South Ocean Golf and Beach Resort officials are expected to submit a master plan to the Government by the Thanksgiving holiday that will outline plans for a $10 million upgrade and repositioning of the 120-room property into a ﾓfour-and-a-half starﾒ resort.
The resort hopes this positioning will fill the niche between Kerzner Internationalﾴs premier five-star property, the One & Only Ocean Club, and the more large-scale attractions resorts, such as Atlantis.
ﾓFor a long time the property was seen as not very profitable. It kept closing and opening its doors and there were several changes in ownership and management. We believed the only way to reposition ourselves was to close down the property completely and reposition ourselves as a higher quality product ﾖ a boutique hotel ﾖ along the lines of the One & Only Ocean Club,ﾒ said Jennifer McKinney, operations manager for South Ocean.
Following a tumultuous year marked by the lay-offs of more than 100 staff and the closure of the resortﾴs doors, due to what Ms. McKinney described as serious problems with electricity, water and air conditioning, the renovations will begin with five of the six Great House buildings along the water front. Phase I of the upgrade is expected to be completed by November 2005. Resort officials are currently in talks with an architecture and design firm, Mexico-based GVA Associates, to design a master plan for the upgrade and see what elements are needed to reposition South Ocean and take advantage of what is seen as an available market niche.
A former Four Seasons general manager has also been hired to organize the redesign and refurbishing of the properties into a four-and-a-half star hotel accommodation. South Ocean aims to have a $400 per night average room rate, compared with an $800 per night average at the One & Only Ocean Club.
The Tribune was told there was no intention of brining in an internationally-recognized brand to manage South Ocean, with resort officials believing an in-house management team will be better able to meet the needs of resort members by streamlining operations.
South Oceanﾴs owner, the Canadian Commercial Workers Industry Pension Plan, is also looking to diversify the resortﾴs product. The sixth Great House will be transformed into a timeshare facility, strengthening the existing 30 units.
Confident about the future growth of this sector, Ms. McKinney said market analysts had shown that timeshare properties were more resilient and buoyant during sluggish economic times. Thirty percent of South Oceanﾴs timeshares were sold by the previous investor, but none of the units are completely sold out.
Speaking with The Tribune at the Sixth Annual Timeshare & Resort Investment Conference, held in Orlando, Florida, Ms. McKinney said her role at the conference was to gather information about the operations of a timeshare facility and to determine the level of profitability that could be expected from such a venture.
She added that what was clearly brought home was that timeshare will be a key component in the changing face of global travel and leisure tourism, with more hotels offering a timeshare component.
The resilience of the market, the revenue streams available as a result of in-house financing and maintenance fees, the strong loyalty of unit owners and non-seasonal nature of travel, with more timeshare operators showing an 85 percent year-round occupancy level, all added up to create an extremely viable and highly profitable business segment for an investor willing to run a well-maintained resort in a highly sought-after destination, Ms. McKinney said.
Additional plans for South Ocean include an upgrade to the golf course at a cost of more than $5 million. International design specialists are expected to begin work on the course in a few weeks. There is also talk of introducing a small gaming facility, along the lines of a European dining and gaming club. The introduction of a casino at South Ocean will, however, only take place after the entire resort has been upgraded and additional rooms added, which are stipulations imposed by the Government before it will consider granting approval for the activation of the propertyﾴs casino licence. The opening of the casino is expected to take place by early 2007.
Resort officials have also partnered with Stuartﾴs Cove, the family-run diving operation, and are hoping to create a stand-out product that will incorporate the diving component into the resortﾴs attractions.
Yolanda Deleveaux, The Tribune
