By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

GEORGE Markantonis, Atlantis’s top executive, yesterday confirmed he had tendered his “bitter sweet” resignation from the resort after almost a decade, having accepted a “wonderful opportunity”.

   Speaking briefly with Tribune Business, Mr Markantonis shot down rumours he was taking up a new post with Atlantis’s Bahamian mega resort rival, Baha Mar.

Instead, he explained that his new post would take himself and his wife closer to their sons in the US.

“All I can say is, yes, I have resigned for a wonderful opportunity that has popped up. I was not looking, I was very happy here,” Mr Markantonis told Tribune Business.

“It just happened and it brings us back closer to our sons and to the United States. I’m not going to Baha Mar, which some people have been telling the press. It’s a bitter sweet moment for us right now.”

Mr Markantonis, Brookfield Hospitality’s president and managing director, said he was constrained from revealing much more on his next move, but added that an announcement would be coming next week as well as the introduction of his successor, who he suggested was already in-house at Atlantis.

“We will have much more to say on this next week. I can’t say where I’m going. I’m prohibited from speaking on that legally right now, but next week I will be at liberty to say where I am going and introduce my successor, who has been here four years,” said Mr Markantonis.

 The Atlantis chief has steered the resort through some of its most difficult times in recent history, including the tragic loss of Butch Kerzner, son of the resort’s developer, Sir Sol Kerzner.

Mr Markantonis, who became president and managing director of Kerzner International (Bahamas) in 2005, also dealt with the fall-out from the 2008-2009 recession, which forced Atlantis to cut staff by 800 persons or 10 per cent.

Under his watch, Atlantis steadily recovered, adding employees and amenities, and developing new attractions such as the resort’s concert series and its move into sports tourism via ‘Battle 4 Atlantis;’.

Mr Markantonis then played a key role in Kerzner International’s multi-billion dollar debt restructuring, smoothing the transition to new Atlantis owner Brookfield Hospitality. He was then integral to Brookfield’s own restructuring of Atlantis’s debt, and the One & Only Ocean Club sale to Access Industries.

Mr Markantonis, who has Greek heritage and is a native of Zimbabwe, has enjoyed a 35-year career in the hospitality industry, beginning in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he started as a front desk agent at the Carlton Hotel, an international flagship of Westin Hotels and Resorts.

In March 2004, he was appointed chief executive of Kerzner International’s Atlantis, The Palm resort in Dubai. A year later, he assumed his post in the Bahamas with oversight for the six hotels that make up Atlantis, comprising 4,000 rooms, more than 50 restaurants, bars and lounges, a casino, retail facilities, two marinas, an 140-acre Aquaventure water park, and real estate developments across 550-acre resort property.

Under Mr Markantonis’s watch, Atlantis has seen rapid growth and expansion into one of the most successful destination resorts in the Caribbean. 

He has also overseen extensions of the resort’s gaming operations and supported numerous training and educational programmes for employees.

Through his involvement with the Nassau/Paradise Island Promotion Board (NPIPB), on which he has served as vice-president, Mr Markantonis has helped guide numerous initiatives promoting the Bahamas such as the Companion Fly Free and air fare credit initiatives.

    In 2011, Mr Markantonis was honored as the Bahamas’ ‘Hotelier of The Year’ and he received a Caique award.  Last year, the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) named Mr Markantonis as hotelier of the year.