Raffles departs Canouan

Raffles and the owner of the Raffles Resort Canouan Island in the Grenadines have parted ways.

The resort's owner, Canouan Resorts Development, will assume operations of the 156-villa resort when it reopens on May 20 as the Carenage Bay Resort.

Achille Pastor-Ris, CEO of Canouan Resort Development, said, "In keeping with the serious reduction in business to the Caribbean, the business model of the resort product in Canouan will undergo changes in the coming months."

Guests who held bookings in May have been contacted, as have travel agents. “We intend to honor the contracted rates already published,” said Pastor-Ris.

The resort opened in late 1999 as the Carenage Bay Beach & Golf Club and signed a management contract with Rosewood Hotels & Resorts a year later. That contract was terminated in February 2002 and the hotel closed that spring. It reopened in November 2004 under the Raffles banner.

The Raffles Canouan was Raffles’ first foray into the Caribbean. The brand later announced plans for resorts in Barbados and St. Lucia, but these have not materialized.

Canouan Resorts Development’s real estate division and construction company will continue to develop private residences near the hotel site and plans to launch a villa rental program in 2011.

By: Gay Nagle Myers April 28, 2010

http://www.travelweekly.com/caribbean/article3_ektid213786.aspx