The IEMB and the Hotel John Wesley

When first opened in the 1920s the Hotel Sucré was the grandest and most beautiful hotel in La Paz, the place where traveling dignitaries and presidents stayed.  Many famous people have used this historic hotel as their base while visiting Bolivia and South America.

The IEMB (Bolivian Methodist Church) recently purchased this old hotel and renamed it the John Wesley Guest House. The hotel will serve members by providing meeting spaces and lodging for church conferences and meetings.  Church members traveling to La Paz will have a comfortable and affordable place to stay.   And, in the tradition of the Methodist Church, part of this grand building will temporarily house the headquarters of a new university. As rooms and facilities are available they are rented to the general public.  The John Wesley is in the center of La Paz, a location ideal for business people and tourists alike, and it provides easy access to local and international travel connections.  

The Hotel has great potential to be a real benefit to the IEMB.  Over the past several years the condition of the Hotel Sucré was permitted to deteriorate to where it was finally closed and then it was bought by the Church.  While purchased at a reasonable price, the IEMB is faced with the task of restoring the hotel to its former splendor.

The Oklahoma/Northern Illinois Assessment Team

In late January 2011 a group of 5 professionals from the Oklahoma and Northern Illinois conferences traveled to La Paz for a 6 day mission to evaluate the condition and make recommendations for the John Wesley Center. They crawled all over the building and went into places that probably hadn’t seen a human in years! The last day they met with the current and former managers to discuss their plans, desires and needs.

Many public areas have already been updated and show just what can be done.  The lobby is pleasant and well- lighted.  Meeting rooms are attractive and efficient.

The dining room is particularly inviting with an Old World ambiance and full-length windows providing a beautiful view of the Prado and the central city.  The food is traditional, inexpensive and excellent.    

The entire hotel staff works tirelessly and is dedicated to pleasing the guests.  They are competent though most have little experience.

The biggest problem is the water delivery system, and specifically the lack of adequate hot water.  There is one small water heater and a large storage tank at the top of the hotel, and a lot of pipe which allows cooling before reaching most of the guest rooms.  There is no recirculating system so at low usage times it may take from 5 to 30 minutes of open tap for the water in an individual room to heat enough for a comfortable shower.  This one fact probably has more to do with the lower occupancy rate than any one other thing.

 There are electrical issues as well.  The wiring is more than 80 years old and is barely adequate for today’s electronic needs.  New wiring would not be difficult to install because of existing conduits and access.  A quick and inexpensive improvement would be to install new light fixtures in hallways and public areas to brighten things up.  This would make the whole building seem more inviting.

 Room decor is dated except in the several rooms that have recently been painted.  There is also a section of the third floor which was completely remodeled with new plaster and flooring.  This shows what can be done.  This was to be used temporarily to establish a new University, but the location of the University has since been changed and this area will likely be returned to use as guest rooms and commercial spaces.  If this type of cosmetic work were to be applied to the entire hotel then it would truly be a beautiful building.

The John Wesley Center staff is a group of wonderful people who really desire to serve their guests.  Though they are new to the lodging industry they make every effort to provide comfort and assistance to all visitors, whether Methodists or not.

 Our recommendations and plans for the future:

 The IEMB needs to settle on a long range plan and keep to it.  There now is a good plan in place for replacing the plumbing on each floor with new cold and hot water lines and adding a water heater to each floor.  The cost estimates for this are very reasonable.  Currently the IEMB chooses to pay down the debt at an accelerated rate rather than use some of their resources for maintenance.  We would recommend using the available financing which is at very favorable interest rates to pay for the needed upgrades.  We feel strongly that this would result in higher occupancy rates and revenues that would enhance the mission and operations of the church, which was their stated goal for the purchase of this property 3 years ago. 

We also recommend some fund raising here in the USA as seed money to get this project underway.  It appears that a mere $15,000 would be all that is required to make the plumbing upgrades for one entire floor.  This seems like a reachable goal over the next year.  With this money and the judicial use of credit it seems reasonable that they could have a profit making business within the next couple of years.

 Missioners Needed with Special Skills

 While the plumbing and electrical upgrades will require professional installers, most of the guest room improvements could be done by Mission Teams.  La Paz is a beautiful city with wonderful people.  A mission to La Paz could involve working at the John Wesley Center and also at the nearby school and University.   Such a mission would be relatively inexpensive and easy to coordinate.  There are excellent restaurants, serving typical Bolivian fare, some American comfort foods, and excellent fine dining at low prices.  This would be a great trip for someone wanting to do mission but not too sure about roughing it on the Alto Plano, and for first time missioners, seniors, and youth groups.

On most VIM missions we go as servants, charged to be humble and to let our hosts assign tasks to us so we can carry them out.  This mission will be different in that we will put together a plan so our Bolivian brothers and sisters can carry it out with their own labor and materials. 

Needs range from simple updating and painting rooms, to replacing the entire water supply and electrical distribution systems. 

If you have been on a Mission in the past you may have felt under-utilized.  There just wasn’t anything for you to do that needed your unique skills.    Is God calling you to use your gifts to help? 

 Here is an opportunity to practice your faith by giving of your talent.  From the Book of James, Chapter 2, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works?” and, “I will show you my faith by my works.” 

 You will be hard pressed to find a mission that will provide more personal comfort, yet offer the opportunity to make such a great contribution to an entire country.

 For additional information contact:

Doug Valley at doug.dvllc@gmail.com or

David Stephenson by email at tulsadstephenson@yahoo.com