Divi Tiara Beach Resort is definitely up for sale at the right price and offers are still being accepted.
This was confirmed this week by Vice President Sales and Marketing with Divi Resorts Mark Steward.
The resort on Cayman Brac closed last month with the loss of 37 jobs.
Mr. Steward told the Caymanian Compass that the price of the resort is between US$9 to $11 million, depending on what is included in the sale.
As it stands, Divi Resorts has been given four viable offers for the resort and one of these is from a Cayman Islands’ politician, said Mr. Steward.
‘We expect to make a decision on these offers at the end of the week,’ he said.
At a press briefing a few weeks back Minister for Tourism Charles Clifford said that up to that point the owners had suggested the property was not for sale and Leader of Government Business Kurt Tibbetts said the government had received several expressions of interest from parties interested in purchasing it and re-opening it immediately.
Mr. Steward asserted that the property has been and is for sale.
He did note that many offers had been made that could not be entertained as they were well below the market price for the property.
Mr. Steward said the actual sale price will be contingent by what the customer is offering to buy. For example, offers include: for the business ongoing as it is; for the dive business independent of the hotel and property; and for the land only.
The day the resort closed for business, he said, there were bids made for the dive shop boats, but they have not been sold pending the big sale.
Speaking about the units sold as timeshares at the resort, Mr. Steward said they involved a separate parcel of land of which Divi is to retain ownership.
The timeshare units remain open along with housekeeping and maintenance on them. Timeshare guests can also use the amenities at the Brac Reef Beach Resort, such as diving and the restaurant, he said. Some timeshare guests are being housed at Brac Caribbean Resort and Carib Sands Beach Resort.
Those who had pre-booked vacations at the resort are also being set up with accommodations at other tourist properties on Cayman Brac and Little Cayman.
‘We stayed a good citizen on Cayman Brac and filled up all our competitors,’ said Mr. Steward.
The Department of Tourism has also contacted dive wholesalers and travel agents who book dive travel to the resort to support guests who already have reservations, and to ensure that Cayman does not lose business to competing destinations, Minister Clifford said recently.
When asked if staff pension payments have been paid up, Mr. Steward said everything was paid up as of two weeks ago. A loan had to be secured in order to do this.
‘For the past three years the hotel had not made a positive amount of money,’ he said, citing the biggest problem as direct airlift from the US to Cayman Brac.
This will be the same challenge if a buyer chooses to re-open the hotel there, he said.
‘To go in with a 50 to 60 room hotel Cayman Airways would have to put on a more direct service from Miami into Cayman Brac,’ he said
This would be needed at least twice a week such as a Sunday and Thursday or a Tuesday and Saturday, he said, because people tend to go for a four-or-five-night vacation.
Mr. Clifford said with regard to the number of air travel seats to Cayman Brac in general over the past five years figures had significantly increased.
Cayman Airways Express, he said, has the capacity to provide up to 4,850 roundtrip seats per month to the Sister Islands.
Divi Tiara also cited reasons for closure as increased competition from a growing number of niche market dive destinations throughout the Caribbean, high insurance costs, and weather, which in the past years has created real and perceived concerns about travel to the Cayman Islands.
Mr. Clifford also recently noted that there had been problems with the renewal of licensing of the resort, based on the resort not meeting minimum Hotel Licensing Board standards.
Mr. Steward said that the company would have invested the money in the resort to get it to the standards that are required by the Licensing Board as it had done every year.
‘However, in reviewing the infusion of cash that our stockholders have had to input on a yearly basis due to lack of revenue from tourism, this project was deemed as not profitable since we have no chance of regaining the investment due to the loss of the business caused by the airlift situation.’
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