The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

Major Nassau/Paradise Island hotels have reported “very solid” end-December business, with Atlantis’s top executive revealing that its leisure booking pace for the first three months of 2015 is ahead of the same period last year.

George Markantonis, Brookfield Hospitality’s president and managing director, told Tribune Business: “We have had a very busy season from December 19 onward. Part of that was connected to the Bahamas Bowl, as we did host the two teams and the officials at Atlantis.

“The rest of it is because of our usual huge demand for the Christmas and New Year’s Eve period. All in all, it’s been a very solid end of December, as it always is, and it certainly did not hurt that the weather was beautiful; the guests are loving it.”

Mr Markantonis added: “We have a major marketing campaign going on right now. We launch a new TV advertising campaign shortly. Our leisure business pace for January, February and March is ahead of the same time last year.”

He said that leisure business represents about 60 per cent of the resort’s overall business. “Leisure is only a portion of the business. We are still busy trying to book groups,” Mr Markantonis said.

“We have to have casino events, and we will just see how the winter shapes up for us. January and March are strongly ahead. February is a little bit ahead. It’s also a bit soon. The biggest booking month for us is January. That’s not just us but all of the hotels in Nassau. We want people to book February, March and April because that’s when we have our highest rates.”

Patrick Drake, general manager of the all-inclusive Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort, told Tribune Business that the resort was 100 per cent occupied going into the New Year.

“We’re full right through New Year’s. We had a very good week, I can’t complain. We’re looking at quite a strong year based upon the forecasts, especially come February onward. January is January, but from February on we are anticipating very good occupancy,” said Mr Drake.