The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The founder of a major international hotel chain yesterday said its new Paradise Island resort is set to double staffing levels to 200 by the New Year, following a near-$50 million renovation programme.

Richard Chiu, the Hong Kong-born president and founder of the Warwick Hotels and Resorts Group, said its all-inclusive property should be set for a full opening by Christmas/New Year, while predicting a “reasonably good” holiday period.

He told Tribune Business that “just short of $50 million” had been invested in upgrading the 250-room Warwick Paradise Island, formerly the Paradise Island Harbour Resort  which was purchased in from Lehman Brothers Holdings and Driftwood Hospitality Management (via Gemwood Paradise Ltd) during a 2012 auction.

Mr Chiu, explaining that the property fits perfectly into Warwick’s portfolio, said: “It took a bit more money and time than we thought necessary to get it to this point, but that is not surprising. The total cost is just a bit short of $50 million to get the hotel to this point.

“We specialise in renovating buildings with good location and history and heritage. Many of our hotels in North America are buildings with excellent location and certain heritage. This definitely fits into the kind of business model, our portfolio. This is the kind of hotel that we look for.”

Mr Chiu added: “In North America, most of our properties are city-centred hotels. This is our first resort. We expect this to perform just as good.

“We have other resorts in the Pacific. Those are very different hotels. They are bigger and larger. We expect that the performance of this hotel will be comparable to other North American hotels. We loved the location of this hotel. It’s facing the lagoon. It has a beach, the history of the building is interesting, and it’s on Paradise Island, which has an image already.”

The Warwick Paradise Island had a soft opening last Friday, which was delayed for some two weeks due to damage caused by Hurricane Matthew. 

“The resort has recovered. We suffered some landscaping damage and certain water leaks. We addressed those and now we are back on track. We already have 10 rooms with paid guests,” Mr Chiu added.

“For the holiday period things look good. That is traditionally the high period. It looks reasonably good. We are hoping to do the kind of forecast that we had been forecasting.

“We have, right now, during the soft opening period about 100 staff. We will have about 200 when the hotel is fully running. That should be by Christmas or New Year. By then we will have sorted out all of the teething problems.”

The Warwick Hotels and Resorts Group now has a collection of 53 hotels with close to 9,000 rooms worldwide.

The Warwick Paradise Island features  250 rooms on 12 floors, five dining options, two bars, a fully equipped fitness centre, entertainment and activities, an onsite gift shop and a tour desk offering sightseeing options.