The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

One-fifth of stopover visitors say their Nassau/Paradise Island vacation does not meet ‘value for money’ expectations, research unveiled yesterday disclosed.

Graeme Davis, president of Baha Mar’s new owner, Chow Tai Fook Enterprises (Bahamas), revealed statistics - which also showed the property’s opening will increase the ‘luxury’ share of New Providence’s room inventory by 18 percentage points - at yesterday’s Bahamas Business Outlook.

His presentation, likely employing Nassau/Paradise Island Promotion Board data, disclosed that tourist exit surveys revealed that 20 per cent of visitors to Nassau reported their stay did “not meet price/value expectations”.

The finding again raises ‘value for money’ concerns for the Bahamian tourism/hotel industry, and fears that this nation is still potentially ‘pricing itself out’ of a significant segment of the vacationer market due to its high operating cost base.

This forces Bahamian resorts to compensate by charging relatively high room rates, and into attempting to provide high-end experiences that will ‘blow away’ customers.

This was evident from Mr Davis’s presentation, which disclosed that average daily room rates (ADRs) in the Bahamas were typically 20-40 per cent higher than the Caribbean average since 2012.

The Baha Mar chief also disclosed that once the project, and its extra 2,300 rooms, were fully open, luxury, upscale rooms would increase from the present 23 per cent to 41 per cent of Nassau/Paradise Island’s total room inventory.

The data also compensated somewhat for the dissatisfied ‘one-fifth’ with the finding that 29 per cent of Nassau/Paradise Island visitors reported their vacation as being “much better than expected”.

Mr Davis, meanwhile, told the Business Outlook that Baha Mar’s new owner may be prepared to help Bahamians establish sustainable agriculture and fisheries, including hydroponics, operations given that these would also enable the resort development to thrive.

He added that Baha Mar’s management teams were “moving into the hotels” that will be part of the April 21 ‘soft opening’ this week, due to the progress achieved to-date by the main project contractor, China Construction America (CCA).

CTFE intends to open the casino and casino hotel, plus the convention centre, by that April date, with Mr Davis suggesting yesterday that the golf course was in good enough condition to open by end-March.

He added that the number of hotel rooms open by April 21 could vary from 200-1,000, although the number was likely to be towards the higher end of that range, with the Bahamas’ traditional markets - Florida and the US north-east- targeted for the first guests.

Mr Davis said the ‘soft opening’s’ timing could work to Baha Mar’s advantage, as it would have the slower summer months to both ramp-up recruitment to more than 4,000, and bring staff up to the standards of its three brands - Grand Hyatt, Rosewood and SLS - in time for the main launch in winter 2017.

Emphasising that Baha Mar wanted to be “flawless”, and exceed guest expectations, Mr Davis explained that CTFE and the project would gain no return on their investment if they were to launch a big marketing push now.

Many observers had questioned how Baha Mar would find guests for its ‘soft opening’ without marketing, but Mr Davis said: “We want to make sure we take a very thoughtful approach, and not just spend millions and millions.

“It’s a very short-term booking window before the summer season. To spend money in January, we don’t think it’s a wise investment. We want to make sure we invest when the focus is right and the timing coming in.”

Mr Davis said Baha Mar’s marketing and public relations drive would kick-off in February and March, with CTFE expecting to finalise co-operative marketing spend with the Government and Ministry of Tourism.

The three hotel brands and Nassau/Paradise Island Promotion Board will also contribute to the project’s promotion.