About Us
“Zona del Café, Hoteles & Proyectos “
A local team of expert hoteliers joined forces on a mission to take the hotel industry of the Colombian Coffee Cultural Landscape to the next level.
Our mission is to take existing hotels and design new systems, improving services, marketing and sales as well as generating a lot of innovation and sustainable practices, the idea is to generate investments in hotels, catalyze new projects and improve the hotel industry in the Coffee Region.
Meet our Founders
Passion for everything Hospitality and Tourism
Hernán Vanegas Pastrana, Founding Partner
A career hotelier, a globetrotter, he has worked in some of the most famous destinations in the world, writing countless successful chapters on his life as a hotelier. He has made his mark in all destinations, and has become an expert, allowing a part of each culture to be at the heart of him, as he furthers his multi-decade career.
He studied Hotel Administration, at the prestigious “Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne”, with summer courses at Cornell School of Hotel Administration and Princeton University. Throughout his career, he has participated in countless training courses as part of his professional development. A highly decorated veteran of the hotel industry, with more than 3 decades of proven track record, Hernán has held renowned executive positions in renowned hotel chains such as: Mandarin Singapore, Oberoi, Hilton, Hyatt, Barceló and Meliá, among others.
As his career matured, Hernán specialized in launching large hotel projects, taking care of all the details from food and beverage handling to merchandising and ensuring impeccable customer service. His experience recently led him to serve as Vice President of Asset Management. His multicultural and multilingual training makes him an optimal option for any organization. While he loves all things hotel-related, his sensitivity to aesthetics and his attention to detail have allowed Hernán to have a second passion: photography. Hernán's work has been exhibited in places like Germany, Colombia, Spain, Mexico, Argentina, and Cuba, winning numerous awards.
A life dedicated to hospitality and tourism
Iván Restrepo Restrepo, Founding Partner
With more than 40 years of experience in Hospitality and Tourism, executive of large international chains, mainly in senior management positions and Marketing and Sales management; Among others: Hilton International, Intercontinental Hotels, Meliá Hotels, Occidental Hotels, Hesperia Hotels, Carnival Hotels and Casinos, Conrad International, Radisson Hotels, Wyndham Hotels, Karisma Hotels, Panaca Quindío, Parque Kariña Venezuela. Iván has been directly involved in entrepreneurial tasks: Gourmet Alliance in Colombia and Puerto Rico, creation and implementation of the concept for a Venezuelan company associated with an important banking group; conception and start-up of a small hotel in Calarcá Quindio Colombia, Hotel Casa Grande Inn. University professor at the Externado de Colombia University in Bogotá, Jorge Tadeo Lozano University in Cartagena de Indias Colombia; EAM School of Administration and Marketing in Armenia, Quindio; Guest professor of hotel and tourism topics in Latin America, the United States, the Caribbean and Europe. He writes a fortnightly column on hospitality and tourism issues for the newspaper La Crónica del Quindío de Armenia Quindío, Colombia; He also writes for other media in Colombia and other countries around the world. As an advisor and consultant, he has participated in several hotel openings. Bogota Colombia.
The rest of our team:
Zona del Café has a network of multidisciplinary experts carefully chosen to provide our clients with the quality and original service that characterizes our brand. Led by two of the most experienced hoteliers in the country, we recognize that for a project to shine, multiple talents are also needed around the table.
This is why our team has architects and space designers, experts in real estate and logistics professionals. Zona del Café acts local and thinks global, using cutting-edge technology with the support from our international tech partners.
A Strategic Alliance
Adding a technological dimension to our unmatched experience and expertise, Zona del Café has decided to forge a strategic alliance with One Hotels S.A.S, a Quindian company, specializing in PMS (Property Management Systems) hotel platforms, reservation engines, digital tools as well as construction and positioning of websites.
Services
We manage and operate urban and rural hotels obtaining the best financial results, applying traditional hospitality and state of the art techniques hand in hand with new trends.
Hotels
HOTEL MANAGEMENT
TRAINING (onsite and remote)
FINANCIAL ANALYSIS
BENCHMARKING
PMS HOTEL PLATFORM *
RESERVATION ENGINE *
WEBSITE CREATION*
SEO OPTIMISATION *
Projects
RESTORATION
STRATEGIC PLANNING
ART AND PHOTOGRAPHY
DESIGN AND DECORATION
REAL ESTATE
*In collaboration with All In One Hotels.
Our Hotels
Awards and Recognition
TWO OF COLOMBIA’S MOST INNOVATIVE HOTELS: ACCORDING TO PROCOLOMBIA
Two of our hotels were selected by Procolombia within the as part of the top 25 hotels with the most innovative experiences in Colombia, according to Ivan Restrepo, co-founder of the company and Marketing Director, “after just 20 months in the market we received this award with great satisfaction because we see in part our mission to take the hotel industry of Quindío to a the next level, we hope to continue growing to strengthen the hotel industry and our community in this beautiful region of the country”.
Our hotels chosen in this contest were:
La Herencia Hotel Casas de Huéspedes, Armenia, Quindío.
Hotel casa Rivera del Cacao, La Cordillera, Cordoba.
