Wingate Inn Brand To Open First Hotel Outside North America

PARSIPPANY, NJ— Wingate Inns International has plans to build the first franchised Wingate Inn hotel outside of North America, a 100-room hotel to be located on a 125-acre tract in Belmopan, the new capital of Belize. The hotel, to be completed by mid-2004, will feature a restaurant and nightclub as well as an 18-hole golf course. The hotel will be marketed to both leisure and business travelers, according to Gil Belisle, who owns the property along with investors Cecilia and John Faber, Ezekiel Velasquez, Lois Highsmith and Egbert Higinio. “We are very interested in marketing Belize’s rain forests and ancient ruins to the traveling public,” Belisle said. Currently there are 121 Wingate Inn hotels representing 11,368 guest rooms open in the United States and Canada. All Wingate Inn hotels are independently owned and operated under franchise agreements with Wingate Inns International.