Welcome, VHL Tobago resort

The eight-year lease agreement between the Tobago Hilton Limited and Vanguard Hotel Limited for the Hilton Tobago Golf and Spa Resort effectively ends today, several weeks after Government announced its intention to buy out the 51 percent shareholding of private sector investors in the hotel.

Government also announced that it will pump $45 million into restoring the island’s only four-star establishment which has been plagued by rust and other damage caused by sea-blast to its former glory. Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Secretary for Tourism Neil Wilson recently stated that the 200-room establishment which is a major part of the island’s approximately 5,500 room stock inventory, was being faced with a high rate of depreciation as well as a service delivery problem and was operating below its four-star standard.

Vanguard Hotel Limited will assume management of the property and officials yesterday announced that the jobs of over 300 Hilton workers were secure since it will accept a transfer of service of all the employees.

The company assured that there were no planss to sever employees or to make jobs at the hotel redundant and that the employer’s obligation towards staff will be transferred from Hilton to Vanguard under the same terms and conditions.