Jamaica Government probes sale of Sandals Whitehouse Hotel

GORSTEW Limited has pledged to co-operate with the contractor general’s probe of the negotiations for the sale of the Sandals Whitehouse hotel in Westmoreland and has made public a 24-point statement of facts on the project.

In a statement published in today’s Sunday Observer, Gorstew, Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart’s holding company, said it “welcomes and will co-operate with any investigation mounted by the contractor general in relation to the sale of Sandals Whitehouse”.

Gorstew’s statement comes amidst swirling controversy over the sale talks which the company has insisted are not secret, contrary to a Sunday Herald story a few weeks ago.

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• Jamaica Government to lend 'Butch' US$32.5m ... For Sandals Whitehouse acquisition (hospitalitybusinessnews.com)

Jamaica Government to lend 'Butch' US$32.5m ... For Sandals Whitehouse acquisition

Butch Stewart

Gordon 'Butch' Stewart has agreed to surrender his 33 per cent stake in the management company for Sandals Whitehouse for US$1, but will then buy the hotel property outright from the Government in a deal that prices the resort at US$40 million (J$3.4 billion).

Under the sale deal announced by Prime Minister Bruce Golding last week, Stewart will upfront US$7.5 million in cash as down payment on the hotel, but will then receive a vendor's mortgage from the Jamaican Government for the remaining purchase price of US$32.5 million.

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Sandals all-inclusive model hurts Exuma

Sandals' purchase of the Emerald Bay Resort has not made the economic impact Exuma hoped for, the president of the island's Chamber of Commerce said yesterday, arguing that its all-inclusive nature meant that 'trickle down' and spin-off effects for Bahamian-owned businesses were limited.
Speaking at a press conference to promote the upcoming Exuma Business Outlook Conference, Floyd Armbrister said many Exumians had been "shocked into reality" since the Sandals property re-opened earlier this year, and now recognised that the growth years enjoyed when Emerald Bay was operated under the Four Seasons brand may not return.

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Sandals eyes new resort purchase

Sandals is eyeing the purchase of another Exuma-based resort from receivership, this time the $110 million Grand Isle Villas Resort, Tribune Business can reveal, the situation having caused "immediate panic" and a "total sense of shock" on the island.
The all-inclusive resort chain would be an obvious purchaser of the 78-unit property, given that it sits at the heart of the Emerald Bay resort, which Sandals purchased from a different set of receivers in late 2009 for around $25 million.

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Ex-Sandals resort set to reopen as an independent

The all-inclusive Jewel Beach Resort and Spa, the former Sandals Dunn’s River Villagio, will reopen Sept. 1 in Ocho Rios, Jamaica.

The hotel is owned by Sagicor Life Jamaica and will be managed by Dallas-based Aimbridge Hospitality, which also manages the Embassy Suites San Juan Hotel & Casino and 50 properties across numerous brands in the U.S.

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View from the top - Sandals' all-butler Emerald Bay resort

One of the biggest names in tourism, the man behind the Sandals resort vision - Gordon 'Butch' Stewart, has written an open letter about the $20 million transformation of the former Four Seasons in Great Exuma into the new Sandals' all-butler Emerald Bay resort.


Some 350 employees are employed at the revamped resort, at least 300 of them Bahamian, many of them previous Four Seasons staff who have returned to the fold under the new company.

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Airline confident on Sandals tie-up

Air Canada is confident its partnership to serve Sandals' Emerald Bay resort in Exuma will be profitable, despite its packaged vacations representing only 15 per cent of seats to the Bahamas.

Stephen Hector, Sandals' spokesman, said Air Canada was excited about what the resort chain has been doing to improve the property in Exuma, and decised to create a new route direct from Toronto.

Venice Walkine, director-general of the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism and Aviation, said Air Canada considered the mechanics and economics of entering into a partnership with Sandals and moved forward with once-a-week direct airlift to the island.

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80 lose jobs at Sandals Royal Bahamian

Nine months after Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort sent home 150 employees, it has laid off another 80 workers.
Those workers have joined the unemployment line at a time when the hotel sector is entering its slowest period.
Confirming a Nassau Guardian article yesterday that job cuts are imminent, Sandals blamed low occupancy levels at the Cable Beach property on the latest round of layoffs.

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Sandals Resorts International Purchases Four Seasons In Great Exuma, Bahamas

MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica, Aug. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Sandals Resorts International (SRI), parent company of Sandals Resorts, Beaches Resorts, The Royal Plantation Collection and Grand Pineapple Beach Resorts, today announced the purchase of the recently shuttered Four Seasons Resort Great Exuma at Emerald Bay for an undisclosed sum. According to Sandals Resorts Founder and Chairman, Gordon "Butch" Stewart, the 500-acre property, which features a championship Greg Norman golf course and world-class marina, is set to become a Sandals Resort and will be called Sandals Emerald Bay, Great Exuma, Bahamas. Following certain enhancements customary to the Sandals Resorts brand, including an expansive new pool complex and additional dining establishments, the resort will open January 22, 2010.

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