Once Slated for December, Baha Mar Sets Late Spring Opening

The grand opening of the Bahamas' Baha Mar resort complex might be pushed back six months, marking a delay in what is widely believed to be the most expensive private development in the country's history.

Next month, the $3.5 billion complex, originally slated to open by the end of the year, will begin taking reservations from the general public for rooms at its five hotels for stays starting in "late spring 2015," according to Robert Sands, Baha Mar's senior vice present of administration and external affairs.

Sands said that a few of the resorts' more than 2,900 rooms will be opened as early as mid-December for previews by travel partners, media, travel agents and other VIPs. He declined to say which hotels would be ready for the soft opening.

"We are confirming a grand opening celebration planned for late spring," Sands said. The project is on budget, he said, adding that further details would be disclosed Oct. 1.

"The rationale is the fact that this is an extremely complex project," he said.

Sands declined to classify the late spring grand opening as a delay, though Baha Mar President Tom Dunlap last fall, in comments to the travel trade, said the project would open as previously planned in December 2014 and that it was on schedule to do so.

Backed by China's state-run Export-Import Bank of China and constructed by the China State Construction Engineering Corp., Baha Mar broke ground at Nassau's Cable Beach in February 2011 with plans for four new hotels plus what had previously been the 694-room Sheraton Nassau Beach Hotel as well as a casino, a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course and a convention center.

The new hotels in the project, which includes more than a half-mile of beachfront, were to include the 1,000-room Baha Mar Casino & Hotel, a 707-room Grand Hyatt, a 200-room Rosewood Hotel and a 300-room, 107-luxury residences property that was slated to fly under Morgans Hotel Group's Mondrian flag.

Last December, Melia Hotels International reflagged the Sheraton as the Melia Nassau Beach Resort and will rename it the Melia at Baha Mar. It will be the development's only all-inclusive property. In June, SBE Entertainment announced that it was taking over the Mondrian site and will rebrand it under its SLS Hotels flag.

Sands declined to say how many conventions have been booked for Baha Mar next year. However, he said he was "encouraged" by the talks Baha Mar has had with both international air carriers and the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism about boosting airlift into the country to accommodate the expected boost in tourism numbers.

Because of the resort's size, both Pleasant Holidays CEO Jack Richards and Classic Vacations President David Hu said they were not surprised by the delay. Richards said Pleasant Holidays had not planned to book groups into Baha Mar until next spring, while Hu said Classic had been holding off on bookings until at least February even before the most recent news of the delay.

"Even then, we were waiting for further indications that the project was closer to completion before we opened the inventory in our reservation system," Hu said. "But we do believe that opening in a softer period should be a better experience for the clients and allow them to still capitalize on summer travel."

Either way, the delay could mean a temporary reprieve from the effects of a jump in Bahamas room inventory for competing resorts such as the 3,414-room Atlantis Paradise Island and One&Only Ocean Club on the Bahamas' Paradise Island.

The Atlantis property in September will join Marriott International's Autograph Collection in a franchise agreement under which Marriott will provide a $100 million mezzanine loan for the resort, which was developed in 1994.

The One&Only property was acquired in spring by Access Industries, though Kerzner International will continue to operate the 105-room resort under the One&Only badge.

Officials for Rosewood and SBE referred questions about the delayed opening to Baha Mar. A Hyatt representative said he did not have further details as of Friday, while Melia declined to respond to a request for comment from Travel Weekly.

Source: Travel Weekly