TRENDING
The Fort Young Hotel in Roseau , Dominica , after Hurricane Maria hit the island , in a photo dated September 27 .
People wait in line to get a flight out of the Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in Puerto Rico in late September after Hurricane Maria , a category 4 hurricane , devastated the island .
executive recruiting firm .
Properties that were not strong performers before the hurricanes may not even begin making money again until 2020 , says Michael Bellisario , Chicagobased vice president and senior research analyst at Robert W . Baird & Co .
RELIEF IN SOME MARKETS Some Caribbean hotels will have an immediate influx of travelers and high occupancies as they house recovery workers , business travelers and affected residents , employees and their families , he adds . The 400-room Wyndham Grand Rio Mar Puerto Rico Golf & Beach Resort , which did not sustain structural damage , was hosting relief teams from the American Red Cross , FEMA , U . S . Coast Guard and other organizations , General Manager Nils Stolzlechner says .
The Hyatt Place and Hyatt House
Getty Images hotels in Puerto Rico accommodated first responders and relief workers , according to a company representative . Some Hyatt properties there weren ' t accepting reservations for stays prior to December 1 , others not until January 1 .
“ Hotels in the most severely impacted markets will be open for business , for the most part , by early to mid-2018 , but hotel performance in some of these areas may not be as strong as it can be until the beginning of 2019 ,” predicts Parris Jordan , managing director at HVS . These markets included Anguilla , Barbuda ,
British and U . S . Virgin Islands , Dominica , Puerto Rico , St . Barts and St . Maarten . Turks and Caicos , because of its strict building codes , should be largely open for business by Christmas . Destinations that were somewhat impacted included the Bahamas , Cuba , the Dominican Republic and Haiti , Jordan says .
Leisure travelers who booked holiday and 2018 dates in the most hard-hit islands have switched to less-impacted destinations such as Aruba , Antigua , Bermuda , the Cayman Islands , Curacao and Jamaica – giving these areas a boost
“ NOW IS THE MOMENT IN TIME TO STRATEGICALLY FIX WHATEVER INFRASTRUCTURE THAT NEEDED TO BE FIXED ANYWAY IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE CARIBBEAN , TO MAKE THIS REGION COME BACK EVEN STRONGER DOWN THE ROAD .”
SCOTT BERMAN , PRINCIPAL , PWC
AP Photo
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