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NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW 4


Barbados levies hotel tax with a week’s notice


Juliet Dennis juliet.dennis@travelweekly.co.uk


A new Barbados hotel room tax that will see families forced to pay up to £180 in bed taxes for a typical stay has been slammed as an “outrage” and “unhelpful”.


Operators, agents and hoteliers


were given just over a week’s notice by the island’s government before the levy comes into force on Sunday. The levy on accommodation,


collected in resort, will cost between US$2.50 (£1.90) and $10 (£7.55) per room per night until


VAT doubles to 15% in 2020. The new tax equates to $240


(£181) for a family staying 12 nights – a typical length of stay for Britons – in two interconnecting rooms in a luxury hotel. In addition, an ‘airline travel and


tourism development fee’ of $70 dollars (£53) will be charged from October 1 when clients fly back to the UK, and a 2.5% levy will be charged on ‘direct tourism services’, such as car hire. The measures are part of an austerity budget by new prime minister Mia Mottley. Designer Travel managing


director Amanda Matthews said:


“It’s an outrage. I could understand it if it was on new bookings but we have clients who booked a year ago. We now have to tell them there is a tax. They are not happy.” She believes off-peak sales could be hit. “This is already a premium-priced island and this will make it so expensive,” she said. The Destination Lounge director


Jake Goodenough said: “This tax is substantial. If there is an equivalent resort [on another island] at a comparable price, clients will go there instead.”


Caribtours managing director


Paul Cleary said: “This is not news we like to receive at short notice. “It is unhelpful it is being


introduced immediately.” Sandals is to absorb the levy at its Sandals Royal Barbados and Sandals Barbados properties. Last year, Barbados attracted 187,000 Britons, or 16.5% of all UK visitors to the Caribbean – the


equal-largest share with Jamaica. ■ New Zealand is considering levying an entry tax of up to NZ$35 (£18) per person from late 2019.


Sandals Barbados: the resort operator is absorbing the bed tax on existing and future bookings


5 STORIES HOT


5 Ritz-Carlton hints at eight-ship fleet


Hollie-Rae Brader hollie@travelweekly.co.uk


The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection could build up to five more luxury ships, while parent Marriott is likely to launch further cruise operations based on its other hotel brands.


Marriott group “has enough


brands to diversify [into cruise] for quite a long time”, Douglas Prothero, chief executive of The


Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, told Travel Weekly.


Currently, Ritz-Carlton has three 298-passenger vessels on order, the first launching in early 2020, followed by two in 2021. Prothero said that while


expansion was on the cards for the Ritz-Carlton yacht brand, it was also important that it remained a niche and specialised product. “We’re going to build more


yachts,” he said. “We don’t know exactly how many more, but the intent to build is there. “We have one in 2020, two in


2021 and then we expect one or two in 2022. We want to maintain


6 travelweekly.co.uk 28 June 2018


a niche designation; we could easily build 20 of them but we won’t. I think six, seven, eight ships won’t be a problem for us.” Prothero said he was aware


other cruise lines were “unhappy” with Ritz-Carlton’s entry into the market. He attributed that to the brand’s profile internationally and because other Marriott brands were likely to launch “on the sea”. “There will be further cruise


ventures under Marriott,” he said. “And that’s partly why other cruise lines aren’t happy with our arrival in the market – they know we


won’t stop with Ritz-Carlton. “Any number of Marriott hotel


brands would work as a cruise brand. We won’t go head to head with ourselves within the group. We’re doing luxury with Ritz-Carlton and could do upper premium and premium. Marriott has enough brands to diversify for quite a long time.” Ritz-Carlton began taking bookings for the inaugural season a month ago. Prothero said two out of three bookings had come from clients who had never taken a cruise.


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