Harness the power of tourism
Once the first schools were up and running, Marten began to wonder how to generate a sustainable income for the charity and create quality jobs for the children that would come to graduate from the schools. Tourism is a fast growing industry in Guatemala and many other developing nations. The skills are easily transferable. How could we make sure the people who need it most, and who were hardly benefiting from tourism, would start to benefit from it?
A social business
The idea was to start a tourism business, that would create jobs as well as a structural income for the foundation. In order to be able to do that, two companies were created: the Good Hotel, which would operate the hotel; and Good Property, which would own the building and lease it to the hotel operator.
Marten set out to build the Good Hotel on the principles of "social business", as per Muhammad Yunus. Meaning it would become a company that would not pay any dividend to its shareholders.
The concept of the Good Hotel
Over the course of 2012 and 2013, the Good Hotel was conceptualized. The Good Hotel is both a brand and a hotel operator, and is owned by the Good Group.
Good Property
After establishing the Good Hotel as a brand, and as a hotel operator, the next step was to create the Good Property partnership, effectively an endowment fund for Niños de Guatemala.
Over the years 2013 and 2014, Good Property raised funds to be able to buy a ruined mansion in Antigua. Then, in 2015 and 2016 it was converted it into a beautiful hotel.
