The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

FREEPORT – About seven of the 11 security officers at Old Bahama Bay will be transferred to work under a new management group that is now managing the resort in West End.

Derek Gape, operation and project manager at Old Bahama Bay, said that Island Ventures Realty, the new management group, has taken over management of the hotel for the condo owners and stakeholders at the property. When contacted on Thursday about layoffs at the resort, Mr Gape explained that the security officers on staff will be severed, but transferred to work under the new management group.

“The property is under new management now. The new hotel manager has taken on the security aspect of the hotel and various parcels within the development and the resort,” he told The Tribune. “And because they are now the new manager and taking over the security aspect, we have to sever the people who work for us,” Mr Gape explained.

Mr Gape indicated that the new owners have agreed to hire whoever wants to come over. “So it is not as if we are laying them off and they go out on their own without a job,” he explained. “The ones who want to come over are going to come over, and some of them have used this as an opportunity to move on and do different things.”

Some persons, he said, have businesses on the side and have decided not to return. “I think of the 11 security people at the property now, seven have agreed to roll over and work with the new management group, and the other four or five have decided to do something else in life. So it is not really a layoff per se where these people don’t have a job or an option, it is more of a transfer more than anything else.”

When asked about business at the resort, Mr Gape reported that things are looking positive. “The past three months have been better than the same time last year, and we think this year will definitely be better than 2011,” he said. “So we are feeling good. We are not setting any records but certainly moving in a good direction.”

Mr Gape said they are also excited about some of the different marketing ideas that the new management group has for the resort. “It is a new energy there now and we think it is going to get better,” he added.

Old Bahama Bay Resort and Yacht Harbour in West End is comprised of 73 condominiums and a marina.

It was recently added as the newest member of the Guy Harvey Outpost Resorts and Marinas, which is a collection of properties in unique destinations owned and staffed by people who are passionate about their time on, in, and around the water. It comprises a select group of outpost owners and operators.