Island News

After last summer's wild hurricane year, you'll find there's a lot going on in the Caribbean in terms of renovations as well as new resorts. Here's a rundown of some changes to keep an eye out for in the coming months:

Anguilla

• In October, Altamer completed its third and final ultra-luxury villa, The African Sapphire. The 14,000-square-foot villa was designed for groups and includes eight bedrooms, home theater, state-of-the-art sound system, flat screen plasma televisions in every room, a private office with high-speed wireless internet access, in-villa fitness center, professional kitchen, multiple hot tubs, and a staff of private butlers. The villa joins two five-bedroom villas and a full-service conference center for up to 30 attendees.

Aruba

• The 358-room Radisson Aruba Resort & Casino is the first Aruban resort to offer in-room complimentary high speed internet access to all guests. Wireless access is also available in meeting rooms, lobby and designated public areas including the beach.

Bahamas

• Atlantis, Paradise Island is undergoing a $600 million expansion to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2006. The hotel, presently 2300 rooms, will add 1,200 new rooms as well as a dolphin encounter and other water attractions.

• The 350-room Riu Paradise Island opened in December. The all-inclusive hotel is located on Paradise Beach, two miles from the Nassau and within walking distance of Atlantis.

• On Grand Bahama, The Westin and Sheraton at Our Lucaya Beach & Golf Resort will open 70-80 new suites late this year. The resort recently added a new Jim McLean Golf School and a new Ace Tennis Center offering guests all four surfaces of the Grand Slam courts.

• The $110 million Hilton Barbados is scheduled to open in May. Located five minutes from Bridgetown, the 350-room resort includes including 77 executive floor rooms and 33 luxury suites.

Bermuda

• The 84-cabana 9 Beaches has opened on 18 acres lined with nine beaches. Each cabana stands on stilts; some are located over the water and have plexiglass floor panels. Guests can raise flags outside the cabana for room service or cocktails. Wi-Fi service is available throughout the property.

• The former 400-room Sonesta Beach Resort Bermuda is now the 247-room Wyndham Bermuda Resort and Spa. Over the next two years, the resort will add 38 new one-, two-, and three-bedroom suites.
Bonaire

• This spring, the Divi Flamingo Beach Resort & Casino will renovate its meeting room, available for groups of up to 80 attendees. The 130-suite resort now also offers an all-inclusive plan.

British Virgin Islands

• Tortola’s Long Bay Beach Resort & Villas now offers an all-inclusive price structure.

• The BVI’s Scrub Island will be the location for the new $45 million Mainsail BVI, a resort development with a boutique hotel, a $2 million spa, 100-slip marina, three beaches, and residences. Completion of the project is anticipated for Fall 2007. Scrub Island is a five-minute ferry ride from Tortola.

• Peter Island Resort has opened a new $6 million spa, a 10,000-square-foot facility. The resort offers 52 rooms and suites and four villas.

Cayman Islands

• The $400 million Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman is scheduled to open in October, with 365 rooms and suites and 69 private condominiums. The resort will include a nine-hole signature golf course designed and constructed by Greg Norman, a Nick Bollettieri tennis center, a children's program by Jean-Michel Cousteau, and a 20,000-square-foot spa. Groups will have use of 13,000 square feet of meetings and banquet space including the Cayman Islands's largest ballroom.

• The Hyatt Regency Grand Cayman remains partially closed following hurricane damage. The beachside suites are open but the main resort is undergoing a complete renovation of its guest rooms and restaurants. The reopening is scheduled for February 2006.

• Closed since the hurricane, the Grand Cayman Marriott Beach Resort is undergoing a $15 million renovation which includes a complete remodel of all 307 guest rooms and suites, redesigned lobby, improved restaurant meeting facilities, upgraded fitness room and business center and more. A soft opening is planned for June 1 which will include 75% of the rooms; the final stages of the project will be completed by August 1.

• The 340-room Westin Casuarina Resort & Spa Grand Cayman reopened in November following a short closure due to Hurricane Ivan.

• The Wyndham Sunshine Suites Resort will reopen in May. The hotel offers offers 130 studio, one-bedroom and deluxe studios.

Curaçao

• The 247-room Curacao Marriott completed a $1.7 million renovation last summer, a project which included guest room renovation. The resort now offers wireless internet access throughout the resort’s public areas.

