Ritz 7MB hotel to close for $50M upgrade
(CNS) The Ritz-Carlton resort on Seven Mile Beach will close at the beginning of June until the middle of November for a $50 million upgrade to the 144-acre site. A press release from the resort described it as “an extensive rejuvenation project that will transform guest rooms, meeting spaces and public areas”, as well as a redesign of the beachfront restaurant. The release said the “significant financial investment” in the wake of the pandemic and the related challenges “reflects the commitment” to the “iconic resort”.
GM Marc Langevin, who has frequently implied over the last few months that the resort may close for good if the borders don’t open, said the Ritz would return stronger than ever.
“The impact of the global pandemic certainly shook our business to the core,” Langevin said. “Thanks to the support of our local guests and clients, we were able to transform a moment of crisis into a success story and continue to employ a core of our ladies and gentlemen for the past year as well.”
Langevin also thanked the Dart Group, the current owner of the 369-room hotel that stretches from the North Sound to Seven Mile Beach, saying they had helped support the hotel as it remained open to the local market. The resort was at the height of a booming season when the pandemic hit in March 2020 and had to pivot from an international to a local economy business model due to the border closure. In June 2020, it opened to local guests for staycations, isolation in luxury for returning travellers, unique dining experiences and special events.
- Fascinated
- Happy
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- Angry
- Bored
- Afraid
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Only reason the Westin suddenly wants local business.
obvious question::
what is happening to the staff?
are they laid off?
i think this is a clear sign of dart’s frustration at the lack of re-openiing plan by cig….
maybe Dart should sort out the eyesore that is the old Hyatt before spending $50m on the other monstrosity – and has CNS seen that the dangerous and derelict building is now being used as a gym… perhaps you’d like to find out who granted permission for the change of use as I’m pretty sure that was, and still is, designated a hotel.
its a legal quagmire with britannia folks…..
ask yourself why would dart not re-develop sooner?…he not stupid.
No but he is so damn rich he can squeeze out everyone else. Just like he is doing to the Britannia folks.
In some ways he isn’t and some ways he is, – he’s not stupid in the ability of accumulating vast amounts of wealth, but in manifesting harmony within a community and shaping abhorrence in those by how he fuels/has fuelled his greed, he certainly is
Real Estate Development was one area the CFATF team analyzed and determined was an area where money laundering was high risk for Cayman. The AML Regulations were later amended to include Real Estate Development as a designated non-financial business and profession which brought it into line with Real Estate Sales and Dealing in Precious Metals and Stones. Businesses conducting these types of activities would be required to register with the Department of Commerce and Investment and be regulated for AML compliance.
The magically and quite literally over night, the legislative amended to include Real Estate Development was pulled. It was actually gazetted and then POOF! it no longer existed.
I wonder why?
And why are we forever on the grey/black lists. It’s not blowback from Brexit as this $hit was happening before the UK split was even a notion. But we like to blame stuff on natural events here don’t we? Blame Ivan, blame Brexit, blame COVID, but us, no sah we’s squeaky clean. We run a tight Pirate Land Ship!
Why so angry?
Actually real estate development and developers are on the list. They have to comply with AML and they have oversight by DCI. Go back and read the law!
Just because the law exists, does that automatically imply compliance? Many laws exist in Cayman but as you well know, as you seem to know what DCI demands, many laws are simply ignored. And when we get on the naughty list again, oh it was an oversight. In the case of pawn shops, some with hidden wealth storage vaults have been on the radar here for more than a decade. How long did it take for them to be regulated in the realm of AML? And what a cop out it was for CIMA to claim anything in SEZ is out of jurisdiction.
Some of Cayman’s recent AML statutory amendments are ultra vires and unconstitutional.
Irradiation of money laundering is a great initiative, which might never be achieved, that has serious flaws and, moreover, is discriminatory to certain classes of Caymanian businesses.
A major question is, with respect to politicians, what legislative changes will be made to be able to investigate, uncover and enforce the AML regime against political bribes. This has been one of the most ignored areas of the AML regime.
The Anti Corruption Commission is doing it’s best, but their is more need to investigate corruption in Government. Certain people have evidence of political corruption, but are afraid of the repercussions that could flow to them, their families and businesses.
It might be necessary for everyone to come together all at one time, and provide the evidence of corruption. There are quite a few politicians that are living luxurious lives that they cannot legitimately justify.
Follow the money.
Honestly the food at the Ritz is piss poor. Start there. In fact Kimpton, Westin and Marriott have much better restaurants.
Best sushi on the island – by far!
