At least seven hotels will close down for various lengths of time over the next few months, a preliminary list from the Tourism Department shows.

But the purpose of closures during winter is to allow work on each property's physical plant, spokespeople for the accommodations stressed.

In the small hotel category, The Hamiltonian and Harmony Club will close from January 9 to 23 and November 30 to December 19 respectively.

Harmony Club president William Griffiths explained that the Paget property traditionally closed its doors for the first three weeks in December.

Doing so, he explained, allowed for maintenance and cleaning up of the property to be done.

It also gave the all-inclusive hotel the opportunity to drum up local business through workplace Christmas parties, he said.

The Hamiltonian has closed for a similar period over each of the past two years as has the Pink Beach Club -- the only one of the Island's cottage colonies planning to close this year.

The property will shut down from December 13 to March 2, during which time work on a combined tourism and residential centre at the Smith's Parish site is set to begin.

Garden House, which falls in the housekeeping cottage and small apartment category with the two-bedroom house, one bedroom cottage and studio apartment it offers as visitor accommodation, will close from December 1 to February 28.

Owner Roseanne Galloway said this was a yearly occurrence which provided her with the time needed to clean the property.

This category will also see the closure of Sound View Cottage between Nov. 1 and March 31.

Among small guest houses, Royal Heights Guest House and Hi-Roy Cottage will close their doors from November 15 to March 14 and from November through December respectively.

Royal Heights' Jean Richardson said the property closed every year to allow staff to take a holidays, and to do maintenance work at the property.

Hi-Roy Cottage owner Everhard Jones echoed her explanation when asked why he was closing his six room property. "I do it every year,'' he said.

Mr. Jones said he used the time to paint his facilities and prepare them for fire, health and tourism inspections. As he does this work himself, he noted, he needed the two months he was closing to get it done.

Amongst the properties which closed last winter but will remain open this winter -- are the Elbow Beach, Pompano Beach Club, Stonington, White Sands Hotel and Mazarine By The Sea.

Pompano Beach Club general manager Lawrence Lamb said his charge closed down yearly between December 22 and 25 to give staff Christmas off.

But while the property remained open during the first 21 days of December, he continued, it did not cater go overseas guests during this period.

Instead it was busy every night with Christmas parties for local companies and organisations. Many of these people stayed overnight, he added.

"We stop taking overseas guests but every night we have some kind of function booked.'' And Stonington reservations manager June Saltus said Stonington closed last year for refurbishment, including the resurfacing of many areas of the hotel.

This year the hotel was remaining open, she continued, but rooms would be closed for periods of time to allow yearly maintenance work to be done.