The Waterloo House hotel and restaurant in Hamilton will close on July 29 and is likely to be redeveloped as offices. Owners Horizon Ltd say the luxury hotel has not been profitable despite winning numerous awards, including being named as one of the best hotels in the world by Travel and Leisure magazine just 2 years ago. All staff have been offered employment at the hotel’s sister property; Horizons and Cottages.
The Harmony Club in Paget has been purchased by the Bermuda Government from Bermuda Resort Hotels. It will be used to provide accommodation for police recruits from overseas. Bermuda Resort Hotels will use most of the $6.25 million sale proceeds to redevelop one of their other properties, the Surf Side Beach Hotel.
The Bermuda Government announced yesterday that the island’s new Jumeirah resort will be built at Morgan’s Point. The move was welcomed by the Bermuda National Trust and the Bermuda Environmental Sustainability Taskforce who had objected to its original location at Southlands.
Government also announced that the hotel currently being developed by Bazarian International on the old Club Med site in St George’s will be managed by the Park Hyatt hotel group. It is expected to open for business in 2011.
The Pompano Beach Club was the only hotel in Bermuda featuring in Trip Advisor’s 2008 Travellers’ Choice Awards announced earlier this month. It ranked 9th in the Top 10 Best Luxury Hotels in Latin America/Caribbean and 52nd in the Top 100 Best Luxury Hotels in the World.
Ariel Sands will be closing for major redevelopment on January 1 2008. It is expected to reopen as a timeshare development in approximately three years.
Fairmont Hotels and Resorts have sold the Hamilton Princess hotel in Bermuda, to Goodman Hospitality Investments of Seattle. The deal also included two other Fairmont hotels in Acapulco, Mexico.
Fairmont will continue to manage the hotel with no changes in staff or management. The change will, however, herald the start of an extensive renovation project that will include guest room upgrades and refurbishment of the hotel’s restaurants, gym, lobby, spa, and pool.
Environment Minister Neletha Butterfield has signed a Special Development Order allowing Dubai’s Jumeirah Group to build a 5-star hotel at Southlands in Bermuda. The move comes despite significant opposition to the development from the Bermuda Environmental and Sustainability Taskforce, a citizen’s group that has collected over 3,000 signatures of people against the development.
A new seafood restaurant has opened at the Fairmont Southampton. The beachfront Ocean Club is situated on the site of the old Whaler Inn and specialises in contemporary Asian seafood. The 200-seat restaurant is open daily for dinner from 6 to 10 pm.
Premier and Minister of Tourism and Transport Dr Ewart Brown announced a pretty impressive set of tourism statistics for the first quarter of 2007. Speaking at the Fairmont Southampton yesterday he revealed that total arrivals were up 23 percent to 45,825 compared to the same period last year. Hotel occupancy rates also showed a healthy increase, rising by 21 percent.
A luxury low-rise hotel is to be built in St George’s. The news was announced at a press conference on Tuesday by Premier Ewart Brown. Bazarian International, an international investment banking firm based in Washington, have been award the contract to develop the scheme. It will be situated on the site of the old Club Med resort which has lain derelict for more than 20 years.
The resort will comprise around 150 one to three-bedroom villas, each no more than three storeys high, and is expected to be complete within the next 3 years. The operators of the hotel have yet to be named.