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Carving a Hotel Corridor

The six month old Mottley government cannot be accused of NOT making decisions. In the relatively short time since winning the government several initiatives have been promised with few started. There are private sector projects coming online- a few that have been in the pipeline before the Mottley government took up residence in Government House.

The most recent announcement by the government issued amidst the noise of the Christmas season is the plan to litter the coastline between Hastings and Paradise Beach with about twelve hotels with four receiving upgrades. What piqued the interest of the blogmaster was that areas in St. Lucy, Christ Church and St. Phillip will be identified for tourism related projects. The blogmaster suspects deals have already been cut in smoke-filled back rooms and what is left is the PR piece.

The question Barbadians must ask- are we happy continuing to pump millions in the tourism model? The way business is done in this sector requires generous concessions to be offered AND analysts agree there is significant foreign exchange leakage associated with the segment. The blogmaster is not suggesting we should neglect a sector all admit that is paying the bills. What we want to see is a different kind of investment to grow a more resilient economy.

During the Arthur administration BU posted concerns about the extent the coastline was being carved up to serve tourism development. One expects flyovers will enter the discussion at some point. Our opposition then and still relevant is that Barbados will lose its shine as a SID if we continue to morph into a concrete jungle. We are already seeing unusual changes with our coastline to suggest decisions taken are not in harmony with the environment. We struggle with implementing a waste management and efficient water system. Is it conceivable that we should be looking to ease our hand from the tourism investment mouth?

Regional governments and by extension the citizenry have demonstrated in the last twenty years a lack of innovation and creativity in the problem solving business.

@Hants

You requested to have this matter posted. Expecting you to lead the discussion!

 

 

 

 

466 responses to “Carving a Hotel Corridor”

  1. Gabriel Avatar
    Gabriel

    Say what Lexicon?!!!

  2. Lexicon Avatar
    Lexicon

    45govt
    Oh shut up …looka this idiot trying to teach about Capitalism when I’ve read the Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engel four decades ago …

  3. David Avatar
    David

    Let us keep the discussion going topside people.

  4. 45govt Avatar
    45govt

    Yeah, I bet you did.

  5. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    Bushie

    We listening to Caswell in the Senate.

    Now see why you wanted him in politics.

    The employORS would not stand a chance with him

    And that’s good! LOL

  6. T.Inniss Avatar
    T.Inniss

    Hal @ 4:14 p.m.,

    I say hear,hear to your comments.

    I urge you to keep speaking your truths my friend.

  7. T.Inniss Avatar
    T.Inniss

    Artax

    Listen well please.I shall say this only once:

    I try my hardest not to speak to BLP stool pigeons who are dishonest.

  8. 45govt Avatar
    45govt

    Leximoron, I just bet that you love how Venezuela is doing too!

  9. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    PLT
    I hear what you’re saying but you have not demonstrated via evidence that there’s no demand for what is being proposed; because you do not know what is being proposed. Barbados lost a lot of room stock over the years, there could very well be demand but the type of accommodation required is in short supply. Maybe the new strip would serve that demand. All this should feed into the final product mix. After all, the iniative seems to be in its infancy.

  10. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    @plt
    If I read your arguments correctly, it is a sequencing issue, based on the premise (which I can neither prove nor disprove) that Barbados has enough accommodation. Hence until that is full, because the variables of people (visitors) and airlift can change quickly, building hotels adds capacity where it is not needed.

    The counter is because accommodations take longer to build, especially in Barbados, one needs to get started on these. And that total capacity aside, possibly the ‘desirable capacity’ maybe in shorter supply.

    I cannot suggest that affordable new activities are not a selling point, however, visitors tend to look at a basket of activities, and it isn’t like Barbados has none. Barbados is never going to have that major theme park. Besides when you begin separating the long stay vs short stay, you know the former are older (have the time) and are less likely to be interested in ‘more physical demanding’ activity. In fact, a well reviewed medical community and services maybe a bigger draw. Imagine if your foreign health card worked in Barbados?