Dominican Republic

• In Puerto Plata, the Casa Colonial Beach & Spa opened in November. The all-suite hotel, a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, offers 50 suites each with high speed Internet, a large flat screen television, three telephones, 24-hour room service, and more; a penthouse suite and presidential suite are also available. The resort includes a 12,440-square-foot spa, gourmet restaurant, and private transfers to the 18-hole Robert Trent Jones Sr. golf course, Playa Dorada.

• The 228-room Hilton Santo Domingo is scheduled to open in April along the Malecon. The hotel will anchor a mixed-use facility with shopping, restaurants, and the city’s largest casino. The hotel offers executive floor rooms with access to an executive lounge.

• In Punta Cana, the 334-suite Ocean Sand Golf and Beach Resort and the 374-suite Ocean Blue Golf and Beach Resort opened in January. The all-inclusive properties are located near the White Sands Golf Course.

• Sunscape The Beach Punta Cana has opened with 616 rooms including 96 suites and eight two-bedroom master oceanfront suites. More than 100 rooms have en-suite Jacuzzi tubs plus marble showers. The resort also includes an extensive spa with 10 massage rooms and outdoor massage palapas.

Grenada

The hardest hit island during last year's storm season was Grenada, where 70% of the hotel stock was damaged. Much of the hotel inventory is now back in business, and the island expects to return to pre-hurricane levels by the end of 2005.

Jamaica

• In February, the 360-room Sandals Whitehouse European Village & Spa opened on the island’s south coast. The all-inclusive $80 million property includes 54 suites including butler service in top categories; the resort is built around the concept of three European “villages.” The resort offers six restaurants, four pools, tennis, a fitness center, and a three-level indoor amphitheater.

• Sandals Ocho Rios and Grande Sport Villa Golf Resort and Spa by Beaches have been combined to form the 529-room Sandals Grande Ocho Rios Beach and Villa Resort. The resort has undergone a $14 million refurbishment of public areas, conference facilities, two spas, restaurants, and villas, and added a 14,000-square-foot zero entry pool. The property also includes 90 private and semi-private pools for the villas, the top categories of which provide butler service.

• The 250-room Sandals Dunn’s River Golf Resort & Spa is undergoing a $10 million renovation. The project includes a redesigned lobby, renovated guest rooms, spa, and butler service in top category suites.

• The 850-room, all-inclusive Riu Palace Ocho Rios is under construction and scheduled to open in November.

• In Ocho Rios, the former Renaissance Grande has been acquired by the Sunset Resort group and reopened in March as the 730-room Sunset Jamaica Grande Resort.

• Iberostar has broken ground on the first of three new resorts near Montego Bay which will offer 950 guest rooms.

• Half Moon Montego Bay has undergone an $8 million refurbishment of its guest rooms, demolishing three blocks of beachfront suites to make room for 68 beachfront rooms and suites with oversized verandas and balconies, data port internet access, and mini-bars.The resort’s golf course has also undergone renovation.

Mexico

• Scheduled to open in late 2005, The Fairmont Mayakoba, Riviera Maya, will be part of the Mayakoba master plan resort community. The 401-room luxury resort will manage and have priority access to a Greg Norman designed 18-hole championship golf course, one of two courses at the development. Other resort features include a 16,000-square-foot spa, three restaurants, health club, tennis courts and 10,000-square-foot pool.

• On the Riviera Maya, Iberostar Paraiso Maya is opening a PB Dye-designed golf course in June. The 432-suite resort opened in December with 432 suites and two presidential suites.

• On the Riviera Maya, Esencia has opened on Playa Xpu-Ha. The 50-acre boutique resort is centered around a nine-suite greathouse. Twenty additional suites and four-bedroom cottages are also available. Cottages include pools, media rooms with LCD screens and surround sound, gourmet kitchens, and living room. The resort also features a spa, gourmet restaurant, and watersports.

• The 300-room Sunscape Puerto Aventuras Riviera Maya opened in December following a $4 million renovation. The resort, located 10 minutes south of Playa del Carmen, features a 27-hole golf course and spa.

Puerto Rico

• The first phase of the Caribe Hilton’s Paseo Caribe, a development including Condado Lagoon Villas, was completed in January and consists of 168 villas. Phase Two will feature 96 additional villas, making the Caribe Hilton the Island’s largest hotel property, with a total of 910 guestrooms by the end of 2005.

• The Ponce Hilton’s $152 million Costa Caribe Resort project is near completion; the project adds a 100-room Executive Tower as well as a 27-hole championship golf course designed by Bruce Besse Jr., a 32,000-square-foot Club House, and more.

