Little Dix Bay reports increased local, int’l interest in resort
Following the recent reopening of Rosewood Little Dix Bay resort on Virgin Gorda, management of the facility has reported an increasing interest from guests both locally and internationally.
Managing Director of the resort Andreas Pade told BVI News that Rosewood Little Dix Bay has been attracting a number of persons from various nationalities, who were awaiting its reopening.
He said: “The resort’s redesign was highly anticipated and the response since opening our doors has been incredibly positive on a local and global scale … We have had a number of bookings from both our heritage guests and first-time travellers to Rosewood Little Dix Bay.”
“Rosewood Little Dix Bay has been an icon in the British Virgin Islands since its initial opening in 1964 and we are fortunate to have guests that have been supporters of the resort for over half a century … Our incredible staff have been eagerly awaiting the reopening and are very enthusiastic about the new age of luxury tourism that Rosewood Little Dix Bay will bring to the British Virgin Islands,” Pade further said.
Staff breakdown
The resort, which is considered one of the territory’s single-largest employers, staffs 158 employees. Of that number, 38 percent are BVI Islanders/Belongers while 32 percent are expats. It is not immediately clear who makes up the remaining 30 percent.
Meanwhile, management of the resort said 28 percent of the current overall employees were part of the previous staff at the resort prior to its 2016 closure to undergo renovations.
80 rooms
The resort now boasts a number of new features, including a total of 80 rooms which consists of 42 guestrooms, 35 suites, two beach houses and one hillside villa.
It also has six new tennis courts, spanning cement and artificial grass surfaces as well as two pickleball courts, a new butler service, and a new Rosewood Explorer’s children’s programme.
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Less that half the employees are local?
Bitter End and Biras are still closed and those are the numbers being promoting? This is shame full! And lands at the feet of this government and Minister. Is it really true that the employees are being bussed to the hotel? If so this country is going backwards!
What you don’t realize is that most of the locals who previously worked there decided not to return. With the closure they had to find other employment, also some were not invited back due to age. These number is very accurate, but I think will change within the year.
Very good news for a change!
It would be interesting to knowhow the resort handles the Air-lift situation, if the VG airport is still closed becaus of the firetruck break-down.
Perhaps Rosewood and other resorts on VG could help the Ports Authority acquire a second, reserve,fire truck to be used when the newer truck is undergoing REGULAR maintenanace. Also rhe fireand safty personel should be trained to carry-out this maintenace themselves.
Tourism is 1/2 of the economic twin pillars; Financial Services, the other. Though Financial Services generates approximately 60% of government revenues, Tourism provides more direct, indirect, and induced employment. An adequate number of beds for heads is vital for sustaining the tourism sector. Tourism is an important but fragile pillar that needs to strengthen and deepen in the pursuit of hardening and diversifying the economy. It is wonderful that Rosewood Little Bay Resort has reopened. However, some of reported numbers are curious, ie, 38% local, and 32% expats. Who are the remaining 30%?
Moreover, the 38% local employment may appear low but I’m guessing that the reason may be that many of the jobs may be unwanted and low paying. Universally, as the standard of living and quality of life in a community improves, locals tend to avoid certain jobs. How many locals at Rosewood Little Dix are in either mid management or upper management? Another area of focus needs to be employees compensation packages, including retirement.
Hon Vincent Wheatley, R-9 and MNRL, must be vigilant in ensuring that employees get a reasonable check when they retire. The rumour is that Little Dix Bay older employees/ workers, having worked for 30 or 40 years, are receiving a mere retirement pittance. The sum received cannot hardly pay for needed medication or feed them.
@E.Leonard, the following quote is an interesting take, “Moreover, the 38% local employment may appear low but I’m guessing that the reason may be that many of the jobs may be unwanted and low paying. Universally, as the standard of living and quality of life in a community improves, locals tend to avoid certain jobs.“ On reflection on who is performing what jobs in other locales, there are may be some truths to the observation. For example, many oil rich Middle East countries have to import labor. In Miami, San Diego……etc the majority workers in certain job are done by Latinos.
