Barbados is an extremely beautiful place in the Caribbean known for its scenic beauty, endless beaches and topical climate. The country is most popular as a tourist destination with high end luxury accommodation, charming inns, private villas and world class gourmet restaurants. In short, a perfect place to build your very own Expandable Container Homes. Its history, heritage, culture and tradition are based on its mainly British and African population. There are traces of Amerindian and Carib origins infused with European, Asian and American influences.
We know that the world has been at a standstill over the past few months due to the COVID-19 virus. However, as the world slowly starts to re-open we are seeing more and more people planning to travel to make up for the time that they had spent at home. That’s why a hotel chain by the name of Hyatt is opening an all-inclusive hotel on the iconic beach-front of the Barbados Island.
But Hyatt got into a bit of trouble while building their hotel. So today, we will be looking a little deeper into the matter, we examine the issues and how they are being handled. So without further ado let’s get started.
What Is The Hyatt Ziva Resort?
Hyatt is a chain of Resorts all across the world that provides the amenities of a luxury resort to its clients. The company has a chain of resorts in all the major tourist destinations in the world and is now planning to build the Barbados Hyatt Ziva hotel. But the resort got into a bit of trouble when they started to break the ground on their new project.
So let’s find out what the problems were and what the result was.
Hyatt Ziva Resort Initiative Issue
The company originally announced in 2018 that Hyatt Centric Carlisle Bay Barbados is scheduled to open in 2019. The new $175-million project has received a major upgrade, joining other family-friendly Hyatt Ziva all-inclusive resorts. The Caribbean Ziva brand includes Montego Bay, Jamaica; Cap Cana, Dominican Republic and Cancun, Los Cabos and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, plus three adults-only Hyatt Zilara resorts in Montego Bay, Cancun and Cap Cana.
The company originally shared its plans to build a Hyatt Centric Hotel in Barbados expecting to start construction in 2018 and had plans to finish the entire hotel by 2019.
But the government of Barbados was not happy with the decision of building the hotel where there was a UNESCO Designated Heritage area. Over the years the issue kept being extended until May 2020 when the Government appropriated the land and continues to negotiate with the warehouse owner for settlement.
High Rise in a Low Impact Tourist Island
The size of the development is another divisive issue. Many Barbadians and longtime visitors are strongly oppose to an 18 story building in an island noted for its small scale tourism. The luxury brands like Sandy lane and Coral Reef were all low rise. The Barbados vacation ambience was low impact, small cottages and villas set into a tropical landscape the spread over several acres of tropical gardens, pools and water features leading down to the beach.
Concerns of environmental degradation and demands on resources of such a massive project required Hyatt and the Government to undertake extensive environmental impact studies.
Hyatt agreed to several measure to minimize the impact. These included measure to conserve water, reduce waste and work with the developers to contribute to the upgrade of the Barbados sewage plant. The developers are also undertaking to enhance aspects of the local community.
The opposition stresses that the project is unsustainable and will degrade the unique and vital Barbados tourism product.
The Result
After the small issue that was delayed until 2020, the government of Barbados has now approved the project and is moving forward with plans to develop the entire area as a major cultural center on the island.
It is a massive project and the largest of its kind undertaken in the small island of Barbados. It demonstrates the Governments confidence in the future of tourism in spite of the ongoing Covid-19 worries. Also, Hyatt Ziva Hotels has committed to the development at the height of the pandemic with every expectation that tourism will rebound.
The initiative is timely and will instill confidence in an industry that has been devastated by Covid-19.
Present-Day Scenario
In June 2020 work began to demolish the liquidation center warehouses that stretches along the northern end of Carlisle beach. The warehouses are dilapidated buildings that have been an eyesore on the beach for many years. In its place Hyatt will build a 380 room hotel and 40 condominiums. The buildings will be 10 to 18 floors on 3 plots of land totaling 17,920 square meters of beach-front property. They plan to open by 2022.
The Conclusion
Amid a storm of debate on the merits of an 18 story hotel in a UNESCO World Heritage Island noted for is low key and low impact tourism, the Barbados Hyatt project is proceeding with the demolition on beach-front warehouses. Liquidation and demolition in the island of Barbados in very uncommon but new Hyatt Barbados hotel will prove to be a boost in tourism that the country surely needs.
Hyatt Ziva will now have a new gem in their portfolio. Barbados marks a significant milestone for the Hyatt brand boosting the brand’s global visibility in key markets.
