How private can lead public in Caribbean partnerships

MIAMI — When asked if the governments of the various countries and territories around the Caribbean are doing enough to facilitate and encourage growth in the region, Nicola Madden-Greig said understanding the constraints is part of the partnership between public and private entities.

“Sometimes the solutions are not always on the public-sector side. We as a private sector also have to band together and understand that we have a role to play,” said Madden-Greig, president of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) and group director of marketing and sales for New Kingston, Jamaica-based Courtleigh Hospitality Group.

She said plenty of times when the private sector can lead and then go back to the government and say, “‘Here are the projects, here’s how we’re going to do it,’ and then we can get government support in that sense."

Madden-Greig said that this approach has been successful in Jamaica. “A lot of what we have done is not because the government led but because the private sector led and the government partnered,” she said.  “Sometimes we need to also focus on how can we put something on the table and not always look for the government to come up with the ideas and solutions.”

Madden-Greig was a panelist at a “View from the Boardroom” session at the 15th annual Caribbean Hotel Resort Investment Summit (CHRIS) in Miami. Others on the panel were Andy Ingraham, president, founder and CEO of the National Association of Black Hotel Owners, Operators & Developers (NABHOOD); Ali Elam, managing director of New York City-based Fortress Investment Group; and Greg Habeeb, president, North America for WorldHotels (which is subsidiary of Phoenix-based BWH Hotels). The panel was moderated by Simon Taylor, director of Grand Cayman-based BCQS International.

Luxury, boutique lifestyle

Habeeb said WorldHotels’ two hottest segments are luxury and lifestyle boutique. He said the biggest differentiator in luxury is service.

“When you talk about service in the luxury sector, service separates average hotels from luxury hotels… So, we see that the market is growing very fast. We see people are spending, but luxury still has value.”

Habeeb said that means areas like F&B are critical, and the bathroom needs to be luxurious.

On the boutique lifestyle side, he said the industry has learned a lot from Airbnb. “Airbnb taught a lot of customers that it’s okay to go off the beaten path into a beautiful accommodation… And there’s a whole new generation that is seeking out smaller, fully curated properties,” he said.

Lagging on technology

Ingraham said COVID proved that hospitality has always lagged on technology, but some positives have come out of the pandemic.

“What you see post-COVID is we’re now taking advantage of decisions that could have been made a long time ago when you look at technology,” he said. “You can now do all kinds of things you couldn’t do before COVID. The industry was forced to adapt, and we did very well.”

Ingraham said the pandemic forced a lot of hard decisions on the industry. “We had to re-examine how we were going to survive as investors and operators, and we just had to start adopting and looking at new technology,” he said. “I think all of these brands they’ve all done a great job of going forward with new technology, and that’s going to help the owner to become more efficient, and it’s going to change the experience of the guests…. So, I’m encouraged, but we need more [technology].”

‘More time planning than building’

When Elam was asked what advice he would give potential investors looking at Caribbean hospitality, he said the market is unique.

“The Caribbean is an unusual investment market because it is very difficult to get into, mainly because of cost. But once a hotel is up and running, the demand seems insatiable… There are just not enough hotels in the Caribbean,” he said.

Elam said the most important advice would be to prepare way more than any other project strictly because of the logistics issues. He mentioned an example of projects in the Lesser Antilles where there’s not much storage space. That means furniture needs to be shipped there (mostly via Miami), which takes organization, and once the furniture arrives, it needs transportation from a port.

“All of that takes time and obviously money, but the most important thing is it slows down your construction process, which adds to costs,” he said. “So, I would say anyone who can [invest] should spend more time planning that building.”