E. Leonard look like you have gotten under Hmm skin who is acting like a coward hiding behind an anonymous name and using your blog to throw shade at Uppy. Why don’t he/she go to Bobby’s and tell Uppy to his face. Don’t mind the haters, for they are only good at criticizing and post nothing of substance.
. On another note, the article noted 38% of the employees are local/belongers and 32% exalt. Who are the remaining 30%? Are the remaining 30% the top brass?
@E.Leonard, first I must congratulate you for being a regular contributor to the media discussing and raising the points of interest you do. I fully agree that the Minister of Immigration and Labour is empowered and has the responsibility to ensure an equitable relationship between Rosewood/LDB and its employees. The present minister is said to have given notice to the resort, prior to opening, that there would be a program to train employees currently available rather than importing and issuing work permits to new employees. With that fact in mind, the breakdown of the percentage of local to expat employees seem erroneous. It is also worth noting that in its 50+ years of operation the resort hasn’t elevated any locals to any significant positions in management; (save Human Resource Manager and Rooms); giving the average of 40 years employment. This is an opportune time to introduce an Understudy policy ensuring a more meaningful participation in management.
On St. Kitts/Nevis I recall the manager, along with two young ladies; both nationals (Marketing and Human Resource) on Winn-Fm for more than an hour, discussing the soon to be opening Park Hyatt Resort and at the same time reaching out to the local population to come in to seek employment positions. That is exactly the point of opening your doors to investors, giving all manner of concessions (Pioneer Status, import duties exemptions etc)
So receive as little as $250 monthly. It’s a waste of time working in these hotels for 40 years.
@John, $250 per month retirement check? Shameful, insulting, and exploitive. These investors come to islands and other resource-poor locales and take advantage of locals with government consent. Government complicit in these companies taking advantage of people. $250 a month is a sick, bare and bold face advantage. This would not happen in the home countries of these company owners, ie, UK, US, Canada, South Africa …..etc. Government is supposed to be looking
@John, know of someone who worked at Little Dix Bay for over 40 years and is getting less than a $100 per month retirement. Shameful! Another thing the Dept of Labour and Workforce Development and the MWTU must ensure that employers provide a safe and healthful working environment. They must provide employees the appropriate personal protection equipment (PPE), educate employees on the proper use of MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets) for chemicals being used and ensure that the recommended procedures are followed….etc. Further, the MWTU and DLWD must make unannounced health and safety inspections of LDB and other work sites. LDB probably wished it had decline this interview.
@Connection, yes, the VI, as a resource-poor territory, depends heavily on external investors. As such, investors are given all kind of pioneer status and other incentives to do business in the BVI. And like a beggar has no choice, government let them abuse, exploit workers…….etc and look the other way. Columbus and other privateers fool off the Caribs and Arawaks with little worthless trinkets and then captured and wiped them out either with arms or through diseases.
Modern day investors doing the same to our people to the detriment of the masses. I’m not averse to incentives but they should be performance-based and come with guarantees, eg, by a certain time they should hire local employees at mid and upper level…….etc. Instead, they get the incentives, threat employees/residents like thrash and when the incentives time have elapsed they move on. Regrettably, government seems to be complicit in the nasty behavior. Like Boris Johnson and merry men or Donald Trump and Republicans cohorts, BVI government past and present are on the wall of shame with their complicity. Nuff talk, dun talk.
While i agree u have an opinion, If this “E.Leonard” is the one for the market, please fix the current Shanty town state/smell of the area and stop posting on everything with ur long books wanting to seem to kno it all while what u should focus on seems lost
@Hmm, you got a right to your opinion and I mine. I usually don’t respond to anonymous bloggers with a different take on my expressed opinions. But since mud is being flung at someone else, I cannot stay silent, for other readers may blame Elton “Uppy” Leonard, owner of Bobby’s, for my folly. To clear the air, E. Leonard is not Uppy. By the way, some readers may agree with the folly that I write and some may not. Nonetheless, I welcome both the positive and the less than positive feedback.
Willard Wheatley Primary(formerly Major Bay Ptimary) strong! Don’t mind the haters. When people cannot argue the facts, the truth, they resort to mudslinging. Remember the lecture we got from Teacher Mac ( Macfield Malone) on a trip to his office/desk for acting up in class. Lol. Stay the course my friend.