Agree the sushi is great. Seven is more like 0 though.
Yeah, Seven has gone downhill. I don’t know about a “0” but not more than a 5 or 6, that’s for sure.
Guess you never dined at the now sadly gone Bamboo did you? Taikun is a good facsimile but pails in comparison.
2:51pm here. Agree sushi at Bamboo was good but the manager was so incredibly rude that after going a few times, I never went back.
Yes, the service was bad at Bamboo and it wasn’t just the manager.
a) yes I ate at Bamboo, but I still think Takun is better
b) as another posted, service at Bamboo was rude at best. Can’t hold a candle to the Ritz.
c) Bamboo closed years ago, so it can’t really be the best sushi on the island anymore, can it? And, do you know why Bamboo closed – it lost much of its clientele to Taikin.
Service and food sucks at Kimpton.
That’s why I call it the Skimpton
The Ritz doesn’t just have cosmetic problems.
ritz is lucky to have dart as its owner…..many others would have sold up or shut down long time ago.
paradise, deckers, eduardos, ritz, locale, treasure island,royal palms, calico jacks, coral beach, kings head…..+ many more… all gone….thanks to incomptence of cig and having no plan to deal with covid. btw creating a covid free bubble is not a solution.
Most of those businesses weren’t going to make it before the pandemic hit, let’s be fair.
pure nonsense.
Paradise was dirty and the food sucked, Treasure Island was a revolving door of failed restaurants, King’s Head was misplaced in Camana Bay, Locale was bound to fail, just like everything that group touches, Decker’s was way past its ‘best by” date, Coral Beach was McKeevaville, Eduardo’s couldn’t figure out it if was a night club or restaurant and all the others (except for the Ritz) all knew their leases with Dart were coming to an end eventually.
2:37am – Not to worry. Mr Dart is here to save the day. He’s working on it. Buying it all up and putting his stamp on it.
And you ignorant Caymankind islanders just letting it happen…
It’s okay. I’m sure he’s doing it for the people!! *snicker LOL
A lot of them you listed have nothing to do with covid or CIG. Calicos was almost at the mercy of the landowner, TI has always been and will always be a dump even when the rooms are repainted and the name is changed, kinds head was just another poorly thought overpriced concept at Camana Bay, ritz is not gone (have you read the article?)
pretty much……..spot on!
yep its just conincidence that they all closed after covid……zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
TI/Margaritaville was in insolvency court way before covid. It was all over the press. After covid it rebranded, it is still operating under a new name. Like another poster said, stop rumor mongering
@ 5/5/21 2:37 Err. Nope. Only 2, maybe 3, can be blamed on Covid & CIG. Most were sold before the sh%t hit the fan. Stop rumour mongering!
Hopefully they’ll sort out their food because it is $h!t. Had better scran out of a UK chippy.
Ritz doesn’t cater to UK chippy tastes like yours. They aren’t missing you.
That means borders def not opening in the next 6 months
Who needs the Ritz for the border to open.
You don’t think dart was consulted with inside info about opening before undertaking a reno? Ha
You think they just woke up one morning and said you know what, let’s redo the whole place, we’ll start next week.?
No, they woke up, had a meeting with top CIG insiders and then decided.
What are you talking about? There are other hotels and thousands of Airbnb owners wanting to rent out rooms.
True. But it was the thousands dying today in India that guaranteed that.
Take a look at all those who tried to open early for the sake of tourism. See who is licking their wounds.
They been open for almost a year and had a bad 2 weeks
Ritz has been saying since last year that they were going to close August 2021 for renovation. (search for the Cayman Compass story from last fall) Maybe a good sign that they’ve moved it up to June?
Even if the island were opened tomorrow, it would take months to get a hotel that size up to speed again. And don’t give me “there are Caymanians ready and trained to take over from the others who left”
Yeah open to locals when you get shut down.
Where was that before Covid?
Profits first…
What the hell are you talking about? Before lockdown, The Ritz was open to locals anytime your sorry, cheap ass wanted to go. Some of you people will complain about anything, including a business that brings in millions of dollars to the local economy just because the want to earn a profit.
I find that very hard to believe without seeing the books.
Between the millions sent abroad using WU and MoneyGram, under-the-table deals with private interests, and the majority of profits going straight to the top and privatized, what the hell are you talking about?
A very few drops in the relative overflowing wealth fountains are actually sustained in the local economy voluntarily. Unless government enforced fees are mandated or PR and marketing campaigns are needed to upkeep public optics, most funds are somehow recouped through the owner’s network of companies.