![\"Baha](\"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Baha-Mar-contruction.jpg\")
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Amid concerns surrounding Morgans Hotel Group Management\u2019s move to terminate its hotel management agreement with Baha Mar, resort officials yesterday shot down speculation that the opening of the multibillion-dollar facility would be delayed.<\/p>\n
Morgans Hotel Group Management is one of three hotel management companies with which Baha Mar signed on in 2011 to manage its properties.<\/p>\n
Asked if Baha Mar is looking for another group to replace Morgans, Baha Mar Senior Vice President of Administration and External Relations Robert<\/p>\n
\u201cSandy\u201d Sands said, \u201cMorgans is still a part of the Baha Mar brand. There has been no change in that position to date.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sands spoke to reporters following Baha Mar\u2019s Leadership Development Institute (LDI) graduation program yesterday at the Melia Nassau Beach Resort.<\/p>\n
Sands\u2019 assurances come after Morgans Hotel Group Management notified Baha Mar that its 20-year hotel management agreement (HMA) with Baha Mar \u201cwould terminate effective 30 days later\u201d, according to court documents filed in New York.<\/p>\n
The 30-day deadline ended several days ago. The court action was allegedly the result of Baha Mar\u2019s failure to produce a \u201cnon-disturbance agreement\u201d, which would have protected Morgans Hotel Group Management from interference in the hotel\u2019s operations in the case of a default or foreclosure under the Baha Mar loan.<\/p>\n
Sands confirmed that the matter is still in court but expressed optimism about Baha Mar\u2019s future. The court battle has raised concerns about the resort\u2019s ability to meet its target opening date.<\/p>\n
But Sands said he doesn\u2019t expect that matter to negatively impact Baha Mar\u2019s operations \u201cat all\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will open on December 8, 2014 and we are progressing very quickly to ensure that that happens,\u201d\u2008he said.<\/p>\n
Baha Mar CEO and Chairman Sarkis Izmirlian and Baha Mar President Tom Dunlap also assured members of the public and future staff members of the resort\u2019s December opening during the LDI graduation ceremony. A\u2008total of 150 people graduated and are expected to be offered jobs at the resort.<\/p>\n
Sands said the $3.5 billion Baha Mar project is about 80 percent complete.<\/p>\n
He added that about 4,500 people are working to complete construction.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re doing finishing touches on the property, a lot of civil works. We are working from the inside of the hotel out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201c…It\u2019s just one big team effort working to meet this ultimate goal for December.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sands said Baha Mar will officially begin booking rooms in just over a month.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe start our bookings on July 1,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been taking group bookings\u2026we are very encouraged by group bookings. But we go live on July 1 for our leisure bookings, as we launch our new website and our booking engine for that to happen as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
As it relates to airlift, Sands said the resort is comfortable with that aspect.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are satisfied that a successful amount of implemented airlift has already been put in place for December of this year,\u201d he said<\/p>\n
\u201cThe team [including members] of the Ministry of Tourism, the promotion board, the private sector hotels, along with ourselves have negotiated excellent arrangements with carriers for increased connectivity, not only for increased capacity, but increased frequency and some new airlift out of different gateways.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are very encouraged and satisfied that airlift will be in place to satisfy the demand of Baha Mar when we open.\u201d<\/p>\n
The resort plans to hire 4,000 people this year.<\/p>\n
Krystel Rolle-Brown
\nThe Nassau Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Despite concerns regarding Morgans Hotel Group Management\u2019s move to terminate its hotel management agreement with Baha Mar, resort officials insist the opening of the multibillion-dollar facility will not be delayed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":62629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[24,229,33],"class_list":["post-66811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-construction","tag-resorts","tag-tourism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}