    I agree that the separation of people into upper-middle-lower middle etc is best used by politicians. I read that the top 1% of income earners in Canada, pay 25% of all tax collected. Further what anybody chooses to spend, and how they spend it, is not predicated on income alone. However, what IS true, is Barbados cannot compete in the all inclusive price (incl airfare) of US$700/wk. Mexico, Cuba and the DR can. So what you call economy are likely still a few notches above the lowest end.

    My opinion is if the GoB acts as a facilitator, not an investor or loan agency, building newer stock, is rarely a bad thing. There also several spots from Accra to town which once had a significant hotel, plus the perennially vacant land.

    “We” have become hardened to some shyster construction deals, but it isn’t like we do not have other legitimate contractors who, if given the chance, could not build mid size hotels. One of the unseen costs of corruption, is if Contractor A can make a bundle on project 1 & 2, they can also secure 3-4-5, just to keep the competition out.

  11. Lexicon Avatar
    Lexicon

    45govtbigot

    There is no need to point to Venezuela when we have a repressive arm of the state cloaked under the verisimilitude of law enforcement America,that is unjustly killing innocent minorities ..

  12. WARU Avatar
    WARU

    yeah…like DLP selling a hotel, Blue Horizon, valued at over 11 million dollars for 5 million dollars to the Maloney crook, despite an offer of 11 million dollars from a well established, successful hotelier….that level of corruption and theft destroys everything, robs the people..

  13. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    @Enuff
    You are correct that I cannot prove that there is no demand for what is being proposed… indeed that nobody has made public what is being proposed. I’m just pointing out that the process is bass-ackward. It is a gigantic mistake to begin by identifying sites on our coastline between Hastings and Paradise Beach for about twelve hotels before there has been a national conversation about the future of our most important industry. I have respect for Ms. Mottley; she is nobody’s fool, but a process that begins in this manner can only end in disaster. We have walked this road before, and it has ended in the catastrophes that I listed above.

  14. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    @NorthernObserver
    You are correct… it is a sequencing issue. Achieving success at literally everything in life is a sequencing issue… you can’t even put the ham in the cutter before you’ve sliced both the ham and the salt bread.

    It is easy to prove that Barbados has accommodation adequate to our existing airlift. The planes are flying here full in the high season and there are no tourists standing on the sidewalk begging for a place to stay. Indeed if you go look on the hotel booking websites there are still available rooms. QED

    You have an endearing faith in finding honest construction companies… it’s cute, but completely unrealistic. The structure of the deal has to be what enforces honesty: public tendering processes, completely transparent deals, thorough environmental assessment processes, and public input into the future direction of the whole industry to build a social consensus around the investments we make and the public coastline that we employ.

  15. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    I was under the Impression that the BU household came to a consensus that the Barbados economy needs diversification to avoid the roller coaster/ boom and bust pattern of the post independence era. How come we are back to putting all of our investment eggs in a twilight industry? David BU, why are we having this sterile debate?

  16. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    No investor would dare walk that path until a complete enviromental assessment is done one which shows whether our undrground water system was impacted by the constant flow of sewage from our dilapidated sewer system
    Also whether the enviroment / land on which those hotels would be situated is free of toxins
    Also whether the sea is safe for swimming
    These and more enviromental questions would be asked of govt by any sensible investor which would cost millions of dollars to govt in the preplanning stage in order to find answers and satisfy the investor

  17. Lexicon Avatar
    Lexicon

    45govtbigot

    Be very careful with this 45govt because I suspect he is not Bajan but he is somehow associated with Barbados … I also suspect that he lives in America because of his love for the right of the politics spectrum … he is white because only a person or an Uncle Tom would support the Republican Party …

  18. john2 Avatar
    john2

    Mariposa

    Where did the sewage before there was a sewage system?
    Can you answer that honestly?

  19. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    Now back to a question i asked concerning an article on BU today focusing on Mia six month report on the barbados economy
    I specifically remember the article because the article made mention of Hants in closing
    I have been trying to find the article
    However what i have found is a past article which speaks to the blp manifesto and embedded in the article are comments which were made today referencing Mia six month report card on the economy
    I am shaking my head because something does not seem quite right and which begs the question what happened to the article which was earlier posted referencing Mia six month report card on the economy
    For certain nothing in the blp manifesto of 2018 can have a six month report card as to what was stated in Parliament a couple days ago
    There is a puppeteer pulling some body strings on BU

  20. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    T. Inniss

    Likewise…listen well please. I shall say this each time you mention “Artax”……. and whenever I care to:

    I will try my hardest to speak to DLP stool pigeons who are dishonest, hypocritical liars…..and continue taking PLEASURE in EXPOSING you as such. Perhaps that is the main reason why you see RED whenever the name “Artax” appears on BU.

