SETTLERS BEACH HOTEL, an upscale West Coast property, may become a private villa facility if a proposed business deal succeeds.An offer is being made to the British shareholders of Settlers Beach Hotel through its board of directors, for the purchase of their shares in the property. That potential purchaser for the Holetown, St James property reportedly plans to replace the hotel operation with privately-owned villas. That change could cost 26 Barbadians their jobs.A SUNDAY SUN source said that such a move would mean the loss of yet another prime traditional Barbados hotel, and jobs for Barbadians who had worked at the resort for as long as 25 years.A competing offer for the shares made by locally-based hotel developers BACASA Development Limited has been turned down. This was confirmed by developer Mark King, a partner in BACASA, who said his bid had been rejected by the chairman of the Settlers Beach board. King said his company was in the process of submitting its proposal directly to the individual shareholders.Settlers Beach Hotel consists of 22 individual suites and operates as a resort which primarily attracts visitors from Britain. The valuable beachfront property has reportedly experienced some financial problems in recent times, necessitating an injection of funds by shareholders to keep the operation afloat.King expressed disappointment that BACASA had been turned down even though he said they had offered “the same money per share as the other party”.“We had also offered to put in some more money into the operation to keep it up and running until such time as we could complete, and then redevelop and renovate the property. “As of Thursday, we were writing to the individual shareholders to see which offer they would accept. We felt the best use of the property would be to retain it as a hotel.”During his term as president of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association, hotelier Wayne Capaldi had been vocal about the proliferation of condominiums along the West Coast, particularly at the expense of traditional hotel properties.
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