Export Story: For more than 40 years, Arturo Valle Bonilla and his wife, Hildegard Soelle de Valle, have been in the tourism industry. Its services included the sale of stay packages and air tickets to different countries from its offices located in the United States. Valle, while living in North America, maintained contact with his country of origin, Guatemala. This relationship with the country sparked an idea in the 70’s, to buy 2 properties located in San Gregorio Vista Lago, an area of 7,388 square meters.
The mountainous place, surrounded by abundant nature, is characterized by its view of Lake Amatitlán and Volcán de Agua. Considering the beauty of the territory, Valle and his wife decided to buy 3 more properties, totaling an area of 15,218 square meters.
It had been 30 years since the properties in San Gregorio Vista Lago were purchased, 2003, the year Valle died. Therefore, Soelle de Valle, seeking to cope with the difficult situation, would consider starting a new venture.
Understanding that the tourism industry had represented a significant item of trade in services in 2005, Soelle de Valle, motivated by the encouraging trends, has started the construction of a hotel and spa that same year.
3 years later, San Gregorio Hotel & Spa was opened, a company that would start employing 105 people, who were originally from the town and without work experience focused on tourism. However, the collaborators, enthusiastic to learn and strengthen their capacities, performed their positions excellently.
In this way, San Gregorio Hotel & Spa, a member of the Health and Well-being Tourism Commission of the Services Sector of the Guatemalan Association of Exporters -AGEXPORT-, seeks to be a leading and recognized company locally and internationally for the provision of tourist services in a responsible way with respect to the environment, society, and culture, putting into practice 5 significant values: responsibility, honesty, respect, conscience and excellence.
