The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

THE BAHAMAS Boutique Hotel Group’s chairman said yesterday that there was “no buyer’s remorse” over its acquisition of the historic Hope Town Lodge, adding that it was waiting until “three to four months” into the season to assess the property’s financial performance.

The group announced back in August that it had acquired the historic 25-room property, revealing plans to invest in several more-boutique type hotels over the next few years.

Peter Andrews told Tribune Business yesterday: “We’re making gradual changes as far as the buildings are concerned, playing around with a little different menu, and we’re doing a different bar set-up.

“We have been pleased with the reception from the community at large, and the loyalty from the hotel residents is strong. We’re getting our marketing programme sorted out and we’ll see how well we do in increasing our heads in beds figure. We think we’re going OK.”

Mr Andrews added: “Hope Town is a popular place to go and Abaco is showing to be a good tourist destination. I can’t wait until the airport opens to see what that does for us. I’d say we’re happy buyers; no buyer’s remorse.”

While the success of the Hope Town venture will ultimately serve as the catalyst for similar investments in the future, Mr Andrews said the group was currently focused solely on the Hope Town Lodge.

“We haven’t started looking anywhere else,” he told Tribune Business. “I think that will come to us when it’s time. We want to get Hope Town Lodge up and running. Just as the first place we tried to buy, we didn’t buy, Hope Town was the second place and we did buy, and I think it was meant to be, so we will find out what the next meant to be is.

“We are getting presented with things from time to time. We are happy campers right now, and we need to get three for four months under the season to see how we are doing financially.

“I think we are going to stay in the 25-35 room bracket. You need a certain number of rooms to make it viable. These 200-room deals really are not what we are looking for. When I look at the size of what we are doing it seems compatible with the size of the community we are in.”

In terms of marketing the property, Mr Andrews said: “I suspect our easiest market would be Florida, the south eastern United States.

“A lot will depend on airlift, who’s flying and where they are coming from. We have a loyal following from the south eastern United States. I would like to capitalse on that and get a few more planes coming in from the Charleston and Charlotte area.”