The investment of many tens of millions of pounds in Guernsey’s hotel sector is being heralded as a real sign of confidence in the local tourist industry. As well as landmark projects like La Grande Mare, the Bella Luce, and Cobo Bay, a lot of other hotels have undergone significant upgrades over the past couple of years.
Tourism lead for the States’ Economic Development Committee, Deputy Lee van Katwyk, said he was excited about the level of investment being shown.
‘I think it’s incredible when you look at the people who are putting in this money. They are very smart people, who have already achieved a lot, so to have them come to Guernsey, some from outside – although some have lived here for generations – and say “This is the moment in time that I want to invest many millions of pounds in this special place” means I think we are in a very, very good position moving forward.’
Visit Guernsey’s Zoe Gosling echoes the message, but stressed that not all of the developments were about expansion. Rather, some are about moving upmarket.
‘I think in terms of the higher profile projects that are going on in the island at the moment, they won’t see growth, but what we will see when they come back onto the market is an improved product, which gives us an opportunity to market to a different audience, that we maybe didn’t have as much of before.’
In terms of large-scale hotel investment projects going on at the moment, the most obvious two are at the Bella Luce and La Grande Mare, both being completely redeveloped. Neither are sharing detailed plans of their final accommodation provision at the moment.
Those involved with the La Grande Mare project say they would prefer to focus on the launch of its golf course this summer, before talking publicly about what they describe as their ‘lodge/hotel offering’.
Meanwhile it is understood that despite the obvious scale of the investment at the Bella Luce, once the project is complete there are only likely to be 14 guest rooms, so it is clearly aiming for the top stratum of the market and there is also talk of a high-end restaurant on the site.
Neither have yet given a date for when they expect to be open for guests, but islanders will have seen them taking shape over recent months as they drive past. In the case of the Bella Luce this includes the thatching of the old part of the building which has been retained.
Elsewhere local hoteliers are more chatty about their plans for future investment, and about those projects they have recently completed.
Jamie Nussbaumer from the Cobo Bay Hotel is not giving away the exact cost of its redevelopment, which is being done over several winters, but says it is pretty much consuming the cash his family received from selling both The Farmhouse and The Doghouse.
‘The Cobo Bay Hotel has always kind of been the crown jewel for us. Both my dad and I were born and raised on the west coast, and went to Castel School, and we saw an opportunity to really invest in a project that meant the most to us out of the three businesses we were running. The last development done here was in the 1980s so we were wary it might be getting a bit tired, and we wanted to future-proof it.’
The project is already one year into its three- to four-year programme, with a new staff quarters already created, as well as two specially-designed bedrooms on the ground floor to cater for guests with disabilities. The next phase will include an additional six bedrooms in the current roof space to maximise the Cobo Bay’s greatest assets – the west coast views and sunsets. But Mr Nussbaumer was equally excited about its future food offering.
‘We want to really build on our reputation as a food and beverage establishment, creating a new restaurant on the terrace, crossing that divide from being a hotel restaurant to becoming an outright restaurant, and then we have the “wow factor” by creating the upstairs bar which we think is going to be brilliant.
‘It is going to be the Sunset Bar and there is no better view on the west coast. I think it will lend itself to our relationship with the Rockmount, which has a slightly different offering.’
So new and revamped bedrooms, a new dining experience, and a highly scenic bar. All very impressive, but I had to ask the question that local music lovers will want an answer to. What will all of this mean for the future of the balcony gigs? The answer will come as a relief to many.
‘They’re not going anywhere. Well, I say that, but the idea is to move them on to the new balcony of the rooftop bar. That will bring them more centrally between ourselves and the Rockmount, in the middle of the road, and it will mean we don’t have to use guest bedrooms for the gigs, so it should work well.’
What gives the family the confidence to invest so heavily in the family hotel? Mr Nussbaumer said that confidence breeds confidence, and seeing others also ploughing money into Guernsey’s hotel sector filled him with enthusiasm, as do other developments such as the increasingly vibrant, continental, al fresco scene in town, and the new British Airways link from Heathrow.
Investment in Guernsey’s hotel offering also goes far wider than just three headline projects already mentioned. The Little Big Group owns four local hotels and has a rolling programme of investment and upgrading. The latest project being at The Duke, formerly the Duke of Richmond.
Manager director Charlie Walker said that when running an ongoing business, such work needed to be planned carefully.
‘We closed The Duke for six to eight weeks in January and February of this year and did a rapid renovation of the public areas. The rooms are of a wonderful quality already, but we felt the bar, restaurant, and communal areas, through reception and into the cafe, could do with a bit of love.
‘We just see it as an incredible, unique proposition. In town, up high, a wonderful south-facing terrace and a sea view from the corner of Cambridge Park.’
Ms Walker said that post-pandemic and post-Brexit, the local tourist industry has changed radically, but she remained upbeat about its future, particularly when she saw the levels of investment from other players.
‘You can call me stupid if you like but I consider myself wildly optimistic, on the precipice of being bullish, in terms of how much you can push a resilient industry, and I think as an operator you need to commit to the next 10 to 15 years, believing there’s a future there.’
The recent investment in Guernsey hotels is far from being limited to the multiple-starred sector of the market. A classic case of a more modest establishment showing confidence in the future is the Pandora Hotel in Hauteville.
When Will Haegeland arrived there as general manager three-and-a-half years ago, it was a two-star establishment. Now, after a series of significant investments, not only is it three-star, but trending towards the top end of that bracket. The latest project to be completed was the creation of a new brasserie at a cost of £100,000 and the next will be raising the roof and rebuilding the top floor, with a £1.5m. price tag.
Mr Haegeland said that he and his backers have ‘significant confidence’ in the resilience of the sector, are mostly full from April to October, and are benefiting from the current focus on the French market.
‘Since Brittany Ferries started we have seen a huge increase in French guests. It’s not only day-trippers but people who stay for two to three nights. Obviously our location next to Victor Hugo’s house is a great draw for French visitors, and also that we have a room where his mistress stayed. It’s grown so much that we are training our staff in French and providing room information and venues in French too, so we can welcome them a bit better.’
Despite the success in attracting French tourists, the manager of the Pandora Hotel – who is also a director of the Guernsey Hospitality Association – wants to see Guernsey making an effort to tap into new markets like Asia, America and even Australia.
‘We need to go out there and speak to those agents, together with Visit Guernsey, because it is one thing that they stand there and show off videos of young, aspiring people jumping about in the sea, but if you look at our guests they don’t necessarily fit that sector. We need to actively speak to the agents and get them here to see the destination.’
So is there universal optimism among the sector? Not quite. While everybody seems generally upbeat, many also mentioned their deep frustration at the difficulty and cost of recruiting suitable staff, only to have to lose them after three years because of the island’s population control regime.
Deputy van Katwyk said that Economic Development was doing what it could to help in this regard, but pointed out that the regime is overseen by Home Affairs. Asked what else he thought the States could do to help the hotel sector, the tourism lead said he wanted to see the States complementing all of the private investment going into local hotels with some public money going towards product enhancement.
‘We currently invest some money in events and activities, but what I would like to see is a product grant developed to help encourage those areas that we know tourists already come here for. For example, the natural beauty of the island is one thing, making it easier to access that natural beauty.’
Deputy van Katwyk stressed the impact of helping tourism to flourish went far wider than assisting a relatively small sector of the Guernsey economy.
‘It’s incredibly important. There’s so many other areas of our economy that are linked to tourism. If we didn’t have so many tourists coming in, we wouldn’t have so many restaurants. Perhaps our retail offering wouldn’t be so great, and all of that sort of comes together into a real big part of our economy.’