As 1,200 passengers are set to be reaccommodated in Grand Bahama due to the delayed opening of the Memories Grand Bahama Resort, management company Blue Diamond Hotels and Resorts has stated that it "will not accept delivery of the hotel" until it is completed to their specifications.
Todd Kirlik, director of sales and marketing for Blue Diamond, said Hutchison was provided with a very detailed specifications list of the Memories resort's standards that needed to be incorporated into the renovation before they started the process.
"Memories provided our architect and interior designer to help them meet those specifications," he said.
"Until the specifications of the hotel are met to our standards, Memories' management will not accept delivery of the hotel.
"Memories' management was originally told the hotel would be handed over prior to Christmas, then we were told January 16th and now have been told February 1st. By the looks of the hotel, this seems to be achievable," said Kirlik when contacted by Guardian Business about the delay in the opening of the resort, which was scheduled to open on January 16th after
initially being delayed from a mid-December launch.
Blue Diamond Resorts entered into an agreement in 2012 to manage and operate the former-Reef Village hotel once it was renovated by owner Hutchison Whampoa.
Its travel affiliate, Sunwing, started bringing in passengers via flights from six Canadian flights to Grand Bahama on January 16th as part of an effort to boost occupancy at the newly-launched resort.
Director General of Tourism David Johnson said that 1,200 passengers are expected to have to be reaccommodated in light of the fact that the resort is not yet open.
However, he expressed confidence that the visitors, who were informed that the resort would not be open and given a chance to get a full refund for their trip before they left Canada, would not be left with a bitter taste in their mouths and neither will the delay go down as a "black mark" for Grand Bahama, as some had suggested.
"It's as if you were booked at the Beach Tower at Atlantis and when you came down they said that tower is closed and instead you are at the Coral Towers next door - same beach, same facilities, same amenities, same golf course - and it is not costing you anymore and the accommodations are more upgraded," he said.
"They are getting access to steakhouses, five star Chinese restaurants, upgrades they are getting for no additional cost; so I believe under the circumstances these guests are getting, in some respects, greater value than what they bargained for. Plus, everyone is bending over backwards to make them feel very special."
Johnson would not give a date when he expects the resort to be open, but added that "the project managers, landlord, Sunwing and the entire team are working intensively to get the resort open in the shortest possible time frame".
"I am told last night much progress has been made, and so I feel very shortly it will be in 100 percent condition to receive guests," added Johnson.
Meanwhile, despite the suggestion that the property is not yet up to the companies' standards, a source close to Sunwing/Blue Diamond told Guardian Business on Friday that the resort already "looks terrific" and they feel confident it will shortly be ready.
"These types of things happen in this industry, and I think it's really just a blip," said one source.
However, a prominent Grand Bahama businessman who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he viewed the situation as "pretty grim".
"It's really tragic for Grand Bahama; you have a major resort company, you have a property in Freeport that's been derelict, they get a chance to get some things going, and it gets screwed up."
The opening of the Memories Grand Bahama Resort has been billed as a major boon for the Grand Bahama economy going into 2014, set to soak up some of the island's unemployment, which stood at 19.5 percent in May of last year, and stimulate spin-off economic activity.
Johnson said that there was no challenge in accommodating the visitors at the nearby Grand Lucayan hotel, due to a post Christmas "lull" which meant vacant rooms were available.
The visitors are being put up there at no extra cost to themselves, he added.
He expressed optimism for Grand Bahama in 2014, notwithstanding the delay in the resort's opening.
"I think Grand Bahama is on track for a great year. People working very hard; it's very challenging project, and I think they've given it their best," he added.

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