    You are a liar who I exposed for inappropriately using the word “bollards,” and SUBSEQUENTLY lying to say they were placed on the side of the road opposite to Sandy Lane Hotel…… when boulders were placed there.

    ……..a DLP lackey and stool pigeon, who is paid by his political masters in George Street to spread his biased political diatribe …….. and the SAME silly criticisms on BU

    ………a DLP hypocrite, who has now SUDDENLY DEVELOPED a CONSCIENCE to criticize what is occurring under this BLP administration……..

    ……….when, prior to May 24, found it NECESSARY to REMAIN SILENT and PURPOSELY IGNORED what was SIMILARLY occurring in Barbados, under his beloved inept DLP administration…….

    ………but keeps trying to convince BU now that, after 23 credit rating downgrades, Sinckler was successful “in keeping the ship afloat” and Freundel Stuart was doing an excellent job as PM.

    And this lying, hypocritical idiot actually believes intelligent contributions to BU….. ARE NOT AWARE HE IS A DLP YARD-FOWL.

    As I mentioned before, this “discussion was progressing wonderfully….until you came to interrupt the flow, with your childish political shiite.

  21. john2 Avatar
    john2

    where did the sewage go before there was a sewerage system

  22. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    John2 back in the good ole days there were no enviromental laws . yuh get it
    Now go fight the law makers and enviromentalist who thought it best to have a clean and healthy enviroment.

  23. john2 Avatar
    john2

    Where would it be going is there was no sewerage system?

    Where did the injection wells disposed of the sewage?

  24. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    Right now the medicine given to get a notch up in the belt is punishing.
    Dont know which is worst borrowing to punch above the weight or being over weight
    The govt scorecard tried to present a pie in the sky dream
    A dream which would soon become a nightmare

  25. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    Having a Sewer system is not the problem
    The problem lies in its inadequacy to perform at optium level havingv flaws which started at the incept and got worse which lead to poor performance
    Also John2 your poorly asked question would give the answer to even a fool as to why there was a need for a Sewer System

  26. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    @ Vincent Codrington,

    The investment dollars in any new Hotels will be from FDI.

    Also as long as there is winter in North America people will take a break in a sunny destination.

    I totally agree in “diversification” but until we find new industries “squeeze the juice ” out of Tourism.

    Hopefully there will be a push in the alternative energy sector and Agriculture.

  27. john2 Avatar
    john2

    The sewerage system was working well until a band of thieves became the government. then there was no funds for maintenance.

  28. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    “No investor would dare walk that path until a complete enviromental assessment is done one which shows whether our undrground water system was impacted by the constant flow of sewage from our dilapidated sewer system. Also whether the enviroment / land on which those hotels would be situated is free of toxins
    Also whether the sea is safe for swimming. These and more enviromental questions would be asked of govt by any sensible investor which would cost millions of dollars to govt in the preplanning stage in order to find answers and satisfy the investor…”

    WOW!!!….. I’m truly amazed!!!!

    And you were vehemently defending the construction of the Hyatt Hotel……. and more so against the background of people raising issues similar to the ones you raised in your above comments?

    Or did you changed your perspective on the issue?

  29. john2 Avatar
    john2

    You are trying to hit at the present government about contaminating the underground water.

    The previous government tried to divert the sewage from coming up in the streets by using injection well. where was the sewage discharge from these well going?

    You talk talk talk but will not answer a question honestly.

  30. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    John 2 it is you who keeps throwing the politics card so i respond accordingly
    Mia made an asinine statement about building Hotels along the South coast
    I questioned the enviromental impact drawn upon the previous years of contamination in that area from the Sewer plant
    You bellows that i am pointing fingers
    Yes indeed (i am )only because the statement made about massive hotel construction on the South Coast was made by the present PM

  31. WARU Avatar
    WARU

    Is it just me..am here trying to follow this but keep getting lost….

