During the Central American summit conference of 1994, the first stop that nearly every head of state and high-ranking official of every country made as soon as they arrived in Nicaragua was the Hotel Intercontinental Managua. The fact is, this establishment, the only five-star hotel in Nicaragua, has already become the inevitable gathering place of businessmen, international conference participants, reporters and other international visitors, and the proprietors of this national-level hotel are Taiwanese! How did this come about?

As the car drives down the most prosperous boulevard in Nicaragua's capital Managua, the only tall building that can be seen is a single skyscraper 18 storeys tall, which has been listed as a dangerous structure. Occasionally, one can see broken, flattened walls that, after a massive earthquake and many years of civil war, have fallen over and are waiting to be rebuilt.

A neighbor of the president

In the downtown area, many of Nicaragua's central administrative institutions, such as the presidential mansion, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economics, are all located in the same vicinity. And nestled in this neighborhood is the Hotel Intercontinental, purchased by the Nica Eastern Development Company, which was jointly founded by the Shin Kong Group and the Fu-Tsu Construction Company, both of Taiwan. "In Central America, all the buildings have only begun to be reconstructed. You could say the government is the biggest single consumer. Because of its superior location and five-star quality, anyone coming to Nicaragua to catch hold of the business opportunities here will always set down first at the Intercontinental," says Fred Kuo, the hotel's general manager.

Not only foreign businessmen, but also national leaders, international conference delegates, visiting dignitaries, representatives of international aid organizations, and even athletes participating in world sporting events, as well as the reporters that follow in the wake of these various types of people, all end up congregating at the Intercontinental. The ROC's President Lee Teng-hui and Premier Lien Chan, the chancellor of Germany, the king of Holland, the king and prince of Spain and the Dalai Lama all have their names entered in the guest book.

Since Nicaragua gained its independence from Spain in 1821, feuding among the Liberal and Conservative parties and US interference has led to frequent domestic instability. In particular, in 1978, after the well-known opposition newspaper publisher Pedro Joaquin Chamorro was assassinated, various parties joined forces to expand the front of opposition against the government, and the Nicaraguan civil war increased in intensity.

Buy the place you stayed in

After the military strongman Somoza was toppled in 1979, the leftist path adopted by the new Sandinista regime caused the United States to impose a trade embargo and cut off economic aid. The years of war, in addition to the major earthquake of 1972, completely halted the production of the country's bountiful agricultural products, such as cotton, coffee and sugar cane. This turned Nicaragua, originally the most prosperous country in Central America, into the area's poorest state.

Fortunately, in February 1990 Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, the wife of the late publisher, was elected president, and afterward the country began to gain greater international cooperation and significantly decrease its foreign debt, as well as frequently hosting international conferences, increasing the country's prestige. Nicaragua was finally embarking upon the task of rebuilding.

In November of the same year, the ROC resumed relations with Nicaragua. Within two weeks, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Deputy Director C.J. Chen led members of Taiwan's business community in a visit to the country. Among this group were two men who would end up being the principal shareholders in the Hotel Intercontinental, Wu Tung-chin and C.P. Lin. During their visit, President Chamorro received them personally in her home-she even played the piano for them-and opened up friendly relations with Taiwan's business entrepreneurs.

A year or so later, President Chamorro visited Taiwan, and the business community welcomed her with enthusiasm. At that time, Nicaragua was in the midst of privatizing the enterprises that had been nationalized during the socialist era. President Chamorro expressed the hope that Taiwan's business people would come invest in Nicaragua. Wu Tung-chin then asked President Chamorro if she had any recommendations, and Madame Chamorro replied, "Why don't you buy the hotel you stayed in?" So it was that Wu Tung-chin and C.P. Lin spent US$5 million to buy this old hotel, with its history of 25 years.

