An 'authentic' confidence vote for Guernsey

Then, just as the article is published, there follows an announcement that three hotels across Guernsey and Alderney are being bought by Hand Picked Hotels for a total consideration believed to be in the region of £10m.

It represents a hugely positive vote of confidence for tourism in the islands and in Guernsey’s own, very special, offering.

It is now some eight years since Hand Picked Hotels, already established in Jersey, moved into the market in Guernsey with the acquisition of St Pierre Park Hotel. Helped no doubt by the presence of financier Guy Hands, co-founder of the hotel group, already living in the island, the group has since invested significantly in one of the island’s major hotels and made a success of it.

Now Julia Hands, wife of Guy and Chairwoman of the hotel group, having followed her husband to the island to live, has bought Fermain Valley, Hotel Ziggurat and the Braye Beach Hotel in Alderney, calling them ‘authentic destination hotels’ in ‘locations that excite and inspire’.

The purchase follows what would have been a near-impossible trading period for the Guernsey hotels during Covid lockdowns, but it has also been a period which may help the island out longer term in defining its offering to the visitor market.

As Paul Luxon, Condor Ferries CEO, said this week, Guernsey’s relative success through Covid, and particularly in lockdown, has enabled islanders to take the time to realise some of our best attributes.

‘We’ve been able to remember why we love Guernsey and appreciate it – and that’s our proposition,’ he said.

The word authentic was used on more than one occasion in a Chamber of Commerce discussion on the state of the industry this week. As the Committee for Economic Development moves to push Visit Guernsey outside of direct States control and give the industry more of a stake in the marketing approach, it is one worth remembering for the island’s tourism offering as a whole.