Chief Executive Officer of Elite Island Resorts Rob Barrett has said that some measure of the decline in Antigua’s hotel offerings is due to the inaction of hoteliers and the much-used refrains of a poor government or a bad economy.
Barrett declared that “the real problem” was that there were some hotels in Antigua that were dilapidated and added that both the former and current administration had “bent over backwards” to offer some hoteliers concessions in order for them to revamp their properties.
Hotels such as the Grand Royal Antiguan and the Halcyon Cove by Rex Resorts have been on the government’s radar for acquisition and rehabilitation for the last two years.
The hotel magnate said some hoteliers are failing “to make their hotel internationally acceptable” and needed to “support the government and their intentions of trying to help with the decline”.
“This is the time for everyone to come together and plan together. Forget the politics,” he said.
“When I took over Jolly Beach I couldn’t believe it. I went to a room that did not have toilet seats. I went into rooms that didn’t have toilets at all. Out of approximately 470 rooms they only had 202 that could be occupied and I’m up to 400 now,” he added.
Since January of 2016, the financially constrained Jolly Beach Corporation, which owns the hotel, has engaged Elite Island Resorts to manage the property to avoid closure.