Reports continue to circulate that the Crowne Plaza Golf Resort and Casino at the Royal Oasis has been sold to Kerzner International, but efforts to confirm that yesterday were unsuccessful.
When contacted, executives of the Crowne Plaza said they weren’t aware that the resort has been acquired by Kerzner International, which is headed by Sol Kerzner, CEO of the world famous Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island.
The Freeport News contacted Sun Atlantis in an effort to determine whether the reports were true or not. We were directed to Vice President of Public Affairs Ed Fields, who was not available to take the call.
The Ministry of Trade and Investments was also contacted, but no one who could comment was available to do so.
The reports come only weeks after Donald Archer, senior vice president for the Crowne Plaza, announced that the massive restoration of the resort has been suspended.
“We found it necessary to suspend work on the renovations at the Royal Oasis until we have come to a definitive agreement with the company’s insurance company,” Archer said in a press statement on Christmas Eve.
His announcement came as a huge disappointment to the approximately 1,300 employees who were laid off when the Crowne Plaza ceased operations in September following two horrific hurricanes that seriously damaged the resort.
Initially, executives had announced that the Crowne Plaza, the second largest resort in Grand Bahama, would have opened in December, but then it was announced that February was more feasible and more recently April. With work now suspended, employees feel that the projected April opening is impractical.
The Crowne Plaza has been at the centre of controversy for years, as confrontations continually occurred between employees and management regarding back pay, benefits and claims of unfair dismissal.
The Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union, which represents the majority of the employees, has accused Driftwood, the owner of the Royal Oasis, of mistreating workers, making the work environment hostile.
The often heated disputes between employees, management and the union made the front pages of newspapers in the country.
After executives of the BHCAWU had toured the hurricane ravaged Crowne Plaza they commented that the resort could be open for business in December and not February and accused Driftwood of delaying the opening to avoid having to mete out salaries, which amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars each month.
One union executive went as far as saying Driftwood is happy that the hurricanes came so that the company could justify closing the resort.
In response, an executive of the Crowne Plaza took The Freeport News on an exclusive tour of the resort to see firsthand the amount of devastation caused by the hurricanes.
The tour was conducted by Public Relations Director Donald Glass, who noted that over 80 percent of the walls in the nearly 1,000 room hotel sustained water damage and had to be gutted and replaced.
The restoration, he said, would be extensive and costly and stressed that the opening dates were only projections and not guarantees.
The Minister of Labour Vincent Peet in November urged Driftwood to pay its employees moneys owed them. He branded as unacceptable the fact that the company was withholding money owed to workers and insisted that the funds be paid post-haste.
During the Christmas, employees of the Crown Plaza gathered at the BHCAWU building downtown and cried foul against the resort after they didn’t receive any kind of holiday compensation.
By NAVARDO SAUNDERS, Freeport News Reporter
