By NEIL HARTNELL 

Tribune Business Editor 

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

AN ANDROS resort owner yesterday unveiled plans to expand his second property by adding a boutique hotel and residential real estate, adding: “It’s very difficult to make 20 rooms work.”

Brian Hew told the Andros Business Outlook conference that his ambition is to make the Andros Lighthouse Yacht Club, acquired several years ago from the Government-owned Hotel Corporation, into a resort that is “big enough but not too big” through a build-out designed to give it critical mass and “longevity”.

“It’s very difficult to make a 20-room hotel work; very difficult,” Mr Hew said. “It’s not big enough, and not small enough. Our plans are to expand to try and make it big enough but not too big.

“Our plans are to improve the marina, make it a world-class marina, and some three phases with it. There will be a boutique hotel, probably a flag carrier, and then a residential real estate part of it to give it the support and longevity. That’s what we’re planning on doing.”

Mr Hew, who is also Kamalame Cay’s principal, gave no details on the timing of such phased expansion; the likely value of the investment; or how many construction and additional full-time jobs will likely be created as a result.

The resort principal said the majority of the Andros Lighthouse Yacht Club’s staff had trained at Kamalame Cay before moving south to his more recently-acquired second property. Asked how his properties have performed year-to-date, Mr Hew replied: “That’s a good question. We’re more in terms of flat; flat over last year.

“But I believe that is because Europe has really opened up. It’s jammed... Just right after COVID they were coming to The Bahamas more, but now they’re going to further places. That’s my clientele anyway.”

Juliet Newbold, managing director of Andros Island Bonefishing Club, which caters to a niche angler client base, said of her property: “Since January the room occupancy count has been somewhere around 620 room nights. It looks very promising for the fall. Yes, it’s been good so far.”

And Cheryl Bastian, owner of Swain’s Cay Lodge, said Andros continues to benefit from its status as “the bonefishing capital of the world”. She said: “It was a pretty slow January and February, but we had a really good uptick in March and April. May went down slow, but April was one of our highest on record, beating even 2019. Overall, it panned out evenly.”

Ms Newbold, though, urged the Government to extend tax exemptions granted to the resort industry to bring in essential, high-cost goods as these often expired before properties can afford to use them. Branding Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) bills as “a killer”, she also bemoaned the lack of direct air connectivity between Andros and Nassau especially at weekends.

“I think one of the major challenges we face as hoteliers, and I’m sure a lot of other persons in Andros, business owners, is air travel into Nassau, particularly from Nassau to Fresh Creek,” the Andros Island Bonefishing Club principal said. “I know we have Makers Air from Fort Lauderdale, but when it comes to air travel from Nassau, Le-Air and Titan Air on the weekend we have a problem.”

Titan does not fly on Saturday, while Le-Air provides no service on Sunday. “That presents a challenge for visitors taking the route from Nassau to Fresh Creek,” Ms Newbold said. “If we can have some flights, if we can lobby for more flights, that would be an advantage for us hoteliers and business owners across the land.

“Second, the high cost of energy. There’s been lots of talk from the MP [Leon Lundy] about lowering the cost of energy. BPL, it’s a killer. There has to be something done to lower the cost of operating for us business owners. Any relief in that area will help us.

“The high cost of imported goods. Everything we need we have to import from Nassau and the US. The high cost of duty on freight; the Government does offer duty exemptions. We apply for it but there’s a [time] limit. They don’t give us an extension of time to get it in,” Ms Newbold explained.

“We go through all the work to apply for an exemption and they give you a year to get it in. You have to have a large sum of money sitting there. If they extend the [time] it would help us as business owners.”

Referring to the flats fishing guide certification courses run by the Bahamas Agricultural and Marine Science Institute (BAMSI), Ms Newbold said graduates needed more than just theory before they can take clients out by themselves.

“The guides need more practice,” she explained. “Even after they are certified we cannot them on the boats with clients initially. You have to know the waters, you have to know how to position the boats. They have to go out there and experience a client on the boat.”

Mr Hew added: “I think where we have to invest now is in human resources. Human resources is the most important thing. It’s all about you. I was 38 years-old when I started this thing. I was the youngest guy in the dining room. Now, I’m the oldest guy in the dining room....

“Everybody cannot be a lawyer, everybody cannot be a doctor, but I know people working in the hotel business who are making more money than doctors and lawyers. It’s education, outlook and wanting to be a good host to make the stay more pleasurable.”