Cabo Rojo hotel owner receives ‘Phoenix Bird Award’

By The Star Staff

Businessman Ángel Luis Marrero Negrón, owner of the hotel that was damaged by a fire caused by a tourist from Missouri, received the “Phoenix Bird Award,” which is awarded by the CROEM ALUMNI organization to any businessman who makes a supernatural effort to keep his company running.

“We received this recognition on behalf of the more than 30 employees of Luichy’s Seaside Hotel located in the El Combate tourist sector of Cabo Rojo and who were our allies for the reconstruction of the lodging after it was intentionally set on fire by a woman resident of the State of Missouri who was vacationing in the sector,” Marrero Negrón said. “The efforts of our employees, contractors and banking institutions that trust us made it possible that, in record time, Luichy’s Seaside Hotel and its adjacent commercial premises are operating at full capacity. …”

Marrero Negrón, who has been in multiple facets of the tourism industry for more than 30 years, is a graduate of the University of Puerto Rico Campus in Bayamón, where he studied business administration, with an emphasis on hospitality. Before acquiring the lodging in El Combate, he worked for 19 years as a reception agent in several hotel companies. In 2017 he managed to establish his own consulting business for the area of revenue and strategies for hospitality companies. It was there that he learned that a hotel in Cabo Rojo was up for sale, which he and a partner bought.

“A serious incident, enormous frustration and emotional breakdown from seeing his hotel engulfed in flames … did not stop him,” said Dr. Elba Torres Matundan, president of Puerto Rico Pathology and presidential delegate of CROEM Alumni.

“We have all seen the courage, willingness and giant effort of the businessman […], who in less than 48 hours was already coordinating the reconstruction of his hotel.”