11/06/07

By KRYSTEL ROLLE, Guardian Staff Reporter

krystel@nasguard.com

Four Seasons Resort in Emerald Bay Exuma was forced to close its doors to allow hotel employees a chance to re-group, as a number of their homes received severe flood damage.

Nearly a week following the passage of Tropical Storm Noel, which wreaked havoc on the island - dumping more than 12 inches of rain - several of that island's roads are still impassable.

According the hotel's Director of Marketing Vo Tomulich, the resort has even become a shelter of sorts with 40 rooms alone occupied by the staff who have been temporarily displaced by the storm.

Even though most of the Four Season's physical property was not impacted, the hotel will remain closed until Thursday. With the exception of the golf course, which sustained "severe" flood damage, the resort is fully functional, Tomulich reported.

"The physical property was elevated enough where the building and the restaurants are on dry ground. The golf course is flooded and that will take a little more time to clear out. We're having the run-off of muddy rain water going to Emerald Bay (beach), so we temporarily closed that off to swimmers," Tomulich told The Nassau Guardian yesterday during a telephone interview.

"Right now we are more concerned with our staff and employees whose lives have been disrupted -- that's the concentration right now," he continued.

Most of the devastation was recorded in other parts of Exuma, Tomulich said, adding that they have not been able to reach about 25 percent of their staff because of the impact of the storm.

"There's still some staff in parts of Little Exuma and Moss Town that we still can't get in touch with. There are still some people out there that we're still trying to get to and see how they're doing," said Tomulich.

"The flooding was so severe that we have some of our own staff and other citizens of the island that have been relocated out of their homes due to heavy flooding, and some of the main arteries and the main roadways have become impassable," he continued.

Meanwhile, he said, about 75 percent of their 550-member staff compliment are able to work and have been preparing the resort for re-opening on Thursday. Currently they are doing minor clean-up efforts.

The resort is expecting a number of guests as full flights will begin to return to the island. Tomulich said he hopes that things will return to normal as the week passes.

"The past few days have definitely been an interruption on the infrastructure on the island. Some parts of the island are starting to come out of it today," he added.

In an effort to assist their employees and islanders the resort is running a shuttle, with a special vehicle that has higher clearance for pick-ups.

Before the brunt of the storm hit the island, the resort sent out a number of communiqués to their guests, suggesting that they leave before the storm hit. However, according to Tomulich, 140 guests decided to remain on the island to "weather the storm".

When the airport opened last Thursday following a three-day closure, 120 of those guests flew out that evening and several more in the following days. Yesterday the resort had about six guests.

"Right now we are just doing a little cleaning up, and giving a chance to our staff really to take care of their personal life, because that's where most of the disruption was caused. By Thursday we'll be back to normal."

The forced closure, coupled with the challenges with the resort's golf course and accessibility to the beach, will cause the resort to lose some money, however that figure has not yet been assessed as the total number of cancellations have not been added up yet.

In addition to that, November was expected to the busiest month the resort has had since its opening three years ago.

"We were looking forward to a busier month but that's being somewhat disrupted," Tomulich said.

Today the hotel is expected to begin notifying guests arriving in the month of November that the beach is temporarily closed to swimmers and that the golf course only has nine holes.

To balance the loss of amenities the resort will offer guests a resort credit of $100 per room, per night. The credit can be used in the hotel restaurants, spa, golf course or room service.

"We're being pretty flexible, if they chose to reschedule to a later date we'll allow them to do that, if they chose to cancel we're allowing them to do that or if they still want to come to the resort and enjoy the resort credit, they're welcome to do that," he said.

On Friday, Prime Minister the Hon. Hubert Ingraham toured Exuma to assess the damage. Last week Thursday 32-year-old Kevin Milford drowned in Exuma in the floodwaters caused by Noel.