Checkit-Out,

A good point.
If you look at the overall land area, 32 acres = 1,393,920 square feet.
400 rooms, two people per room = 1,742 square square per person at ground level (common areas, swimming pool, restaurants,reception, kitchens, bars, maintenance, golf course, tennis etc).
Of course you could build up, subject to planning permission, but this only effects the accommodation space.
If we are full, then each guest at our little place has 4,455 square feet of ground (public areas).
It would be interesting to compare land size/number of rooms with other Beaches properties.

Having regard for the fact that tourism is our business and must be managed as a strategic asset let us have a look at how another property is doing:

When will Harlequin’s holiday homes be built?

9:20am Saturday 7th April 2012 in News By Jon Austin

SOME investors want want refunds from a south Essex business which has taken at least £180million in deposits to build international holiday resorts, after years of delays to the ambitious projects.

Harlequin Property, of Honywood Road, Basildon, says its clients have paid for about 6,000 properties to be built across six Caribbean resorts, and one in Brazil, since it started selling about six years ago.

According to its website, it has now only opened 192 villas, or rooms, at its partially-built flagship resort Buccament Bay, in St Vincent, since August 2010, while 100 others are near completion with 700-odd still to be built.

Harlequin accepts there have been delays, which it blames on the economic downturn, and has promised investors will see “significant”

developments at many of its resorts this year.

However, some investors, who were told their properties would be built within three to four years, have asked for the return of their 30 per cent deposits.

A woman from London, who would not be named, said she remortgaged her house to invest £150,000 towards a £495,000 villa at Buccament Bay in 2007.

She said she was told it would be built by December 2008 – however there is still no guaranteed date.

She said: “I am at the point where I want a refund, but it is not forthcoming. They have said they will pay it back over 18 months.

That was not in my contract.”

Contracts state deposits would be repaid within 90 days if a completion date falls back by six months, with reasonable costs deducted.

She added: “They said they wanted me to accept it being paid back over two years, then 18 months.”

Commenting on her claims, a Harlequin spokesman said: “The exact timescale for the return of a deposit depends on the investor’s individual contract.

In a number of cases, Harlequin has been able to return many deposits with a profit, thanks to our resale service.”

The business is sponsoring a Britain’s Got Talent prize and has a host of celebrities endorsing its investments, such as tennis ace Pat Cash, Golf legend Gary Player, and ITV football pundit Andy Townsend, It is made up of a number of UK and Caribbean companies run by Dave Ames, 60, and wife Carole Ames, 60, of Brock Hill, Wickford.

A director of a major accountancy firm, who would not be named, said: “I am informally advising a number of investors about getting their deposits back.”

Some people who paid deposits for one of around 1,000 homes planned at Merricks Resort in Barbados originally due to be completed by the end of 2008, have seen the completion date slip by more than three years – with none of the predicted returns.

One man, who would not be named, said: “After a lot of hassle I did eventually get my deposit back, paid over 12 months.”

Some investors have ploughed personal pension plans into the properties. Howard Winter invested his pension in Buccament Bay.

He said: “It is taking longer than we hoped, but I am happy. It is a pension, so I am in it for the long-term.

“It is now involved with Britain’s Got Talent, so that will raise the profile.”

Harlequin accepts there have been delays in building its holiday resorts, but pledged it was on course for phased openings from 2013.

The firm says less than one per cent (fewer than 60) of its investors had asked for deposits back.

A spokeswoman said: “Our investors are kept regularly informed on how each resort is progressing. The overwhelming majority appreciates we are now progressing very well.

“All of Harlequin’s current projects are on course for phased openings from 2013 and we hold regular face-to-face meetings for investors, as well as providing updates online.

“We have the capacity to deliver all these projects and are committed to meeting our targets.”

Harlequin said its Buccament Bay resort was valued last year at US$240million (around £150million based on current exchange rates) and the value was rising as more properties and facilities were finished there.

The business is also currently renovating two smaller Caribbean hotels, into luxury Harlequin boutiques, which it says will lead to quicker returns for investors.

On Sunday, it opened one of them, Blu Hotel, St Lucia, before a planned major conversion next year while planning permission is finalised.

