Without naming names it seemed intended to disparage the general manager of a member hotel and used misinformation to present the case.
The treasurer of our association is the general manager of the British Colonial Hilton Hotel. He is also an active, valued and past member of other business and volunteer associations in The Bahamas. It is evident that Hilton International Hotels also values his skills, as evidenced by the fact that he was named General Manager of the Year for 1997 by Hilton International Hotels (U.K.) while serving as general manager of their Gatwick property. Additionally the finance team under his management won Finance Team of the Year and his hotel was recognized as one of the top five in profitability in the Hilton International group worldwide at that time.
He was appointed to his first general manager role at 35 years of age, making him one of the youngest general managers for a hotel over 600 rooms of the Hilton International group at the time.
Most of the hotels in The Bahamas have experienced very difficult times over the past two years. The reasons for this are well known and to claim otherwise is disingenuous at least. In fact at some points in the past year many hotels in The Bahamas experienced the lowest occupancies they have had in a decade and some have gone on record to that effect.
Over the past two years the Hilton has claimed the second largest fair market share among its competitive set (hotels with which it can reasonably be compared in size and scale of operation). While we appreciate the need for investors to receive returns on their investment, we consider it commendable that the Hilton has had three successive years of operational profitability, even if this was unable to produce a return for its owner.
Similar difficulties, or worse, have beset other properties in that competitive set.
This sets the record straight in this matter and we hope that future discussions in your columns on matters pertaining to the hotel sector will take a different tack and be accurate in content.
By Jeremy MacVean
President, Bahamas Hotel Association
