Baha Mar to welcome back 700 employees in March

Approximately 700 Baha Mar associates will return to work when the property reopens its SLS and Rosewood resorts in March, Baha Mar President Graeme Davis yesterday confirmed.

This would mean about 2,500 of the resorts employees would finally be back to work after spending months furloughed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The resort posted to its website earlier this week that it would be reopening the two luxury resorts on March 4, as it moves into phase two of its reopening plan.

But as COVID-19 continues to surge in the resort’s key markets in the United States, Davis admitted that occupancy is currently low, particularly following the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) announcement earlier this month of more stringent travel protocols, which require every passenger arriving into the country by air – visitor, resident or citizen – to present a negative COVID-19 rapid antigen or RT-PCR test at the border.

Davis said Baha Mar saw an immediate impact in bookings after US President Joe Biden last week announced that it is his administration’s policy to require that all travelers comply with CDC guidelines regarding international travel, including recommended periods of self-quarantine or self-isolation after entry into the United States.

“We started to see cancellations coming in. We’ve had discussions with both the minister of tourism and the prime minister to lobby as strongly as can be, as we are lobbying in the United States to airline and government affairs officials to have us exempted in The Bahamas from testing to go back to the United States,” he told Guardian Business.

Davis insisted The Bahamas “deserves an exemption” from the CDC’s travel protocols, noting that Baha Mar executives and the government lobbied hard for The Bahamas to be moved from a CDC level four health notice – which indicates a very high level of COVID-19 and means that travelers should avoid all travel to that destination – to a level three – which means travelers should avoid non-essential travel to that destination.

“We’ve been lobbying for that. Obviously that does help. Not every traveler reads the CDC threat level, but it does help I think from a groups and meetings perspective. And we would certainly like to see that get down to a level two,” he said.

Davis continued, “If we can get an exemption – which we deserve based on the low level of COVID-19 cases in The Bahamas, the safety factor that we’re taking and the proximity and business trade that we have between the United States and The Bahamas – we should be exempted.

“I continue to urge all of us in our industry and the government to continue lobbying to have us exempted from the test to enter the United States as well as the quarantine, and put us in what would be the most competitive edge in the region.”

Baha Mar – which reopened the Grand Hyatt on December 17 – had originally been eyeing February to reopen the SLS and Rosewood, but Davis said March provided a better opportunity to build additional demand for the property heading into the spring break and summer seasons.

“Based on the travel patterns of our key markets in the United States, which is mostly the north east and of course we have spring break time from school, those who are taking off some time, this gives an opportunity for people to take that break,” he said.

“Plus, we’re getting to the peak of winter, you get the COVID-19 fatigue, you have the cold and winter fatigue, we feel that there is certainly more demand starting in March based on previous patterns and what we see for the future as well. So, this is an opportune time to open Rosewood and SLS to their key markets. This will help deliver consumer confidence that we are open and start building up toward a more robust summer season into Q3 and into Q4.”

Davis said the March date was also strategic as executives look toward the broader rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in the United States and The Bahamas.

“We all believe strongly that further vaccinations in the United States will help support the demand for travel. I believe that the testing to go back to the United States with this proposed quarantine at home suggestion by the CDC has certainly had some negative impact on our demand, but we believe that building that consumer confidence starting in March through spring break into Easter and then into our summer season, that it does make sense,” he said.

“And as we start to see the vaccines get rolled out more rapidly and we start to see our key markets following CDC guidelines on physical distancing, mask wearing and hand sanitization; if that gets rolled out on a more aggressive nature on a federal level in the United States, this will help bring down the cases and help ease up the concerns for travel to places like The Bahamas.”

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