The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Atlantis last night confirmed it has had to place multiple workers back on temporary furlough with effect from today due to "unfavourable occupancy forecasts" for January 2021.

The Paradise Island mega resort, in response to Tribune Business inquiries, said "the lack of adequate airlift" and surge in COVID-19 infections in key US source markets were "compounding factors" that had forced it to return some of the 2,500 staff it recalled for December's opening to furlough status.

This newspaper has obtained a message sent by Horatio McKenzie, the Atlantis executive director for human resources with responsibility for food and beverage workers, warning staff that some will had be placed back on temporary lay-off with effect from today.

"As you know, the effects of the global pandemic in our major markets have continued to have an effect on our hotel operations," Mr McKenzie wrote. "In this regard, our occupancy percentages for January are not forecast to be favourable.

"In light of the current environment, and the forecast decline in our occupancy levels, we have no choice but to return several of our food and beverage team members to furlough status effective January 4, 2021, until further notice.

"We will continue to monitor the occupancy forecast closely and, as it improves, we will roster our team members accordingly." While January was traditionally a slow month pre-COVID-19, falling between the Christmas holidays and the peak winter season ramp-up, Atlantis last night indicated that it was grappling with pandemic events beyond its control.

While asserting that "Atlantis Paradise Island is not closing", the resort confirmed in a statement that it was "experiencing lower occupancy levels for January attributed to several compounding factors such as the lack of adequate airlift and the recent surge of COVID-19 in key markets.

"As a result, team members in several divisions are on temporary furlough for a few weeks. It is also not unusual for the resort to adjust staffing needs according to occupancy levels," Atlantis added. "Both team members and the union have been notified of this decision. Atlantis remains extremely optimistic about its February and March bookings, and looks forward to The Cove reopening on February 11."

This episode, though, illustrates just how the re-opening of the tourism and hotel industry, and the rebound of the wider economy, will not simply be a smooth upward trajectory amid COVID-19 but, instead, likely involve a series of bumps in the road. US COVID-19 cases have now passed the 20m mark, with deaths at over 350,000.

Atlantis' latest staffing moves also came after one of its senior executives gave a relatively upbeat forecast about the property's near-term prospects, saying it enjoyed a “better than anticipated" Christmas season and was looking ahead to improving numbers in the 2021 first quarter.

Russell Miller, the Paradise Island mega resort’s executive vice-president of hotel operations, told Tribune Business that occupancies for the holiday period exceeded expectations.

He added: “Numbers are coming in better than we originally thought. Guests are very happy; they are very excited to be here. They like the fact that it's not that usual, hustle and bustle with the crowds."

Meanwhile, Baha Mar said it will continue to pay its several thousand workers who are still furloughed 30 percent of their base salary for an extra 30 days and pledged to report on a further benefits extension by end-January 2021.

Graeme Davis, the Cable Beach mega resort's president, in a New Year's message to staff said it was also continuing to lobby for furloughed workers to receive the Government's $100 weekly unemployment benefit.

He wrote: “For those individuals who are not called back in our first phase, we understand that this kind of uncertainty is extremely difficult to live with. To that end, we are providing up to a further 30 days at 30 percent of base compensation as an ex gratia payment.

“Furthermore, we will continue to pay insurance premiums necessary to maintain health insurance, life and accidental death and dismemberment (ADD) insurance coverage. We are still in discussions with the Government to try to add their financial assistance benefit on top of the ex gratia payment. Unfortunately, we have not been successful to date. However, we are not giving up our effort to lobby on your behalf."

The Government, though, previously said furloughed workers still being paid part of their normal salary by employers will not receive the full weekly unemployment benefit in a bid to conserve "scarce resources".

The Ministry of Finance, in a statement designed to push back against Baha Mar's assertions that furloughed staff were being treated unfairly through not receiving the full $100 weekly benefit, argued that such statements were "inaccurate".

Denying that the Government was "holding up" unemployment benefits, the Ministry explained it had implemented a policy where it was offsetting ex-gratia payments workers are still receiving from their employers against the $100 benefit.

This means the Government-funded unemployment benefit will only make up any difference between employer-funded payments and the weekly $100 that workers would otherwise receive if they had zero income sources.

The Ministry of Finance added that with COVID-19's economic fall-out dragging on much longer than anticipated, and tax and other revenue streams down by at least 50 percent compared to pre-COVID-19 levels, it had no choice but to conserve dwindling financial resources while still providing needy Bahamians with much-needed assistance.