Hurricane restoration work on the Morritt’s Tortuga Club and The Grand timeshare resorts in East End has begun, said Rick Lohr, director of resort operations last week.
The Grand and part of Tortuga Club are on scheduled to open the first week of September, Mr. Lohr said.
Several of the resort’s timeshare owners expressed nervousness over the lack of progress at Morritt’s, particularly after the recent news of the sale of Indies Suites, another timeshare property in Grand Cayman.
Mr. Lohr indicated Morritt’s members have nothing to worry about because, the resort has a strong financial footing.
‘There is no issue of financial problems with the Morritt’s properties whatsoever,’ said Mr. Lohr.
Morritt’s owners have wondered why it has taken nearly nine months to commence the repair work on the property, which sustained major damage during Hurricane Ivan, especially on the ground floor.
Some owners have worried that Morritt’s, like many other businesses here, was underinsured.
‘I wouldn’t say we were underinsured,’ said Mr. Lohr. ‘But the insurance situation has certainly affected the progress here. When you have insurance, you just don’t go get a check immediately.’
Mr. Lohr said Morritt’s also decided to upgrade the resort significantly, and the design and planning process has taken some time as well.
‘The hurricane gave us the opportunity to add to the resort, which helps everybody, the owners and us,’ he said.
As part of the renovations, one and possibly two of the Tortuga Club’s wooden-construction beachfront buildings will be demolished and replaced with a five-storey concrete building.
That move has created controversy with some of the affected Morritt’s owners, who must now wait until some time in 2006 to use their timeshares.
‘(Those affected owners) have opportunities through RCI, and we’ll work with them to try to accommodate them here,’ said Mr. Lohr.
Mr. Lohr acknowledged that the complete reconstruction of some buildings will add to the number of timeshares that Morritt’s can sell, but said it would also benefit owners.
‘It helps the owners in several ways,’ he said. ‘It adds to the resort aesthetically; it helps by giving them a more sound building; and it helps their maintenance fees.’
Mr. Lohr said the new concrete building will cost less to maintain than an older wooden one going into the future.
Work began on repairing Tortuga Club’s five-building 3000 block recently, with Royal Construction, who built The Grand, getting the contract.
Mr. Lohr said that block, as well as The Grand will be ready in September.
Extensive works are scheduled on the reception building, which includes the lobby, restaurant and bar, Mr. Lohr said.
‘I think the changes will make it the best restaurant on the island,’ said Mr. Lohr. ‘It will be a larger facility and we’ll be adding to the size of the kitchen to help accommodate the volume of business we do.’
The bar area will be moved closer to the oceanfront window to give ‘a much more lovely setting’ said Mr. Lohr.
Although it is planned for the check-in lobby to be completed by September for Morritt’s reopening, the restaurant and bar works, some of which is still in the planning stages, will not be completed until ‘sometime in 2006’, Mr. Lohr said.
The lack of the main restaurant for a while after opening will not stop the resort from serving food.
‘We will still provide food service to our owners,’ said Mr Lohr. ‘We’ll just have to be more creative in doing that, which could be a lot of fun for our owners and guests.’
Another major project is the rebuilding of the dock, Mr. Lohr explained.
‘The new dock will be on the same footprint of the previous dock,’ he said. ‘Red Sails will have a dive shop building at the end of the dock and there will be a tiki bar as you walk to the dock… which will be right on the water.
‘It will be magnificent, one of the sharpest things around,’ he said.
Mr. Lohr said work has also recommenced on the shopping plaza across the road from Morritt’s.
As far as the various activity programmes, Mr. Lohr said Morritt’s will still have all the ones it had previously, plus several new ones.
To prepare for the September opening, Mr. Lohr said Morritt’s was in the midst of hiring its entire executive-level management.
A job fair for the additional staff will be held this summer, he said.
Mr. Lohr thinks timeshare owners will be impressed by the improved Morritt’s.
‘When the owners come back, they will have a much better facility,’ he said. ‘We also have new guest service standards in place.
‘My goal is to improve what was already a great property,’ he said.
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