• The 300-room Condado Vanderbilt Hotel will open in mid- 2005 with a gourmet restaurant, spa and two oceanfront pools.

• The 474-room Renaissance La Concha Hotel & Casino will open by the end of 2005. The hotel will include a 15,000-square-foot casino, three restaurants, oceanfront pool and a beachfront fitness center located on the beach.

• Last July, the Best Western San Juan Airport Hotel at the Luis Munoz Marin International Airport opened. (Are we glad to hear this! We know where we're headed the next time we miss the last flight of the day!)

• A 108-room Four Points by Sheraton Candelero Hotel in Palmas del Mar, located on the southeast coast of the Island is scheduled to open in December.

• A $37-million expansion program has been completed at Wyndham El Conquistador Resort & Golden Door® Spa. The project added 67 luxury villas to the existing 90 as well as two swimming pools, including a new infinity pool. Of the 67 new units, there are 17 one-, 25 two- and 25 three-bedroom villas.

• Following a $7 million upgrade at the 240-room Wyndham Old San Juan, the property will be-flagged as a Sheraton. Renovations included guestroom and casino refurbishments.

• The Ritz-Carlton, San Juan Hotel, Spa & Casino is undergoing a $13 million renovation of its 416 guestrooms and public areas over the next three years.

St. Lucia

• In late 2005, the 124-room Discovery at Marigot Bay, A Sonesta Resort, will open. The property will feature one-, two- and three-bedroom apartment-style accommodations, three restaurants and lounges, a spa, a 60-berth marina and a marina village with shops and watersports.

• A new $165 million villa resort development called The Landing will break ground in November with completion scheduled for February 2007. Located on Rodney Bay, the SunSwept Resorts property will feature 500 rooms in 228 one-, two- and three-bedroom villa units. The resort will also offer yacht moorings and slips, a beach club, helicopter transfer to/from major airports and nearby islands, a restaurant, fitness club, spa, concierge service, and more.

• The 23-villa Calabash Cove Inn & Sanctuary will open in the fall, 10 minutes from Rodney Bay. Each mahogany and teak villa will include an outdoor shower; DVD player; kitchenette; a living room, plunge pools and adjoining balcony. The hotel facilities will include a concierge desk, a piano bar, an ocean view restaurant, library, music room, private beach, outdoor pool and spa.

Sint Maarten

• Sonesta has reentered the Caribbean market with the Sonesta Maho Beach Resort and Casino St. Maarten. Rooms are divided among two towers; all rooms include dataports and direct dial phones.

• The 262-room Great Bay Beach Resort & Casino is reopening in Philipsburg following a $10 million renovation.

St. Vincent & the Grenadines

• The 156-room Raffles Resort Canouan Island, The Grenadines, formerly Carenage Bay Beach and Golf Resort, opened in November with accommodations ranging from junior suites to one- to four-bedroom suites to a three-bedroom villa with a private beachfront infinity pool. Guests arrive at the resort from the airport via private catamaran. The resort includes four restaurants, the 10,000-square-foot Amrita Spa, and Trump Club Privee, a European-style casino located in the Villa Monte Carlo. The resort also includes the new Jim Fazio-designed, 18-hole Trump International Golf course.

• Following damage from Hurricane Ivan, Petit St. Vincent has undergone an upgrade. The 113-acre private island resort has upgraded all 22 cottages. Guests also find a new island offshore created by sand washed in by the hurricane, an island fittingly named Petit St. Ivan.

Turks & Caicos

• The 11-square-mile island of West Caicos will be the home for a new boutique property to be named Molasses Reef, a Ritz-Carlton Resort, a project joined by a residential development including Ritz-Carlton-branded villas. The 125-suite hotel will include two restaurants, a spa, and a 2,000-square-foot conference facility, and a marina with ferry service to Provo, six miles away. On the island, which includes an ecological reserve, transportation will primarily be via electric vehicle and bicycle. The resort is scheduled for completion in Winter 2007.
• On Provo’s Grace Bay Beach, the $85 million The Palms has opened with 72, two-and three-bedroom suites, each with a minimum of 1,800 square feet. Each suite has vaulted ceilings, marble floors and ocean-view travertine terraces, high-speed internet and flat-screen TVs. Eight three-bedroom penthouse suites, accessible by private elevator, also include outdoor garden showers, hot tubs and butler and chauffeur service. The resort includes a 15,000-square-foot spa, fitness center, clay tennis court, croquet lawn, and a $1.8 million serpentine infinity pool with Wi-Fi around the pool.