Hans and I take a tourist boat to the island in order that he can see the experience the guests will have – it’s a good one! The lake is tranquil and quite beautiful. Hans skips over the island looking at views, plans in one hand, trusty notebook in the other. We then retire to the city of Granada and have a poke around the so called luxury hotels of Granada. Our concept though is not to compete with the hotels, we are creating our own market, giving the client a completely different experience.
We drop into the 2 main higher end travel agents in the city who I have actually spoken with before and who Hans knows from before when he used to work in Nicaragua. We pump them for information about the market in general and the marketability of the hotel.
After lunch Hans returns to his spreadheets and I to the computer and the pool.
We meet at 6pm over an ice cold beer to discuss the findings, Hans with a rejigged budget and heaps of good observations and suggestions. We really are singing from the same hymn sheet. As per, there are some suggestions that will need design changes – 3 steps forward, 2 back!! All in all though, we are both really pleased with the outcomes and feel a lot more positive and truly excited. As Hans says, I’m in for a difficult and challenging few years but all the signs are there for a successful venture.
We meet with Ben and go for a very pleasant dinner at Jimmy 3 Fingers. Sense prevails and rather than staying on drinking with some friends that happened to be in the restaurant, I go home.