    “I am shaking my head because something does not seem quite right and which begs the question what happened to the article which was earlier posted referencing Mia six month report card on the economy
    For certain nothing in the blp manifesto of 2018 can have a six month report card as to what was stated in Parliament a couple days ago
    There is a puppeteer pulling some body strings on BU.”

  32. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    Listen up bro u are comparing apples with oranges
    if memory serves correct ( (when the issue of the Hyatt was being debated )no one spoke about enviromental hazards due to any form of contamination around the baystreet area
    The only issues i remember in concern to the Hyatt was height and it being situated in the what is known as the World Heritage corridor
    Also the closing off access to the beach as a problem or some other concern about Hyatt height would impact negatively a view to the open Windows to the sea
    Other than those couple issues nothing about contamination was brought forward as a concern

  33. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    Waru..earlier this morning at tge crack of dawn i read an article penned by david about Mia six month report card which Mia delivered in Parliament a few days ago.i specifically remebering mention of Hants name at the end of the article
    I belive two or three comments were made then the article disappeared
    Some one made mention that the article was being highlighted in the menu column which is titled BLPManifesto 2018
    The reason why i am a bit mystified is because the earlier article does not have the same wording as the that in the blp manifesto

  34. john2 Avatar
    john2

    Under whose watch were these previous years of contamination?

  35. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    “Is it just me..am here trying to follow this but keep getting lost….”

    Naaaaaahhhh………

    I keep getting lost as well.

    WARU….. Mariposa is mistaken…… or being dishonest…..PURPOSELY.

    I’m not attempting to defend David or Barbados Underground…… but…..in all fairness to him and the blog……..the article she keeps referring to: “BLP Manifesto Scorecard,”…….

    ………… was posted to this forum on May 28, 2018….. and perhaps that maybe one of the reasons why is not shown in the current listing of recently posted articles.

    As it relates to: “I specifically remember the article because the article made mention of Hants in closing,” if you were to read the ending of THIS particular article re: “Carving a Hotel Corridor,” you will see the following remark:

    “@Hants: You requested to have this matter posted. Expecting you to lead the discussion!”

    Sand when I read it this morning at approximately 4:45 AM, no one had made any comments, but I later at around 5:35 AM, the only comment came from Kammie Holder at 5:29AM.

    Rather than being difficult, all she had to do was use BU’s search engine to locate the particular article. In the interest of peace…..here is the link.

    https://barbadosunderground.net/2018/05/28/2018-blp-manifesto-scorecard/#comments

  36. WARU Avatar
    WARU

    lol…I knew I was not going crazy..Mariposa, ya really need to stop.

  37. WARU Avatar
    WARU

    Just go back to the first page on this link Mariposa..

  38. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    No Artax i am not being puposely difficult
    The article this morning was penned in a different tone and manner
    What i am reading on the thread which you have posted is a version and embedded comments which were specifically posted on newer the article this morning
    Be that as it may if as you alluded the article was previuosly posted before
    My question then asked why was the article quickly removed after three or four negative responses

  39. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    I might not be the brightest in the bunch but i can see very well.
    There was a new article posted which made reference to Mia report card in parliament a few days ago
    This hochas poocus slight of hand theatrics can move a few from a view of reality but not me.

  40. Donks Gripe and Josh Avatar
    Donks Gripe and Josh

    [[[[[— Prime Minister Allen Chastanet has announced that a major new hotel project is coming to Saint Lucia.
    The 400-room Hyatt-branded hotel will be located in Choc.
    Invest Saint Lucia has completed transactions with a Barbados-based firm to buy the land for the project.
    Choc Beach is located in northwestern Saint Lucia, north of the capital, Castries.
    Addressing the Saint Lucia Chamber of Commerce recently Chastanent said the new hotel will be a mix of European plan and all-inclusive options, according to the Prime Minister.
    Construction on the new Hyatt project is slated to begin in the second half of next year, according to a government statement.]]]]

