Grenada Government Confirms Hotel Under New Management

ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, October 16, 2018 (CMC) — The Grenada government, today, confirmed that the 212-room Grenadian by Rex Resort has been placed under new management, and its name had been changed to Starfish Resort.

“The agreement is between the owners of Rex and Sunwing, so I have no details, as yet, about the agreement, because it’s a private purchase,” said Tourism Minister, Clarice Modeste, noting that representatives from the new owners of the Pink Gin Beach property on the south of the island, will be arriving here, soon, for talks with the government.

Since 2016, the Keith Mitchell government and owners of the property have been in court, after the government served notice that it would be acquiring the property, in accordance with Land Acquisition legislation.

However, the owners were successful in having the court issue a temporary order, preventing the acquisition.

Modeste said that government was not part of the negotiation and learnt of the new ownership through an official correspondence, recently issued by Sunwing Travel Group, in which it announced that the Group’s hotel division would begin operating six of Rex Resorts’ Caribbean hotels, as part of a newly-formed strategic alliance.

“As part of this landmark agreement, Sunwing’s growing hotel division plans to make significant improvements to each of the resorts, over the coming years. We are excited to be entering into this partnership, which reflects our commitment to the CARICOM countries of the Lesser Antilles,” said Stephen Hunter, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sunwing Travel Group.

“We look forward to increasing tourism in Grenada, Tobago and Barbados, as we have recently done in St. Lucia and Antigua,” he added.

Starfish Resort will have five new properties, including Starfish Discovery Bay Resort, Barbados; Starfish Halcyon Cove Resort, Antigua; Starfish St. Lucia Resort, St. Lucia; Starfish Grenada Resort, Grenada; and Starfish Tobago Resort, Tobago.

The general manager for the Grenada property, Christopher Forbes, said that as of December 1, the new brand and name will be unveiled.

“There are lots of plans for the property, but the first thing to happen will be the renaming of the property to the Starfish brand,” he said.

The release quotes Alison Palin, of Rex Resorts, as saying that this strategic alliance will enable the group to rejuvenate and further enhance these popular resorts, which are all situated in prime beach locations.

“Leveraging Sunwing’s distribution and scale will allow us to boost our occupancy and tighten our operational costs and, ultimately, position these properties to provide even more value to our guests. We look forward to the continued support of our valued employees, local suppliers and tour operators as we finalize this exciting and transformational agreement,” she said.