FREEPORT, Grand Bahama – Starwood Hotel’s, manager of the Our Lucaya Resort in Freeport this week posted what officials said were record fiscal results for the company’s second quarter 2005.
The Westin at Our Lucaya Resort in Freeport
The announcement came on the heels of what Labour Minister Vincent Peet recently said was the Our Lucaya Resort’s commitment to retaining all of its close to 1200 employees as the property handles business through the typical slow tourist season on the island.
Starwood said its income jumped by $49 million to $156 million compared to the same period last year and its adjusted earnings increased 26.1 percent to $391 million compared to the $310 million it earned in SQ 2004.
“Our results this quarter were outstanding,” said Steven J. Heyer, Starwood CEO. “The strength of our brand should also enable Starwood to capture its share of the wallet both inside and outside of the four walls of the hotel.”
Up to December 31, 2004, Starwood said its hotel portfolio included 733 owned, leased, managed and franchised hotels totaling approximately 231,000 rooms in 80 countries.
In its report, Starwood said bookings at its resorts were also up, indicating that gross bookings had increased by 10 percent over the same period last year.
The hotel chain also reported a 30 percent boost in gross online bookings compared to last year’s second quarter.
Earnestine Moxyz, public relations manager for the Our Lucaya Resort recently told the Bahama Journal that bookings at the island’s largest resort were up this year compared to last year, attributing the boost in part to the closure of the Royal Oasis Resort which took over 1000 hotel rooms on the island offline.
Government officials celebrated Starwood as a strong, globally recognizable brand for the Our Lucaya resort built by the Hutchison Whampoa group – Freeport’s largest investor.
In its company overview, the hotel chain said the strength of its brands was demonstrated through the ratings that it received from hotel guests and industry publications.
In 2004 Starwood is said to have had had more than 30 of its top hotels on the Condé Nast Traveler’s 2004 Readers Choice Awards List.
As of last December it employed approximately 120,000 employees at its corporate offices, owned and managed hotels and vacation ownership resorts, of whom approximately 44 percent were employed in the United States, according to the company.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts has also signed an agreement with Eleuthera Properties Ltd. to develop Cotton Bay Villas, a new resort that will be a member of Starwood’s Luxury Collection.
Officials had plans for the 1,500-acre project to be unveiled in two phases with Phase I comprising two- and three-bedroom villas, 114 estate lots and a 26,000-sq.-ft. Clubhouse. The soft opening is scheduled for December 2006 with 25 beachfront units and clubhouse with full amenities and services and a private marina.
The 73-guestroom resort is expected to be completed December 2007. Future phases will include an 18-hole championship golf course, wellness center/spa, additional real estate development and expansion of the marina.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Perry Christie expressed some degree of disappointment in the delay in getting a development at Cotton Bay, Eleuthera off the ground, as he helped to break ground for it.
By: Sharon Williams, The Bahama Journal
