Small hoteliers in the Caribbean region regard inadequate access to appropriate financing as a major impediment to viability. About 65% of small hotel owners and operators in an OAS survey of almost 400 small hotel owners and managers placed access to financing as one of the most important issues the sector faces. Among the specific concerns raised were high interest rates, lack of financing for expansion, financing terms that generally did not reflect the nature of the small hotel business and absence of available equity capital.

On the other side of the coin, financial institutions advise that there is an absence of bankable projects with well prepared financing applications and supporting business plans. In addition financing agencies point to lack of management experience and track record, the very difficult task of cost effective marketing strategies, and properties that are too small for financing.


Why the Site?
The objective of this section of the Caribbean Innkeeper will be to provide an information resource on financing agencies, how to deal with them. As such we hope that it will become an information resource and increase awareness for everyone.

The information presented here is just a starting point. The site will be developed to provide as comprehensive a picture as possible, to invite submissions by financing agencies and generally to foster an understanding of the small hotel sector and the approach to bankable projects.

We hope that you find the site useful, even at this early stage and we look forward to developing it with you to be the most pragmatic and effective resource in the region for small hoteliers on this topic.