US$21 million face lift for pioneer hotel

An artist impression of the new Northolme Hotel

The Northolme Hotel, one of the pioneers of the local tourism industry, is set for a multi-million dollar makeover, following a recent buy-out by a group of Maldivian hoteliers.

In a press conference on Wednesday May 19, representatives of the Crown and Champa and Kuredu hotel groups announced that they are to spend a total of US$21.4 million on a complete overhaul of the Northolme site.

The figure includes $3.4 million paid to the parastatal Cosproh (Compagnie Seychelloise pour la Promotion Hoteliere) for the land on which the hotel stands and $18 million to be spent on the construction of the new resort.

The new 40-room five star hotel is set to boast a split level swimming pool, Jacuzzis, spa and restaurant, as well as satellite television, DVD, CD and even espresso machines in every room.

Representing the Kuredu group, Lars Petré said that plans for the redevelopment had been laid in 2002 in partnership with British hotel management company, the Wrens group, which held 50 percent of the Northolme shares.

However, after the Wrens Group ran into financial difficulties, the Maldivian operators bought out their stake and are now pushing ahead with the hotel overhaul.

Ahmad Didi, another of the group of shareholders, said that initial negotiations to purchase the property had been problematic, due to the high rent they were paying for the hotel, of roughly $6,000 per bed per year.

Construction of the new hotel, by local building firm Laxmanbhai, will begin in July and is scheduled to be completed by March 2005, ahead of an April opening.

Throughout the press conference, held at the Seychelles Tourism Marketing Authority's (STMA) Bel Ombre base, Mr Didi stressed that the new Northolme would focus on offering value for money, with nightly room rates ranging from 300 to 550 Euros.

Asked about the sensitive issue of expatriate employment the investors said that they are planning to open the hotel with foreign staff heading most departments, but that they would be charged with training local employees who would then replace them.

Despite the trend of falling visitor arrivals the new investors expressed confidence in the prospects for the renovated Northolme, saying that it would be, "a different concept from other Seychelles hotels."

Mr Didi added that Seychelles' tourist downturn is due to incorrect positioning and a lack of value for money.

"We will try to correct the mistakes that have been made in Seychelles and we will collaborate with STMA," he said, adding that he felt that the marketing authority and the hoteliers have to work together to achieve mutual targets.

The investing group said that, in addition to targeting Seychelles' traditional supplier markets in Europe, they would also focus on the Japanese and Korean tourist markets.

Mr Didi said that there is a lot of potential in the Far Eastern wedding and honeymoon travel sectors and that, as well as the Air Seychelles Singapore service, there are also a number of flights from Japan to the Maldives, which could connect to Seychelles.

Japanese brides, said Mr Didi, "would pay a lot to come here to wear a white dress and get married in Church."

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