MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Spanish group planning to build several hotels in Chile

Spanish hotel giant Sol Melía plans to open three hotels in Chile. The company is also bidding for the two hotels that will be a part of Santiago's future Constanera Center, an ongoing development and construction project featuring four skyscrapers, built in one of Santiago's business districts, Providencia.

"We have enough representation in Lima, Perú and Buenos Aires, Argentina but not in Santiago" said hotel Chairman Rodrigo Ramirez. Sol Melía owns 350 establishments worldwide, including several locations in South America ranging from luxury hotels to motels. Company representatives from Mexico have met three times with the Consterna Center executives to discuss negotiations. "Things look good, but we don't know for certain yet" said Sol Melia executive Kai Lamle. In the meantime, the company is in the planning stages of developing two other high-end hotels in the country. One may be an exclusive beach resort somewhere in northern Chile. "We are gravitating towards La Serena but it largely depends on what kind of property is available when we actually plan to invest," said Ramirez. The Santiago Times