Spring opening planned for ONE | GT as final inspections get underway

Cayman’s newest hotel, ONE | GT, has pushed back its planned opening date but says that it is now on track to open by mid-spring this year.  

Commercial director Bram Theeven said that the hotel had originally hoped to open by the end of last year, but progress has been delayed due to timings over crucial hotel inspections.

“We would have hoped to have got there by the end of December, but we’re now looking good for a Certificate of Occupancy by the end of February which is very promising,” he said. “That means we can do the handover to our buyers so that they can start moving in and then do all final hotel inspections and get our entire hospitality team in place and trained up.”

Soft opening planned

Theeven hopes to be able to do a soft opening from the end of April to test out the hotels’ restaurants and overnight hospitality.

“Once we can start occupying the building then we can start building our teams and then fine-tune everything before doing an official launch,” he said.

The hotel has been working closely with Minister for Caymanian Employment and Immigration Michael Myles in training up staff from the local community. Following the Tourism and Hospitality Career Open House in September, eight job offers were made to Caymanians.

ONE | GT also launched its own hospitality training programme and has so far offered 13 people who attended full-time employment with a further seven offered a three-month paid apprenticeship.  

“We’ve had great meetings with Minister Myles,” said Theeven. “He’s really excited about the efforts that we’ve put in place and the successful outcomes, and he’s been using that as an example to the other hotels. We really try to attract Caymanians and see how we can employ them and how we can help support them and train them in certain roles. If we can do that as a small hotel, then the larger hotels should most definitely be able to do that too.”

Balanced workforce

The workforce at ONE | GT will be a mix of local and work permits holders which is something he says government acknowledges.

“It needs to be a good balance and mix,” Theeven said, “because we need those with years of experience to help train and develop some of the Caymanians that have less experience, so they are fully aware that it needs to be a healthy balance.”

With 177 suites and residences, two pools and three restaurants spread across its 11 storeys, including its rooftop, ONE | GT has been a growing part of George Town’s skyline since breaking ground in 2022.