The spokeswoman said this, and the opening of phase one of Buccament Bay, showed it was making good progress. She added: “Harlequin accepts, however, that there have been some delays.”

The firm said the delays at Buccament Bay were primarily due to problems caused by the developer of phase one of the resort, the ICE Group run by Padraig O’Halloran, not finishing all the work under the contract.

This has now gone to court.

She said: “There are additional challenges involved with carrying out building projects in the Caribbean, where delays are not untypical.

“For instance, in Barbados, a change in local planning laws meant that construction work was interrupted for a year due to circumstances outside our control.

“We have, however, brought in additional resources in order to make up time that was lost.”

Harlequin said investor concerns were taken very seriously by the company.

The spokeswoman said: “Less than one per cent have asked for deposits to be returned and for a variety of reasons, often a change of personal circumstances.

“The exact timescale for the return of a deposit depends on the investor’s individual contract. In a number of cases, Harlequin has been able to return many deposits with a profit, thanks to our resale service.”

Harlequin added that partnering with the likes of Liverpool FC and Pat Cash was giving investors more for their money, and had increased its initial plans and their value.

* If you have invested with Harlequin, contact investigative reporter Jon Austin: 01268 469304 jon.austin@nqe.com

I’ve mentioned elsewhere on this blog that you’re not a serious Tourism destination unless you offer some kind of high level, safe Casino.

That among a few other things is what is missing from Barbados Tourism…..and i’m not talking about one-armed bandit or whatever it is called here.

Look, I don’t understand the issues against Casinoes. I know the churches and elements of the population will be against it….but I see poor people here all the time spending money they cannot afford on lotteries and the churches and others do not seem to mind.

I vacationed in the Bahamas in the late 1980’s and although I was not much of a gambler I had a fun time playing a bit of blackjack! At that time gambling at the Casinoes was limited to visitors to the Bahamas/Freeport….locals were not allowed to play in the casinoes….I don’t know about the situation today!

All visitors to Barbados want is an additional option to gamble in a safe casino while visiting.

I have friends and acquaintences who would not vacation in Barbados because of the lack of casinoes and there are any number of vacation destination where they can visit and gamble and have fun if they want,

In addition they get better value and service for their vacation dollar at these destinations.We have over priced our product and set ourselves up as a high end destination.

Now if Casinoes were an option for the purchaser of Almond think of the favorable impact that would have for jobs, the quality of interest and foreign currency!!!!?????

If the ills of gambling and casinoes is the issue, please close you eyes and cover your ears at cropover time!!!

@ David

Go get a copy of the 2012 edition of Ins & Outs of Barbados and check out page 258 – 265 titled BARBADOS RIVIERA – Saint Peter’s Bay to Port Ferdinand.

It might be ever a good idea to scan the double page spread so bloggers can see where Almond Beach Village fits into the enclave planned by Bjerkham and his partners.

I was 29 when I was elected to sit on the board of an 84 unit coperative housing unit. And in a time and place when inflation and mortgage interest rates were volatile. Mortgage interest rates went up to 19%.

The coop had 1 full time and two part time employees. We the all elected volunteer board, screened tenants, collected housing charges (rents), paid the mortgage, taxes and common utilities, saw to it that the employees maintained the common areas including the grounds, lawfully evicted tenants when required to do so, and generally managed the place properly.

When elected I had zero housing experience. But the elected all volunteer board proved to be intelligent,hard working, honest, businesslike.

It is not so much lack of experience that causes business failures. It is rather lack of integrity, lack of common sense, lack of zeal, education.

And tobesides if one lacks experience, one can always hire experience in the market place.

But too many people want to treat their businesses like the business is a free gift from Santa Claus. Too many people are too quick to buy the big house, the big car, the big parties, the big political donations and nowadays even the big jets our of a small to mid-sized business.

Since the credit unions have more than enough money and since Four Seasons have more than enough hotel management experience, why can’t the credit unions buy Almond and hire Four Seasons to manage the place?

And leave Avi and the british boys to find another way to fill the big hole in Black Rock.

As long as they don’t fill the big hole in black rock with our national insurance money I cool.

ROFLMFAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@ BAFBFP

You are out of line ..!

Andrew Bynoe for Prime MInister …!

PDC
I will hold your hand on this one….but can anybody….with any ceratiny advise the boss ? No boy..mission impossible….you must learn to wait ..and wait…and wait…..and wait a bit longer.
I notice only Bdos and T&T were quick to revoke RedJets license with dispatch…(.tag team works)…..for those who have been around as long as OB..some people need to recall the trini and baje ham-bone song…take care somebody comes out with nothing…

This has got to be one of the most sterile arguments I have read on BU to date.

We want to keep Almond in local hands, but when the local hands come forward we cry monopoly. We can’t have it both ways.

Face the facts: N&M has no interest in Barbados or our tourist industry. They are only interested in one thing – their bottom line. And why shouldn’t they be. We Bajans get on like the world owes us a living.

Almond is no Mom and Pop operation. Managing the staff and physical property alone is a huge operation. Gone are the days when all you had to do is open a hotel in Barbados and people would come. Tourism marketing is now a sophisticated and expensive undertaking and anybody who thinks otherwise is living with their head in the sand or beach. There are a hundred other destinations in the Caribbean alone who can and will out market and out sell us.

We even want to tell potential buyers how they should develop the property or not. If a man is putting up millions to buy a property, short of breaking any laws, does anybody here really think they have the right to tell him how to secure and maximize his investment? Get real.

Not a one of us on this blog putting up one red cent but we got all the answers. Bajans real powerful foolish in truth.

And of course, the mere mention of the NIS investing in Almond will send us into apoplexy.

There is one thing that caught my attention. How the closure of Almond will affect airlift. Thank you Adrian Loveridge. You are clearly one of the few who understands the domino affect of this closure. You see dear friends, we may end up paying more in marketing support for all those empty seats that Almond used to fill if we want to maintain our airlift into the island. So what you lose on the roundabout you going pay for on the swings.

I say that Almond is a private business and the owners have every right to sell if they want. Clearly they are going to break up the business and sell it off in bits. We should count ourselves lucky that in today’s economy that there are interested buyers – period. There are pros and cons as to whether they are local or not, but one thing is certain it will be a big blow to our economy if a deal is not struck and struck soon.

Quoting Bajan to d bone “And of course, the mere mention of the NIS investing in Almond will send us into apoplexy.”

Yes indeed. Because one of these days I am going to become literally apoplexic, that is one of these days I will get a stroke and when I do I want my NIS monies to which I have been contributing for 40 years to be there for me.

I don’t want to hear that some self proclaimed executive used my money to buy a new car every year, or to buy a plane, or to hold expensive birthday parties.

If I am god enough to earn the money then I am good enough to determine how it is spent (or not spent)

And I don’t want it spent rescuing failed or failing businesses.

Many people including very likely you who haven’t put a cent into NIS are now looking lustfully at the 3 billion or so in the fund, forgetting that it took us 40 years to get it there.

Add a zero above

You got 3 billion and we need some more money to mismanage.

Bend over and le’we take advantage of you ’cause you know how to work and save money but you don’t know how to spend it.

Bend over.

NOW.

If an election was not on the horizon does anyone feel that we would be having all these bailouts?

There are two elephants in the room in this Almond Resort mess, and they are the stock exchange and the Financial Services Commission.
First, if as reported Neal & Massy had indicated well over a year ago that it was divesting its involvement in Almond, and had not indicated this to the stock exchange, then it seems to me as if that is an infringement of stock exchange rules since that decisions is a market changing event and would influence the valuation of the company.
If this is the case, as we are led to believe then the stock exchange should, to my mind, be holding a disciplinary hearing over this apparent infringement of the rules.
If this is the case, then to my mind it also confirms something that I have raised on a number of occasions: the susceptibility of the local stock exchange to insider dealings, deliberate or unintentional.
In a small society, in which most of the big investors and business people live in a narrow village – Cattlewash – the over the garden conversation would inevitably be the hot topic of the day.
The bigger issue, however, is another example of regulatory failure. Where is the FSC in all this? What has it got to say?
We are led to believe that the majority shareholder (N&M with 52 per cent of the equities) has been running Almond as if it was a subsidiary. What protection is there for minority shareholders?
Is there a need for reform of companies’ legislation? What about insolvency legislation? Should we have the equivalent of the US Chapter 11?
The ultimate decision, however, is going to be with the Town and Country Planning. What it does expose, again, is the danger of passive government.

