Things have gone from bad to worse to catastrophic for The Baha Mar Resort in the Bahamas. After missing its March opening date, failing to alert guests with reservations (and the media) to the delay, and then bungling up their refunds, along with filing for bankruptcy and engaging in a blame game with their construction company, the $ 3.5 billion resort project has turned what should have been a modern paradise into a hotel hell.
But now, the Bahamian government is attempting to step in and put the resort back on track to opening. Which has the resort’s developers, Baha Mar, Ltd. extremely upset. The developers are due in Bahamian court today but the country’s Prime Minister has made his intentions clear.
Travel Weekly reported last week that Prime Minister Perry Christie said the government would take over the project and force out the developers.
Christie, in an address to the Bahamas public late Thursday, said that the project, which is 97% completed, would have the best chance of opening if the government took it over and removed Baha Mar Ltd. He added that the Bahamas attorney general on Thursday filed a so-called “winding up petition” that would force a compulsory liquidation on the part of the developer.
Christie was also critical of the developer’s decision to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. on June 29 without giving prior notice to either the Bahamas government, the lender or the contractor. Christie, whose government has agreed to fund two salary payments for Baha Mar’s more than 2,000 workers since that bankruptcy filing, added that the developer wouldn’t agree to either rescind its bankruptcy petition or discontinue the lawsuit it filed against the contractor in U.K. courts the following day, further hindering negotiations.
Naturally, Baha Mar Ltd is pissed. This is the statement they put out on Friday :
We urge the government of the Bahamas not to seize private party assets and to allow the private parties in what is after all a commercial enterprise to come to an agreement that would allow for the completion and opening of Baha Mar as soon as possible, as the government has publically and explicitly urged.”
And according to the Wall Street Journal, Baha Mar Ltd. has also complained that China Construction America has cut power to the resort and attempted to steal documents that would help Baha Mar reopen. Clearly, this resort won’t be built if both of these parties have to work together. This relationship seems irreparable.
Meanwhile, there are still people leaving comments on the Baha Mar Facebook page about visiting. So for the sake of the guests who haven’t completely written the resort off, we hope Baha Mar does open and soon. At the very least, take care of the people who had their vacations ruined by the unopened resort.
Also, this guy has a question:
[Photo: Baha Mar Hotel]