Booked solid for the chaos

When they purchased the hotel, they did not actually expect to turn a profit, because the political situation in Nicaragua was not stable, and the tourist industry would not be able to develop right away. In the same year that Madame Chamorro visited Taiwan, the Sandinista Party, operating as a minority party, began holding protests in opposition to the privatization of nationalized industries. Protesters dug up bricks from the road and burned old tires. They gathered together in front of the presidential mansion and held protest rallies, bringing Managua's intercourse with the outside world to a virtual standstill.

"During the protests, government offices were closed, and the reservations that had originally been placed by foreign businessmen were all canceled. But on the other hand, more than 60 roomfuls of journalists from all over the world showed up. That was really something we hadn't expected," says Fred Kuo.

The Intercontinental currently has 200 rooms, and on average 60% of the rooms are occupied. The least expensive rooms run US$160 a night. Whenever a special event takes place, a spare room is always difficult to find. For instance, in 1994 when President Lee Teng-hui visited Nicaragua, the accompanying entourage of businessmen and reporters could not be fully accommodated.

Communist-style service

From the communist Sandinista government to today's Alianza Liberal under President Jose Aleman Lacayo, Nicaragua has moved from a communist system to one of free competition. Likewise, the Intercontinental has gone from nationalization to being managed by Taiwanese businessmen. This required an immense upgrade, both in terms of training and equipment.

General Manager Fred Kuo recalls that when they had first taken up management of the hotel, all the beds were at least 20 years old. Furthermore, public electricity service in Nicaragua was unreliable, and brown-outs were common. The electric generator which the hotel used had insufficient wattage, so embarrassing episodes of guests with heads full of soap suds wrapped in bath robes screaming complaints were all too common. This caused the two proprietors to decide to up the ante and invest an additional US$5 million to completely renovate the entire hotel. Although the renovation was very expensive, Fred Kuo observes, "Usually the cost of a hotel is at least US$20 million. Buying and renovating the Intercontinental only cost US$10 million, so it was still quite reasonable."

What turned out to be most taxing in terms of energy, from Kuo's perspective, was the attitude of the staff toward service, which had not progressed beyond the stage of a "nationalized enterprise." The problem was compounded by the free and relaxed nature of Latin American culture. When they first took over the hotel, none of the staff had smiles on their faces. At lunch time, the entire staff would often sit down together to share their meal all at once. They felt that if the guests were eating lunch, they wanted to eat lunch too! If a waiter was serving beverages and was asked to go bus a table, he would simply put the tea tray on the floor and go off to clean the table. When such things happened, Kuo didn't know whether to laugh or to cry.

The hustle and bustle are back

The Intercontinental has now been put completely in order. The area directly behind the hotel is being turned into a large-scale conference hall, in order to provide a better venue for the many international conferences which often take place. The Nica Eastern Company estimates that within eight years the Hotel Intercontinental will have completely paid for itself.

In recent years, the Nicaraguan government has offered special benefits to encourage foreign investment. This move has not only helped increase the country's productivity and generate foreign currency reserves, it has also drastically reduced Nicaragua's shocking unemployment rate. Nicaragua's formerly devastated commercial sector is gradually being rebuilt. In addition, with its many volcanoes and beautiful beaches, Nicaragua has an excellent potential for tourism, and Fred Kuo feels the future for the country's hotel industry is very bright.

Recently, Nica Eastern again invested nearly US$2 million to purchase three hectares of street front in front of the Intercontinental, where they plan to build a big shopping center. Expanding both front and back, they are taking this city center, once packed with government offices, businesses and stores, and giving it a new, vital vision for the future. (First published in Sinorama's book Hands Across the Pacific.)

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As solid as a pyramid, the Hotel Intercontinental is the place where heads of state and high-ranking officials set down first when they visit Nicaragua. Looking to develop business prospects, Taiwanese businessmen Wu Tung-chin and C.P. Lin purchased it in 1993. Now the hotel's facilities and service are the country's very best.

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The interior of the uniquely majestic Museum of Culture, originally the presidential palace, shelters many large, multicolored, richly beautiful murals. Not only is it an important tourist attraction, it is a cultural resource often visited by elementary and high school students.