Portillo is the oldest ski resort in the Andes
"The food is wonderful, of course; Portillo is famous for its food. But the smells of grilling chicken and peppery Aji Chileno sauce waft out of a low stone hut 10,300 feet up the side of an Andean alp. A condor with a wingspan bigger than an Austrian downhiller soars the cliffs overhead. At the next table, a couple of Brazilian models burble in Portuguese as they angle their chairs to the sun."
Peter Shelton, American journalist.
"They hired me, a green 26-year-old, as General Manager of the new organization. I think I was the only relatively young and adventure-minded person that they knew in the hotel business. I was a graduate of the Cornell School of Hotel Administration and had worked for 5 years for the Hilton Corporation. I was tired of big city hotels and big corporation life, so I jumped at the chance and moved my whole family to Chile. I soon discovered that nearly everything that I had learned about the hotel business at Cornell and with Hilton was not going to be much help at Portillo."
Owner Henry Purcell recalls the challenge that awaited him at Portillo in the 1960s.
Peter Shelton, American journalist.
"They hired me, a green 26-year-old, as General Manager of the new organization. I think I was the only relatively young and adventure-minded person that they knew in the hotel business. I was a graduate of the Cornell School of Hotel Administration and had worked for 5 years for the Hilton Corporation. I was tired of big city hotels and big corporation life, so I jumped at the chance and moved my whole family to Chile. I soon discovered that nearly everything that I had learned about the hotel business at Cornell and with Hilton was not going to be much help at Portillo."
Owner Henry Purcell recalls the challenge that awaited him at Portillo in the 1960s.
