Hotel con Corazon generates education through tourism
Andrea Pilarte | Jul 10, 2015
Foundation Hotel con Corazon published the annual report of revenues, expenses and profits of 2014.
At the center of Granada exists a hotel that invests 100% of its profit in local education: Hotel con Corazon, which operates since 2008. This hotel was created from the social interest of two Dutch businessmen, and obtains its financial funds through the touristic activity: lodging, restaurant, bar and travel.
Hotel con Corazón is a nonprofit foundation that works in order to contribute to the development of poor communities through education. Hotel con Corazon – Granada is the first hotel established worldwide. This foundation pretends to create ten Hotel con Corazon between Latin America, Asia and Africa. For now, the team is working on getting the necessary funds to build four hotels, located in Oaxaca, Mexico; in Paramaribo, Suriname; in Cambodia; and a second in Nicaragua. This last one will be established in Leon.
The co-founders Marcel Zuidhof and Onno Oostveen decided to create the first Hotel con Corazon in Nicaragua because they believed this country had the needed requirements:
1. The need to be supported on education.
2. Tourism potential.
On the other hand, this foundation publishes an annual report where it specifies what are its income, expenses and profits. To Boris Françoise, manager of this hotel, reporting back "is a transparent and a must against all people involved with money, ideas, human resources, with recommendations".
Education
The mission of Hotel con Corazon is to contribute with free education to poor communities and motivate children to finish its studies, from elementary school to university. The foundation has a team of seven tutors, all from the city of Granada, who teaches Spanish classes, Maths, Craft (only 1st and 2nd grade), Computing (only 5th and 6th grade) and English.
In 2014, the foundation worked on three ranges of action:
1. Elementary: tutorials or reinforcement in the rural schools Berta Gutierrez and San Pablo, at the Comarca Las Lagunas (around 168 children between both schools).
2. High School and University:
High School scholarships: eight youngsters.
University Scholarships: 19 youngsters.
Tutorials: 32 students.
All students from Granada, and most of them are from the rural area close to Granada
3. Support to organizations:
21 students are benefited through Empowerment International and La Esperanza organization. As well, eleven hotel employees receive an extra payment of 10% of their salary for their education.
According to Marcela Mayorga, responsible for educational projects, "our teaching methodology is ludo-educational, so that children learn in a relaxed environment, with games. We implement qualitative evaluation methods, we are interested in the development of skills. We work in coordination with teachers to control attendance, (because) to be part of our program, students must attend school in a regular basis”.
Apart from the subjects that Hotel con Corazon teaches, last year they gave entrepreneurship, leadership and personal growth workshops aimed at young people, believing that this will provide tools to create social change in their community.
After six years of operation, Hotel con Corazón celebrates the success of their performance. They have enough capital to continue supporting students, to perform extracurricular activities and influence the development of this community of Granada.