@Hmm, if you want to throw shade, at least , you should find the right person to cover it with. Bunch of trolls and haters who gets a high by throwing shade at others while remaining anonymous. Courageous!
70% made up of BVI persons/belonged and expats. But don’t know what the 30% made up of. Let me tell you. They are made up of people not from the planet earth.
I was wondering WTF kind of statement is that! LOL!!!!!
My question for My dist.rept why is the road leading to LDB next to a Stevens property remains closed.Is it a fact LDB owns that road?So wheres the access to the beach?
Something strange is going on with the employees at Rosewood Little Dix. The employment breakdown is 38% local/belongers and 32 % expats. So what is the other category? May be the Dept of Labour and Workforce Development can bring some clarity on this puzzling category of workers. Apparently Little Dix Bay has 30% of this new, puzzling category of workers. Is it trying to hide the fact that 62% of its workforce is expats? Well, this is not surprising for the population is approximately 30:70. And the point made by E. Leonard regarding some jobs being unwanted by locals and low paying, due to an improving standard of living and quality of life makes sense.
The other group is probably persons who hold residency or exemptions who don’t classify as Belongers but also don’t need permits to work like expats do.
Something strange is going on with the employees at Rosewood Little Dix. The employment breakdown Ian 38% local/belongers and 32 % expats. So what is the other category? May be the Dept of Labour and Workforce Development can bring some clarity on this puzzling category of workers. Apparently Little Dix Bay has 30% of this new, puzzling category of workers.
Is it trying to hide the fact that 62% of its workforce is expats? Well, this is not surprising for the population is approximately 30:70.
The employment numbers, ie, locals/belongers 38%, expats 32% and others 30% provided by Rosewood Little Dix Bay Resort are raising eyes brows but the reality is that the seeds for the situation were planted decades ago. To put the scene and the conditions on the ground in perspective, we must take a peek back in time, taking a look at 1)economic transformation/immigration/emigration, 2)improved quality of life and standard of living and 3)investors facilitation.
First, lets briefly delve into economic transformation/immigration/emigration. Up to the mid 60s, the VI(British) had a subsistence agricultural economy (fishing, livestock raising, charcoal burning, working “ground”) and boat building and sailing. Then the shift to a service-based economy started in the mid 60s with tourism (Little Dix Bay started operating on VG in the 60s) and financial services in the 80s. The economic transformation created a number of new jobs and job skills.
However, at the time, the VI had a small population and could not meet the job demands. Consequently, the shortage required the import of labour and labour is still being imported. All roads now lead to the VI and at last count there are a 120 plus nationalities now calling the VI home. And at the same time that labour was being imported, large emigration of locals was occurring. With immigration increasing and emigration increasing, it resulted in today the population ratio of locals to expats being at either 40:60 or 30:70.
Secondly, with the economic transformation, the VI blossomed from being a little sleepy hallow (left by colonialists as a bird sanctuary)to having one of the highest standard of living, quality of life and per capita income($34K) in the region. And as E. Leonard highlighted in his post, when a locale’s standard of living and quality of life improves, locals tend to avoid certain types of jobs and labour has to be imported. That is currently the situation in the BVI. The small local population is packed into government and administrative jobs while expats dominates construction, technical skills……etc.
Finally, the VI depends heavily on external investment and is highly vulnerable to economic shocks in advanced countries. For example, if the economy in the US got the sniffles, the VI got a fever. However, due to the dependence on external investment, FDI……etc, the VI bends over backwards to accommodate and facilitate external investors. This over accommodation and facilitation results in a win-lose instead of a win-win for the VI, especially workers.
Investors sensing their power, influence and strength exert the tendency to do almost whatever they want. Protests from VI residents comes often with empty promises to take action. For example, the traditional access to beaches may be blocked and the promise to take action often falls on deaf ears. The bottom line is that investment in the VI should be a win-win for VI residents.