    Mia Mottley speaks of sabotage here is real sabotage in action. This is where the hotel the czar of saboteurs chase from Barbados has gone. A primary school child could have predicted that sabotage would be Barbados’ loss but another island’s gain. Millions of direct foreign investment and thousands of jobs for poor black people lost because of pure spite.
    St. Lucia policy has been to pay close attention to developments in Barbados and to poach and back raise wherever opportunities present themselves. Hyatt is a classic example . The sabotage enabler deserves to be a guest of Her Majesty’s Dodds for a long stiff term of imprisonment..

  41. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    Anyhow not going to loose sleep there is a five year period where all will be revealed in time as the koolaid drinkers become mystified with fear as to what is going to happen next
    When i spoke a couple months ago having a concern to the enviroment and the cost of its negative impact from the Sewer plant which it would bring to our economy every one snickered
    However Mottley grand standing in proposing to build hotels in the South Coast corridor now will have govt prepared to spend milions of dollars to clean that area making it as possibly free of contamination before investors take a look.

  42. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    Commissiong Yuh hear that..but what de hell.
    Food on your table a nice pay check in hand at taxpayers expense
    A belly laugh all the way to the bank
    In the mean while Hyatt looks for fertile ground while bajans are paying taxes to warehouse a bloated and insensitive govt.

  43. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    “However Mottley grand standing in proposing to build hotels in the South Coast corridor…….”

    Hmmmmm……….

    I believe when you’re going to criticize……. you should exercise some level of HONESTY and FAIRNESS in your criticisms, so as not to MISLEAD readers.

    If you were to read the article thoroughly, you would see a reference made to Mottley’s plan to “litter the coastline BETWEEN Hastings (Christ Church) and Paradise Beach (Black Rock, St. Michael) with about twelve hotels with four receiving upgrades,”………

    ……… and NOT “to build hotels in the South Coast corridor,” which is incorrect. This is what yard fowls do….they focus on a particular phrase in a comment, interpret it out of its intended context, and use it as a basis to spew their rhetorical political diatribe. This is dishonesty.

    As it relates t your other comment, I’m sure you are mistaken, because I also read the article this morning and I have not seen any differences in its construct then…… and now.

    But rather than ADMIT you perhaps made a mistake, you prefer to insinuate that the blog master engaged in some sort of untoward, underhand political manouver…….by deliberately removing and changing the article, because such actions falls within your narrow political agenda.

    Anyhow……. as your newly appointed “BU press secretary” and “fan club chairman” would “say,”…. “I’m out of the discussion.”

    David BU is capable enough to defend himself.

  44. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    @plt
    as far as your QED, what you have given is an empirical deduction relative to the current stock. This doesn’t mean that additional stock at specific targets will not fill. We don’t know because we don’t have them. But I will accept, the current stock is below 100% occupancy, and it has always been seasonal.

    the cuteness of which you speak is 30 years in construction. I will briefly add beyond the structure of the deal, you have the management of the project. There are many ways to skin the cat, you need to bolt all doors. And yes it is a very crooked industry, but controlling any project is not unrealistic. You just need two honest people, one at the owner’s end and one at the primary contractor. They control the purse strings and what gets done.

  45. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    AC

    Has the entire DLP been arrested, charged with treason, for the crimes against God and man?

    Until that happens you have no right to be critical.

  46. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    Can’t get garbage off the streets; can’t get a proper public transportation system; education system approaching uselessness; school meal workers going home; water system approaching chaos- nothing to worry about folks ; let’s build twenty or thirty hotels folks
    Why not………….

  47. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    @NorthernObserver
    “This doesn’t mean that additional stock at specific targets will not fill.”
    +++++++++
    Given that our current airlift flies at full capacity during the peak season, who is going to fill this additional stock and how are they going to get here? Swim? Walk on water?

    Setting targets and hoping is not a plan. We need a plan.

  48. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    @NorthernObserver
    I’m glad to see that you know about construction, so you will understand that pivotal importance of construction sequence. It’s no different when you are building a business or an industry. You cannot install the elevators before you lay the foundation. First you build the visitor base with appealing events and attractions, then you expand the airlift to cope with demand, then you fill out the accommodation options.

  49. john2 Avatar
    john2

    PTL.

    It is a ten years vision!

  50. john2 Avatar
    john2

    Thirty years ago the smart watch was only on the comic character Dick Tracy. Today it is a reality

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