ALTHOUGH GENERALLY OPTIMISTIC about the current winter season, some hoteliers are concerned about occupancies past April.
Quite a few of those in attendance at last week’s Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association’s (CHTA) Caribbean Travel Marketplace, which was held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre, Jamaica, said while they were relatively pleased with business meetings held with leading tour operators, they were looking forward to last-minute bookings to take them past the end of the official winter season on April 15.
General manager of Accra Beach Resort, Jon Martineau, told the MIDWEEK NATION: “What we are hearing from tour operators and travel agents is that 2014 is looking positive. Compared to last year, bookings are ahead at this stage for the first three months. Looking positive therefore does not speak for the entire year.”
While he was satisfied with the number of meetings he and his management team held with tour operators at the event, Martineau said beyond January, February and March, there was not much business on the charts.
“I am hoping that last-minute bookings will hold for Barbados,” he stressed.
Gayle Headley-Lowe of Intimate Hotels said there had been a mixture in terms of accommodation for those hotels with 75 rooms and under.
“Business is mixed right now, but we are hoping it will get better. Some of our hoteliers said they had a really good Christmas, but we are also hoping that Government continues to spend money to make the tourism product much better, so we can reap greater rewards.”
Rod Weatherhead of the Sun Group, which manages Savannah Beach Resort and Sugar Cane Club, was upbeat about the current season.
“The Christmas season has been very good. Bookings for the rest of the winter are also quite good. We are not full, but we are sure we will fill up.”
He added: “The truth is, it is not looking like a bad winter, but bookings were further advanced last year. In fact, last year outperformed this year in terms of bookings for both properties.”
Weatherhead said the group’s two low-budget properties, Time Out At The Gap and Worthing View Apartment Hotel, “are doing quite well”.
He added that Almond Beach Resort, now managed by the Sun Group, was also holding its own.
“We are very excited about this property. Hotel rooms went on sale three weeks ago and within three weeks we have had a good volume of bookings. We are excited about this and the tour operators are excited too. We will actually do quite well with our 135 rooms . . . . Most of our visitors will be those from the United Kingdom.”