ANTIGUA – Sandals boss warns PM Browne about playing politics with the hotel

By Desmond Brown – Executive Editor

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Deputy Chairman of the Caribbean-based resort company Sandals Resorts International (SRI) has accused Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne of deliberately maligning the resort.

Adam Stewart said the Antigua and Barbuda population is also being misinformed about Sandals by the country’s leader.

“There are some accusations that are being made against our organisation and we just want the Prime Minister to be well aware that everybody is listening,” Stewart said on Observer Radio’s Snake Pit programme on Saturday.

“The investment community listens and the investment community see Sandals Resorts as the credible company that it is, and they are watching with very keen eyes as to what exactly he’s up to.”

The impasse between Sandals and Prime Minister Browne was thrust into the public domain in September when the Antigua and Barbuda leader claimed that a decision by (SRI) to close the hotel for three months was an act of hostility in response to not being granted concessions.

But Stewart said Sandals is the first hotel in the country to stay open 356 days a year.

“In 25 years we closed once, and that was for the major hurricane in ’95 and we closed for a couple months. Since then, this is the first time that the hotel has had to close,” he said.

“When a plant gets to a particular age, certain upgrades become necessary, so we closed the hotel for 90 days.”

The hotel which has been closed since September 20 is set to reopen on December 17.

The Sandals CEO also warned Prime Minister Browne about the likely negative consequences for Antigua and Barbuda as a result of his public pronouncements.

“There are just ridiculous politicking things being said around Sandals and we are not a company to be played with, not at all, because we don’t deserve that type of treatment based on the track record,” Stewart said.

“Personally, this sounds like the beginning of the Prime Minister’s [election] campaign. That’s what it smells like to me. The only super brand to ever come out of the Caribbean, let’s play politics with it, that’s what the Prime Minister of Antigua is doing today.

“In my country Jamaica they have a word for what the Prime Minister is doing. They call it bad-mind. The Prime Minister bad minding Sandals Resorts, he’s playing politics, it’s the beginning of his campaign and he is straight up bad minding Sandals Resorts. And that he is going to do at the end of the day is damage his very same people that he claims to be protecting,” he added.

The Sandals CEO said they feel like they are getting a “shake down” by the Browne administration.

“It feels like somehow, we are being shaken down, whether it is the beginning of political season or in fact there is some other ulterior motive,” he said.

“In our 36-year history we have never seen anything like what is happening right now, and we have never seen a prime minister’s approach like what is happening right now. So, although it makes him look very strong, grandstanding at the beginning of political season, the damage being done long-term to Antigua from an investment community and investment climate point of view will be felt in the years to come, I can assure you of that.”

Stewart also defended Sandals against claims by Prime Minister Browne that the hotel has not performed.

“The insinuation that Sandals has not performed is preposterous, absolutely preposterous,” he said while noting the hotel’s yearly economic impact on Antigua and Barbuda stands at EC$96 million.

“Our hotel has performed. It has employed people. We employ 637 people – 459 are Antiguans and the balance are OECS and CARICOM members. There are 20 work permit holders (three percent). We promote Antigua more than the Government of Antigua promote Antigua,” Stewart added.

Sandals has also welcomed the recent announcement by Prime Minister Browne that his Government intends to utilise international tax auditors to monitor the finances of, as he put it, “Sandals and other corporate entities in Antigua and Barbuda”.

In fact, Sandals says it has been doing this very same thing for years, utilising first Price Waterhouse, and most recently Grant Thornton as its auditors, two of the highest rated auditing firms in the world, “and there has never been an issue with respect to us meeting our financial obligations and payment of taxes”.

But Sandals said it notes that in making the announcement, the Prime Minister has threatened to throw “the full book and force of the law” at it, saying that he is sending a warning.

“Far from being intimidated, Sandals believes this offers the Prime Minister and his government a golden opportunity to prove to the people of Antigua and Barbuda and the region that they are in fact serious about transparency and fairness, as Mr. Browne has boasted on numerous occasions,” SRI has said in a statement.

“Therefore, if the Prime Minister and government are indeed committed to real transparency, then they should have no problem providing to the media and the public full disclosure of the concessions enjoyed not just by Sandals, but ALL existing all-inclusive resorts on the island, and well as incoming hotels (including YIDA). This should also extend to other hospitality stakeholders in Antigua and Barbuda who enjoy concessions.”