By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

THE lack of accommodations for at least five Family Island delegates were the result of operational challenges at the Melià hotel and not political sabotage, according to incumbent FNM Chairman Sidney Collie.

Mr Collie suggested that the hotel was not adequately prepared to manage the high volume of delegates, and thus struggled with bookings when visiting FNMs flooded the venue for the start of the convention on Wednesday. He also pointed to its recent transition to an all-inclusive resort as a major factor.

“Obviously the Melià hotel is doing the best they can, but I think they are struggling with two issues,” he said.

“First they have transitioned from a regular hotel to an all-inclusive and I don’t think, when they consented to having a political national convention, I don’t think the Melià hotel took into account that when you’re hosting a national political convention there has to be some special arrangements.”

Mr Collie added: “Ordinarily when Crystal Palace hosted it, a team was set aside to accommodate all the delegates. What happened with Melià was the majority of the delegates came flooding into Nassau yesterday and they all swarmed down on the front desk. Melià had only detailed two front desk clerks and we were doing registration simultaneously for the convention.

“Melià was not set up to deal with that kind of pressure,” he said.

Rumours circulated yesterday which characterised the debacle as a by-product of the bitter feud between leadership candidates Dr Hubert Minnis and Loretta Butler-Turner, with both camps insisting that the other side had engineered the shortfall.

However, Mr Collie yesterday placed the blame on the resort, insisting that the all-inclusive nature of the property presented significant challenges. He underscored that he was among the group of people who still have not got a room at the resort. He noted that there were still “three or four” lingering issues, but did not detail the challenges.

“The all inclusive presents some challenges,” he said. “Their list which we had gone over many times did not in all respects coincide with our final list.

“I myself have not yet gotten my room but that’s the least of my worries. I’m more concerned about the Family Island delegates who have travelled here and don’t have any other accommodations being completely taken care of.”

Mr Collie said that temporary arrangements were made for about five persons.