exchange for a one-time US$120 fee, has 3,700 members in Ecuador. The company itself now has more than 45 shareholders, all local, and 500 employees, only two of whom are not from Ecuador.

Alvarez himself now sits on the board overseeing the construction of the new Quito airport. He also founded the local chamber of tourism four years ago and currently presides over the Civic City Committee. All part of making money while preserving Ecuador's national heritage. "The international chains neglect to preserve the culture and traditions of the countries," says the CEO. "We respect the site where each hotel is... We an Ecuadoran business."

COPYRIGHT 2001 Americas Publishing Group
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group