Bermuda’s $2,000,000 debt is unsustainable and growing at $300 Million a year.

Government has committed $145,000,000 to supporting the first phase of this speculative privately owned hotel.

A guaranty means you pay if the development goes bust – like Tuckers Point, Newstead, Pink Beaches, Coral Beach.

So every Bermudan is being exposed to this risk.

Private sector funded hotels are being developed.
Why does Morgan’s Punt receive this special treatment?

Why not a Holiday Inn or something on that level? Are we looking for more affordable beds or another larger expensive empty hotel?

What’s the expected date for it’s opening 2019?

Or perhaps you’d prefer for us to pray – which is really the same as doing nothing except that you put money in the collection plate at the same time. In which case doing nothing costs money.

There is an opportunity here for every Bermudian – except the inefficient and the lazy who will sit and complain. Unfortunately some people see the negative in everything.

I travel 200 or more days a year and I do stay regularly in the Worlds best hotels and quite frankly Mandarin Oriental (correct spelling) is less traditional than the Ritz Carlton brand (the Mandarin is more contemporary) and they charge the highest room rates across the board. Service at both brands are great BUT for an extra $120+ dollars a night on average more for the Mandarin it is hard to justify the spend when the amenities are very comparable.

And you cannot compare Elbow Beach to a true “Mandarin” – there was a complete lack of investment in the Elbow Beach and I don’t care who ran it day to day but you cant provide world class service and amenities without a world class investment in the property and the staff!

What Bermuda needs (and is now apparently getting) is the injection of millions of dollars to get our properties and people to a level where the amenities can help drive the type of business we want and need. We cannot put the Elbow Beach up against the New York or Singapore Mandarins (we just cant) as the investment profiles are too different to even start to compare value for dollar invested.

The real good news is that the Ritz brand WILL attract not only the contemporary traveler who looks for Mandarin service and opulence but also the more traditional traveler who expects more in the way of automation and cutting edge services like virtual concierges, etc. We can attract BOTH types of these travelers who (like myself) put more of an emphasis on the value of the entire stay versus what the lobby and bathroom looks like!

Also remember that the Ritz awards program and its affiliation with Marriott will bring us the seasoned traveler who wants to use their rewards points for a trip to Bermuda. This pales in comparison to the points program at Mandarins!

The customer has changed Bermuda! Yes we will get some of the upper class checking into a hotel BUT we will get a lot more of the intelligent and frequent world traveler who wants value and somewhere they can earn / use their well earned rewards and Bermuda does not offer that (currently) along the lines of Ritz Carlton / Marriott

Go Bermuda – definitely on the right track with Ritz Carlton!

Have a little more faith in the people that were elected to run the country mate!!

Please don’t judge too fast!

More debt to add to the $2 billion!

“Minister Richards was being quizzed on the total amount government would dedicate to phase one of the project as the figure had been increased by $40m to $165m.”

Government is risking the public money on a project that private investors won’t support.

As regards brand operators ring anyone up and fir 15% of the revenues they will all put a sign up outside.

Mandrin Oriental is the best and tanked at Elbow.

What a great opportunity for our youth interested in pursuing a career in hotels and hospitality to have such an exclusive brand here.
What a great opportunity for unemployed tradesmen.

You have to go and grasp them though, not wait for them to come to you.

It is as if the PLP has gone out of business.

But that’s what happens when you use the race card at every turn, deceive your own people, and do absolutely nothing of any value. You very nearly ruined Bermuda – but we are back!

You are architects of your own destiny. Goodbye PLP. I wish I could say its been good to know you.

Perhaps we should have a PLP day of remembrance? Or just a party. A wake would be good.