The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Atlantis is adding 192 new jobs “within a week” through the opening of Olives Restaurant and expanded high-end casino lounge, its top executive yesterday disclosing the resort was eyeing July-August occupancies in the mid-high 80 per cent range.

George Markantonis, Brookfield Hospitality’s president and managing director, told Tribune Business that the Paradise Island resort had hit occupancy levels “in the mid-90 per cents” for yesterday’s July 4 holiday and through the weekend.

Noting that Atlantis was still taking bookings for this month, Mr Markantonis said both July and August were looking “very strong”, although room rates might be down year-over-year by up to 5 per cent.

As for the warning by an airline coalition, representing 10 of the top US carriers, that they might “reconsider their service levels to the Bahamas” as a result of the Budget’s fee/tax increases, Mr Markantonis said he was unfamiliar with such concerns.

While Atlantis and the One & Only Ocean Club would be “concerned” if Tribune Business’s revelations were correct, Mr Markantonis said the resorts’ were in regular contact with numerous airlines, which had indicated “nothing negative” to them.

And the Atlantis chief also pledged that the hotel industry would not allow airlines to “randomly” reduce services to the Bahamas at a time when this nation needed a 400,000 seat capacity boost to meet Baha Mar’s requirements.

But, on a positive note, Mr Markantonis told Tribune Business that Atlantis continued to receive high marks when it came to guest satisfaction scores.

“People are responding well to the capital expenditures we’ve made,” he said.

“We have opened in the last week the Moon Club in the casino, the high-end casino bar and lounge. On Tuesday, Todd English’s Olives will open to the public, and we’ve already started work on Cantor’s race and sportsbook, which will be ready to open in September.”

The celebrity chef’s Olives restaurant will have 180 employees when it opens, and Mr Markantonis said the Moon Club’s expansion from a four-strong staff to 12 would create “192 jobs in a week”.

Emphasising that Atlantis constantly had to refresh its product, keeping itself new and exciting to act as a major visitor drawcard, Mr Markantonis said the first Royal Tower had been fully refurbished, with work on the second now beginning.

“We have to, as we have said, keep reinventing this place and that’s exactly what we intend to do,” he told Tribune Business.

“We’re upgrading some suites at the Ocean Club, and we have a new wedding chapel being built as we speak to accommodate the huge demand in weddings,” Mr Markantonis told Tribune Business.

Reflecting on Atlantis’s current performance, he said: “This weekend we’re running in the mid-90s on occupancy, and are already there as we celebrate the July 4 weekend and have a grand fireworks display and carnival.

“And we’re looking forwards to a very strong July and August.”

While Atlantis was unlikely to perform much better against what were tough prior year comparisons, Mr Markantonis said: “We’re still taking bookings in July for the month of July.

“I think we’re going to be in the mid-high 80 per cents for July and August. There may be a little bit of a rate differential, perhaps 5 per cent below.”

Acknowledging that August was difficult to predict due to the weather, Mr Markantonis said September and October - traditionally the slow point in the tourism calendar - still looked “soft” due to children returning to school and the peak hurricane season period.

“Hurricane Sandy really hurt us for an extended period last year, and even into this year,” Mr Markantonis explained. “

“The east coast people had expenses that suddenly cropped up, and families had other concerns.”

As to the concerns expressed by the group representing major airlines, such as Jet Blue, Delta and American Airlines, over the impact of the Customs fee/tax increases, Mr Markantonis said he had no details on this.

“If any of that is legitimate we would be concerned, but I’m not so sure that carriers would just discontinue service to the Bahamas,” he told Tribune Business.

“Some of that might may be ongoing rhetoric in discussions like this.”

Pointing out that Atlantis had its own airline contacts, and was frequently in discussions with numerous carriers, Mr Markantonis said: “We have not had any indications of anything negative.

“I know that there will be ongoing negotiations, discussions, and the country, the industry, are not going to let airlines reduce service randomly.”