–for pool, additional rooms

THE US$15M Aiden by Best Western Hotel, which the Guyanese-owned Arimu Investments Inc. is developing, received a major US$3M budget addition, facilitating a massive expansion to the line of services and amenities provided at the hotel, according to the Co-Director of Arimu Investments Inc., Lorenzo Alphonso.

The additional funds being channelled into the massive project will facilitate the acquisition of additional land at its Robb and Oronoque Streets, Georgetown, location that is set to facilitate a pool, which was not a part of the hotel’s original design.

Alphonso said that Aiden is a boutique-style hotel under the world-renowned Best Western Hotel and Resorts. It is part of a trendy collection of laid-back boutique hotels that blend cool, casual, and charm with an eclectic neighbourly feel.

The pool addition to the facility is the second expansion to be undertaken since works on the project began. In January 2022, Alphonso disclosed that the hotel was set to expand from its initial 101-room capacity to 149 rooms following the investor’s acquisition of additional land.

The Aiden would provide guests with executive chauffeur services, shuttle bus tours around Guyana, and Demerara River tours. The investor is also engaging the aviation sector for helicopter tour packages.
Alphonso said that works on the facility were progressing in line with the estimated timeframe for completion. He disclosed that the Steel Structure and decking are 90 per cent completed, adding that the contractor that will take the building over from the steel stage to completion was mobilising. Phase two of the work begins by the end of July.

With the new additions to the Hotel, Alphonso has indicated that the specific deadline for the project was in the third quarter of 2023.
In a previous interview with this publication, he had related that since undertaking the project, other than heavy rainfall in mid-2021, there had been no setbacks in the progression of works. The main reason for the company’s unhindered progress was support from the government.

“We have had all the support from the necessary government agencies, from Mr. [Peter] Ramsaroop and Go-Invest, from the government, as a whole, there was no red tape or backlog. From the first time when they issued the expression of interest in November 2020 for people that are interested in bringing hotel franchises, it was 100 per cent support from then to now,” Alphonso said.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Office for Investment (Go-Invest), Dr. Peter Ramsaroop, said that the investment was instrumental, mainly because an indigenous company was behind the project.
He said that even as the economy continues to grow, President Dr. Irfaan Ali and, by extension, the government were committed to ensuring that Guyanese benefit from local investment opportunities.

The investment from Arimu, according to Dr. Ramsaroop, was timely since the government predicts an increase in demand for services in the hospitality sector.
He related that available data showed an increased need for hotel accommodations; such was projected to continue over the next five years.

“The Best Western ‘rep’ for this same brand said he had to book his hotel since November to get a room at the Marriott. So, we’re out of corporate rooms, and the President and us, we predicted that we needed 2,000 new rooms by 2025; we are on our way to getting that,” Ramsaroop noted.