Starwood Hotels and Resorts has renewed its commitment to the Bahamas by joining forces with Baha Mar and Harrah’s Entertainment for a $1.6 billion “resort metropolis at Cable Beach.
Baha Mar Resorts Ltd., and its partners Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., announced Monday their joint venture to build, operate and co-own the new Baha Mar, 1,000-acre, mixed use destination resort metropolis in Nassau, The Bahamas.ﾠﾠThe announcement was made at a press conference at the St. Regis Hotel in New York City.ﾠﾠThe event, which also included a presentation by Minister of Tourism The Hon. Obie Wilchcombe, drew an in-person crowd of close to 100 business, financial and consumer press, and industry VIPs; and more than 100 participants via the event’s web simulcast.
At the official unveiling of the partnership on Monday night, Antonio Larino, vice-president of Real Estate Investments for the Starwood group noted that the company’s relationship with the Bahamas began when it took over the management of Our Lucaya in Freeport, making Starwood the largest private employer there. A subsidiary of Starwood is also in a timeshare joint venture with Sol Kerzner’s Atlantis Harborside Resort.
“At Baha Mar, we will be training and working with Bahamians to provide the best service anywhere in the Caribbean and we are certain that the warm Bahamian people will be up to the challenge,” Mr Larino told government officials and invited guests at the Rain Forest Theatre.
Baha Mar will feature the first and only collection of four Starwood brands at a single resort – a 330-room W at Baha Mar, including 100 condo units; a 300-room St Regis at Baha Mar, including 100 condo units; a 700-room Westin at Baha Mar; and a 700-room Sheraton at Baha Mar, all of which will be managed by Starwood. In addition to the hotels, Starwood’s Bliss and Remede branded luxury spas are also planned at the W and St Regis, respectively.
The partnership represents the addition of four hotels and 2,000 rooms to Starwood’s global portfolio, and is an important step forward in the company’s focus to expand in the Caribbean, said Mr Larino.
He said that already teams are working together to create a seamless guest experience.
The partnership between Baha Mar, Harrah’s Entertainment and Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide was officially announced in New York on Monday morning, and again in Nassau later that day.
Baha Mar Resorts’ features will include a free-standing luxury spa facility – the largest in the Caribbean; an eco-water park attraction with show lake for live performances and events; 175,000 sq ft of meeting space; and a 20-acre beach and pool experience with 3,000 feet of continuous beachfront.
Plans also include a 50,000 sq ft village with upscale retail, chef-branded restaurants, and entertainment venues. An extensive renovation to the current 550-room Wyndham Nassau Resort is also planned, bringing the number of hotels on the property to six. A variety of residential units will also be included in the initial phase. All together the resort will offer a total of 3,550 guest rooms, making it the largest in the Caribbean.
The three partners will make “cross property” investments in Baha Mar, a 1,000-acre, mixed-use, “one-of-a-kind” project at Cable Beach. Baha Mar will lead the investment with 57 percent, followed by Harrah’s with 33 percent and Starwood with 10 percent. The privately run Baha Mar Development Company will run services tying the resort together.
Harrah’s will operate a new 1,000-room Caesars Resort Hotel and a 95,000 sq ft casino – the size of two football fields.
Developers say that the project will provide 5,000 direct jobs in construction, along with many more spin-off benefits to the economy; and when finished will provide more than 5,000 permanent jobs, pumping more than $400 million into the local economy.
Mr Larino said that in today’s Internet age, travelers make sense of their many options through brands, and with the W, St Regis, Westin and Sheraton brands, Starwood hopes to attract thousands of new tourists and groups to the Baha Mar Resort.
“There are currently 21 million members of the Starwood preferred guest program, which make up 40-50 per cent of guests in our hotels,” said Mr Larino. “These visitors will help create thousands of jobs for Bahamians.”
He noted that there is still much work to do to make Baha Mar a reality, but with Harrah’s, Starwood and Baha Mar, “we can look forward in the not too distant future to opening the greatest resort ever seen.”
Construction is scheduled to begin in 2007, with the opening set for 2010. Future phases of Baha Mar will include additional hotels, a variety of residential offerings and a second 18-hole golf course. An agreement with Nicklaus Design to develop an 18-hole golf course as part of Phase 1 was previously announced.
Harrah’s Entertainment is the world’s largest provider of branded casino entertainment, and Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world.
From: The Bahama Journal