y

t topic.
ekve

A

Interesting perspective coming out of T&T:

http://guardian.co.tt/business/2012-04-09/nm-ceo-almond-hotels-sale-wipe-out-us75m-debt

Actually it would be quite an interesting investigation to see who and what was selling on the stock market prior to the sale?????????????Hmmmmmmmmm!

Snipes,

There is honestly a multitude of reasons.
My wife and I are approaching retirement age. We have spent 46 years in the hospitality industry (24 on Barbados) looking after other people. We both have health issues and its time to look after ourselves. I have not had a day off since October and everyday is 14-17 hour working day.
I also strongly feel that tourism has lost any direction here. No tourism masterplan, no BTA re-structuring, not a single cent of the near BDS$100 million annual BTA budget dedicated to marketing our 120 small hotels.
No support of the re-DISCOVER the Caribbean Show.
I could go on and on but its time to pause and have some quality time.
I really hope that we can find a buyer that will take this very special property to the next level. We have been blessed with incredibly loyal guests and this has led to several international awards. Not a single one has been acknowledged by our national marketing agency and to us that says an awful lot.

Random Thoughts | April 9, 2012 at 9:50 AM |

How much hotel experience did Peter Morgan have before he got into the hotel business?

How much hotel experience did Adrian Loveridge have before he got into the hotel business?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Guess you got an answer!!

Now, all we need to find out is how much experience Messrs. Grant and Edghill had when they took over Sam Lords from Marriots!!

Random Thoughts | April 9, 2012 at 9:50 AM |

How much hotel experience did Peter Morgan have before he got into the hotel business?
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
There, you got another answer.

Here is what I think.

All of the qualities you list are necessary to get experience.

If you don’t exhibit them, you get fired if you are employed or lose your shirt if you are an owner. You don’t lose out on experience.

Experience is confirmation of the pedigree of which you speak in your list of qualities!!

If you got the pedigree, you will get the experience … and if you got the experience you always had the pedigree!!

It is like what happened yesterday at Kensington!!

Young Kraigg Braithwaite claimed to have the pedigree after the first innings defiance but when put into a position where his head got hot he flashed when he should not have and the result was he walked.

He got no experience!!!

Actually he did.

And if he has the pedigree of which he speaks, he will not get caught like that again …. provided his employers give him another chance to gain more experience.

But Cricket is just a game so we don’t get too emotional … for Kraigg Braithwaithe it is his livelihood … possibly … so I would imagine he should be very emotional at the moment.

If he has the pedigree, he will cool down and deal with the situation dispassionately.

Same goes for the West Indies today …. we find out what sort of pedigree they have or if we have been fed a line.

IslandGal
You are too anti-the bajan small man…..what is your problem ? Is there any thing WRONG with TRYING ? Unlike you who seem to be an entreprenuer with 100 % sucess rate…..I knew when Tom Grant started out in a one door one window 8×10 wood room in Tichbourne (after leaving McNeaary) selling ONLY brake shoes and pads..and made something out of nothing…
Seems like I need OLD BLUE BALLS to cull you….you ever do anything so of meaningness and made a million while at it ? If the answer is NO..HUSH YA F##Cking MOUT !

Another thing Tom Grant was a piece of shite and he ran that hotel like it was his toilet.

Ole onions you seem to got nuff thiefing friends I hope that you don’t hold no position in the BLP government when they get back in. When you hangout with friends that are thieves, you become one.

“You are too anti-the bajan small man…..what is your problem ?”

Ole Onions ….The problem is people like you are the ones
perpetuating the very problems plaguing small businesses. Every failure is because of someone else and not because of poor management /marketing skills.

“.I knew when Tom Grant started out in a one door one window 8×10 wood room ”

Tom Grant ran Sam Lords the same way you fool!