New Fairmont Hamilton Princess manager upbeat on hotel’s future

By Gareth Finighan

He’s overseen the day-to-day running of iconic, luxury hotels all over the world, from Ireland to Singapore from Dubai to Turkey.

But veteran hotelier Allan Federer believes that his latest post — the Fairmont Hamilton Princess Hotel — has the potential to be one of the best resorts in the world on an Island that is “a terrifically well-kept secret”.

Canadian Mr Federer arrived as general manager of the flagship hotel at the start of the month after a two-year stint with the Ritz Carlton in Moscow.

And he believes that, once a $90 million refit of “the old girl” is complete in 2016, the Island’s oldest hotel will rival anything else in the world.

“It’s a legendary property,” Mr Federer, 58, said.

“I travel globally and so many people I’ve run into in the last couple of months, while I’ve been making the transition to Bermuda, have said to me ‘do you know I had my honeymoon there back in’ ... So the hotel has a legendary history.

The Montreal native said that the redevelopment, which began last year and includes a new marina, gazebo-style bar and grill and upgrades to 69 guest suites, has been handled with a great deal of care and taste by the resort’s owners, the Green family.

And he’s convinced that, while the facelift will raise standards of luxury, the hotel will not lose any of it charm.

“I think you can see that the ownership group of this hotel is investing deeply and with great intelligence and I have to say as a global hotelier, with great taste,” Mr Federer said.

“These people have great taste and they’re Bermudian and this hotel has a place in their heart — they are sophisticated international business people but this is as much a labour of love as it is a business investment.

“It’s a reflection of their pride in their home so I don’t think there’s any danger of any kind that the hotel is going to lose an iota of its charm.

“I think the old girl got a little tired so people stopped visiting. The global tourism industry has very deep pockets and other destinations have built equally legendary hotels — the quality level that the affluent global traveller is used to experiencing really wasn’t largely available here so other destinations got selected.

“But if I were to take you to some of our new guest house suites in the Poinciana wing I will tell you that you would be hard-pressed to find a better guest room suite in any hotel in the world.

“These are globally competitive, affluent luxury guest rooms and suites. We’re building a product here that hasn’t previously been available anywhere at all on the Island.”

Having only been in Bermuda for a matter of weeks, Mr Federer was reluctant to discuss what Bermuda needs to do to revitalise its tourism industry.

But he was clearly captivated by the complete contrast of the Island to his previous posting in Moscow.

“What a terrifically well-kept secret. I think you should be shouting it from the rooftops,” he said.

He added that the hotel will be doing its own share of rooftop shouting in order to attract more guests.

“It’s not a case of, if we build it they will come — the world is just too big and there are so many great products out there. When you put a contemporary luxury product in a legendary building like this in a destination that is so proximate to 100 million people, the question is not how do you do it but how can you not do it.”

Mr Federer was willing to discuss the issue of gaming, and applauded Government’s plans to introduce integrated resort casinos here.

Mr Federer was working in Singapore when the Asian city state legalised casino gambling a decade ago, and the Bermuda Government is now drafting legislation based on that model.

“It’s a brilliant model to adopt,” Mr Federer said. “Singapore is the most efficient country on God’s green Earth.

“When they call it the Switzerland of Asia, it’s not doing justice to Singapore. It is a remarkable place and the introduction of gaming there has been an enormous tourism boon.

“I’m hopeful that that can be replicated here. The research shows that something like 30 percent of travellers make vacation decisions based on the availability of gaming.

“You don’t want people to reject your destination based on the unavailability of a single amenity. I think that’s the best way to view gaming — through the lens of an amenity — and there are a lot of people who are attracted to it.

“What’s important to remember is that Singapore didn’t open just one casino, they opened two very large casinos.

“When people think of gaming they think of the casino itself — they don’t think about the retail that goes along with it, the dining, the entertaining — all these other components that are at least equally as important as the gaming component by itself.”

Asked if he will be submitting a bid for one of only three gaming licences that Government will authorise, Mr Federer played his cards close to his chest.

“I think there’s so many steps that we need to go through that it would be premature to comment. Who knows what the future holds?”