Above: St Kitts (CJ Photo)
By the Caribbean Journal staff
Does St Kitts and Nevis need more hotel rooms?
It does if it plans to go ahead with plans to increase the number of stayover arrivals to the twin-island federation, according to St Kitts and Nevis Foreign Minister Ricky Skerritt.
“The challenges we still have in the stayover sector is that we need more hotel rooms and the hotel rooms that we have need refurbishing and investment,” Skerritt said this week.
Several hotels have already embarked on extensive renovations, however, including the Ocean Terrace Inn, which recently received a significant loan to go ahead with refurbishment projects.
Both of those properties are planning what are viewed as “major renovations.”
“Just by improving their management and overall strategy in the market place, their occupancy has gone up and they have also been taking on new employees,” Skerritt said.
Frigate Beach Beach Hotel, which currently has 64 rooms, is also planning a major renovation.
“It had got so badly run down over the years that they had to shut down parts of the hotel,” Skerritt said. “That also affects your ability to sell in the market place and they are now finally beginning to take action in terms of refurbishing and if you go to the Frigate Bay Beach Hotel now, it is becoming a construction site.”
Of course, St Kitts and Nevis will also be getting a major boost from the planned Park Hyatt and Kittitian Hill projects.