Gov’t sells Savannah Hotel

The Savannah Hotel has been sold, Minister of Tourism Ian Gooding-Edghill has announced. 

The Hastings property – part of the state-owned Hotels and Resorts Limited (HRL) portfolio of accommodations – has finally been sold to “the highest bidder”, according to the minister, speaking in the House of Assembly as the Estimates continued on Monday.

The successful buyer was not named.

“In the case of the Savannah Hotel, the board of directors pursuant of our mandate… have agreed to sell the property to the highest bidder. There was obviously a process that they followed, and that will be [revealed] of course at the appropriate time. I will give the country a fuller update in respect to who won the bid, and how much they are going to pay for the property in respect of full disclosure.”  

He further added that HRL has also made strides in having the Blue Horizon property sold.

“The other issue that I would like to draw your attention to, is the second property within the  Hotels and Resorts Limited portfolio, Blue Horizon. As I speak, there are requests for proposals being submitted, once those requests are evaluated by the board, and the board submits a recommendation to the ministry, that would be given due consideration.

“It is not a secret because I said it on the floor as I indicated [when] last time we were here in the Standing Finance Committee that we were going to divest. I am pleased to report that we have accomplished 50 per cent of that mission, and the remaining 50 shall be completed I dare say within a month, a month and a half, once the bids have been properly evaluated and the recommendation submitted to the ministry.”

Back in 2023, it was reported that HRL, which managed the 93-room, multi-building Savannah Hotel under a lease arrangement and the 67-room Blue Horizon Hotel, had
not attracted buyers despite being on the market for several years.

The group had also recorded gross operating income of $2.55 million and a net loss of $1.036 million last year. This followed a total net loss of $2.53 million the previous year. 

(SB)