Newstead: Ernst & Young Appointed Receivers
Officials have confirmed our report this morning that Newstead Belmont Hills Golf Resort & Spa was placed into receivership.
The statement says that Ernst & Young Ltd., Bermuda have been appointed Receivers and Managers, and that “operations will continue to run under the management of the Receivers. The Receivers do not anticipate any immediate impact on the day-to-day operations of the businesses.”
The full statement follows below:
Gil Tucker and Rob McMahon of Ernst & Young Ltd., Bermuda have been appointed Receivers and Managers of Newstead Belmont Hills Golf Resort and Spa effective immediately.
Specifically, this includes Newstead Belmont Hills Shuttle Ltd., Newstead Belmont Hills Hotel Ltd., Belmont Hills Golf Course Management Limited and Belmont Hills Property Limited.
Operations will continue to run under the management of the Receivers. The Receivers do not anticipate any immediate impact on the day-to-day operations of the businesses.
The Receivers will focus on reorganizing and restructuring operations to facilitate business continuity with a view to a sale of the assets as a going concern.
Valued customers will continue to have access to the resort and its amenities. Members in good standing will have access to the golf course.
Owners of fractional units will continue to enjoy access to the properties and facilities. Onsite restaurants (Blu and Beau Rivage) are operated by independent owners and are not part of the Receivership. They remain open for business as usual.
Yet anaother example of the “platinum period”
The Receivers sell the property. The Butterfield bank gets it’s money back. Government gets it’s money back. Premier Cox gets her $150,000.000. Oh! say it isn’t so!
She promised to cut spending by $150M; no promises were made regarding debt level reduction. Get it right. The Butterfield decision to pull the debt in no way affects or impacts the governments guarantee…If anything, it makes Butterfield a stronger bank, and thus the guarantee that our government wrote a more secure instrument which in an ironic way is very good news for the taxpayer…
I was very wrong. Today i learned that government was a sponsor for the Bank.
I guess like rob a lot of people in the community misunderstood.
i agree.
HERE HERE
I AGREE
If they build it, they will come…. NOT
No wonder the hotels are all dying a slow death. Only in a backwards banana republic could a family on holiday at a hotel not hire a car. This island is not geared for tourism with the administrations being daft.
You really want tourist to have a car driving on Harbour late at night!!
Please what a stupid comment. The tourist visiting this island has more driving experience than any Bermudian will ever have. The only reason why Bermuda roads are so unsafe is because everyone thinks it is a race track and harbor road is no different to driving in a big city
Politics aside, it is another sad day for Bermuda when a property as nice as the Newstead development -as far as I am concerned a world class one- cannot make it in Bermuda today. What have we done to this island, once The Leader in international tourism and a place where tourism directors from the Caribbean came to see how it was done? Now we build ‘affordable housing’ next to an apartment style hotel on green land on the south shore because somewhere along the way we just lost direction. The Bermuda brand implied the best; now we get complaints about the price of a burger at The Spot. And the politicians, the crime? We simply have nothing to be proud of anymore.
I’m proud of Bermuda
Bad news. News that we simply don’t want. And, if the rumours are correct, it won’t be the last either.
It’s such a shame, as noted by Joe, the Newstead is one of the best, if not the best hotel on the island. I love to stay there when I can afford it, alas it is also very expensive. I love the accommodation there it is first rate, although having said all that, I was dissapointed at some aspects of it, including the management of the pool and bar area. When we stayed there, we had to physically hunt down the bar man at the pool, the pool area was not cleared on a daily basis let alone an hourly basis and to be honest the restaurant was disappointing. Having said that, I still love the Newstead and rate it up there for the accommodation alone. A beautiful place, just needs the right input and the right workers putting their all into it.
Kevin and the team at Belmont/Newstead are all hard working and committed BUT the mistakes were made years ago. they include: 1. depending on the real estate sales (fractionals especially) to be the moneymaker. 2. not branding the hotel to increase marketability and recognition 3. not marketing cognizant of the “no beach” drawback and 3. having to drive to golf from the hotel…amenities are best when on-site. This is a big hint to Tucker’s Point and even more so to Southlands/Morgan’s Point. Of course the sub-plot to this is that Butterfield Bank ain’t no local bank anymore and so all the non-perfoming loans are in play. The Government’s blind $200m guarantee with no apparent leverage means they too probably found out about this receivership on the news and no opportunity to plead a Bermudian’s case. The amateur hour all round.
Well one issue why tourism might be failing and causing hotels to go into receivership is because one person somewhere in the UK or Bermuda thought it is best to implement VISA requirements for the Island. Not everyone visiting Bermuda is from the UK or USA and allot of expats are from countries that is on the VISA requirement list, hence their families have stopped visiting etc. Bermuda should be promoted as a tourist destination, not demoted to some VISA requirement island
That would be the brainchild of Colonel David Burch. I agree – the worse policy every implemented.
Designed specifically to keep out Filipinos, Jamaicans, Indians…makes no sense
Add in countries of the Middle East such as Bahrain. There was a suggestion Bermuda could be a new Islamic Banking Centre but unlikely to take off as Visas are required. Way to go Bermuda.
As a frequent visitor to Bermuda over the past twenty years, I have been dismayed at the feeble attempts to vigorously promote tourism. Bermuda’s prices are much too high for the tourism infrastructure and amenities provided. The declining commitment to the tourism industry has been obvious over this time. As a golfer, the inability to leverage the wonderful courses into a golfer’s paradise defies understanding. The conversion of the Port Royal course from public to private was a strategic mistake. Making Bermuda an important stop on the world professional golf is a pipe dream. The Grand Slam event is a good example of the difficulty of attracting top name golfers [and their willingness not a cancel at the last minute]. Without a vibrant tourism industry, Bermuda must rely increasingly on the reinsurance industry at a time when the U.S. legislative attack on tax havens is still alive and the Cayman Islands and Switzerland are looking more and more attractive to Bermuda firms. I sincerely hope that Bermuda does not gravitate into just another mediocre destination like so many of the islands and nations in the Caribbean. With the key banks headquartered elsewhere, the perception of a slide in personal safety, the withering economic support of the “40 thieves,” and the inability/unwillingness of the people to demand a government that is not corrupt, I fear Bermuda is approaching a an irreverseable tipping point. Bermudians, please protect your heritage and your livelihoods.