The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

Cape Eleuthera Resort & Marina has “more than doubled” its room capacity this summer by adding 18-single bedroom cottages via a $10 million investment, a senior executive confirmed yesterday.

Scott Gorsline, the resort’s vice-president of operations, told Tribune Business that its owners, the DeVos family from Michigan, had taken a “steady” approach to development.

“We continue to add employees, and we are over 40 right now,” he said. “Our approach is steady growth, be smart about it and do it the right way. The guests keep coming in, our occupancy rates continue to grow, RevPAR continues to grow, and so a lot of those key performance indicators continue to improve, which is great for our owners to continue to invest in the property.”

Mr Gorsline said “multiple millions of dollars” have been invested into the property to-date. “They are trying to be smart about it,” he added of the owners, “because if you build too much and it’s just sitting there, no one feels good about it.

“We are expanding gradually. The 18 rooms that we added has more than doubled the capacity here. We have 32 rooms, 14 two-bedroom villas along the marina and 18 one-bedroom cottages which just opened in July. There is a lot more room for growth. We have 4,500 acres here at Cape Eleuthera.”