Home   >   Front Page   >   Featured Articles   >   Hotel Corazon May 2020

Hotel Corazon May 2020

Dear Friends of Hotel con Corazón,

We continue to be very grateful for your support to us over the years. With that support, in whatever form, you contributed to the creation of our two hotels in Nicaragua and Mexico. As you know, both hotels are doing great. We offer our guests a pleasant stay, so that with the profits we can financially support local children and young people to finish their school. And all this while we pay our employees a fair wage, entirely according to our objectives.

Now we ask you again for a contribution. Because we have a huge dilemma.

As a result of the Corona crisis, we have had to temporarily close the hotels, and by now it is clear that international tourism will recover much slower than initially expected, so we will not make any profits in 2020. Our students and scholarship students are also affected by the crisis. They do not or hardly attend school; our tutoring classes and other support are not always possible and their schools do not offer online education. Fortunately, we have sufficient reserves for the scholarships, but we can only maintain the supporting programs for a limited time.

We also had to significantly reduce the salaries of our employees. We do, however, continue to pay their social security contributions and health insurance. However, the total is barely enough to make ends meet. We would like to pay them more, but as a young social enterprise we are not in a position to do that. In Nicaragua, we were just starting to climb out of the trough after the 2018 political and economic crisis, and in Mexico we have been unable to build up enough reserves in 22 months since opening.

If we were to pay for these additional expenses from our own reserves, we risk not surviving the crisis, which will last for many months. Then we would not be able to achieve the social impact that we aim for in the long term.

That is why we ask for your support.
 
With $55 USD* you can supplement the salary of one employee for one week. 
With $27.50 USD* you can pay online education support for one student for one month.

DONATE

We, our students and employees are very grateful for every contribution you can make.

We wish you all the best in these difficult times, take care of yourself and your loved ones and we hope to rejoice you with better news soon.

Con Corazón,

Onno & Marcel, 
Entrepreneurs Erica and Saskia in Oaxaca & manager Gretcheen in Granada 

* 55 USD = 50 EUR |  27.50 USD = 25 EUR


DONATE

We’re in the same storm, but we’re not on the same boat

It has been 14 years since we started our social enterprise Hotel con Corazón, today present in two locations: Granada, Nicaragua and Oaxaca, Mexico. As you know, Hotel con Corazón spends most of its profits on local educational projects for at-risk youth. Thanks to the people who chose to stay with us we were able to set up and finance ongoing education projects in both Granada and Oaxaca. Social entrepreneurship also means providing quality jobs for our staff with fringe benefits that are not always standard in the region. We are happy with, and proud of these results so far. 

Today’s reality
But then the Coronavirus stormed in, and in no time everything changed. From one day to the next, our businesses came to a standstill. The tourist sector collapsed, as it did in the rest of the world, even before the pandemic had reached Latin America. Since then, our hotels are de facto closed, our staff is at home, and our guest list empty.   

‘We’re in the same storm, but we’re not on the same boat’. This statement from an anonymous source indicates aptly that although we are all in the same situation, today’s reality is harsher for some than for others. In Nicaragua and Mexico, life is difficult for many so we are concerned. There is hardly any financial government support for employers. Unemployment benefits and -assistance for employees are non-existent. Many people are struggling to make ends meet. Students can’t continue their school. Employment and education, that is what we stand for, that’s our reason for being. With your support, we can continue to make an impact in these times when it is perhaps most needed.  

DONATE

THANK YOU!