@Diaspora, the following excerpt from your post hit a spot and may have given answers a long curious question(s) about my adopted home that I love : ”And as E. Leonard highlighted in his post, when a locale’s standard of living and quality of life improves, locals tend to avoid certain types of jobs and labour has to be imported. That is currently the situation in the BVI. The small local population is packed into government and administrative jobs while expats dominates construction, technical skills……etc.”
As an immigrant, for years, I always wonder why Virgin Islanders complain about not finding work and expats could just be dropped ashore or jump off the plane at TBLIA and find work. Further, always too wonder why they were absent from construction trades and other craft skills that are typically higher paying and are concentrated in administrative areas. I thought that they (some) were lazy, felt entitled, socially superior and elitist…….etc.
However, this post may have enlighten me that their behavior and attitude may have been driven by economics, not superior social status. Looking at my home country, I see something similar occurring. Nonetheless, perhaps my thoughts are just an observation, not an excuse for the attitude of my adopted VI brothers and sisters. This Little Dix Bay employment figures have resulted in a great discussion.
@Curios and Enlightened Resident, your first impression of Virgin Islanders was correct. Every country has the good, the bad and the ugly. Well, the bad and ugly shine more brightly than the good in the VI. Don’t get me wrong, for there are many good people in the VI. VI people confused big house, big car, high fashion and big high paying job with wealth, confusing income with wealth. Some truly believe that the spending of the US dollar makes them better than others but without the skill of outsiders the VI will crash and burn. This is evident by the labour that has to be imported to do jobs that Virgin Islanders should be able to do easily.
Keeping it real. They use to be hard working but today is another story. They are poor boast, arrogant, elitist, snobbish, feel entitled, egotistic, self hating, gossipy, dependent on government ……etc yet with pockets of caring, generosity, compassion…..etc.
I know fire and brimstone is going to rain down now. But don’t hate but fix your self. The VI has larger budgets than some other larger regional countries but what does it have to show for it? For example, its infrastructure is more like Third World. The VI had a window of opportunity to progress but may have squandered it. Poor planning and execution, political patronage, dependency…….etc are ruining the BVI. Unite and stop making neocolonialists make a..ses you. They see you as disorganized, dependent, poorly educated, self hating, uninformed…….etc.
They left the VI after Emancipation as a poor, poverty stricken, unprofitable colony…..etc colony that was only good for a bird sanctuary. Now they are racing back, chasing the birds off, isolating themselves and bringing an apartheid attitude. They build you a jail but no high school(s).
Well, Mai boi, mehson, lawd ah merci, somebody telling unvarnished and raw truth this Sunday morning. Sunday is a truth telling day so this is for tru. Sweet Mother of Jesus, you going mash off mi foot them, my aunty cry out once when I accidentally mashed she pun she corn. Ouch! You mash some corns te day with the raw truth telling. It should be a wake up call for the VI to fix itself. The truth is painful and sour tasting.
Born in 1998, I’m of the Centennial generation, ie, mobile, tech savvy, heavy social media user, texting …etc but know little about VI heritage, culture, history, economy and politics. But reading the various comments on the Rosewood Little Dix Bay employment stats was informational. Admittedly, I would go from the headline straight to bloggers comment for the 411 and interesting comments ( many of my friends do likewise) but the comments on this article was deep.
In reading through all the comments, there was much discussion on how economic progress had driven locals away from some jobs and towards others. For example, the majority of locals are working for government and in administrative jobs; whereas, expats are concentrated in the various crafts, ie, carpenter, mason, plumbers, electricians, air condition
techs, welders, surveying techs, auto mechanics, diesel mechanics, IT, equipment operators and other technical skills.
Virgin Islanders prefer to work indoors in air conditioning; some one has erroneously convinced Virgin Islanders that there is a stigma to working outdoors with one’s hand. They are failing to recognize that craft skills in most cases pay better than administrative jobs.
Ok that is the reality so what does the territory do? The territory needs to embark on a renaissance of sort, a reeducation, a refocusing, a retraining……etc. This re-education is not a communist style re-education; it is a skill set re-education. The re-education will require resources investment and will be an investment in the way forward.
[ Let’s lead like eagles, not careen off the cliff like buffaloes]