College puts Stonington up for rent
Bermuda College is advertising for hotels or training schools to take over the running of Stonington Beach Hotel.
The college is looking at a range of options for the running of Stonington, the beachside hotel in Paget it operates to teach students hospitality skills.
Foreign hospitality training schools have been contacted with a view to them coming to Bermuda to take over the hotel, or an international hotel chain could move in to run the facility.
Other possibilities would be for a hotel on the Island to run the property or for the college to continue operating Stonington and training Bermudians for the industry.
College President Dr. Michael Orenduff said the Board of Governors at the College was looking at all options for Stonington, but whatever decision is taken, the 64 bedroom hotel will continue to be used for training Bermudians.
An advert appearing in Monday's Royal Gazette states that interested parties can rent the entire property from the college; rent only the bar and restaurant; or simply manage the hotel.
Dr. Orenduff told The Royal Gazette yesterday: "We still have a two pronged approach. We are requesting tenders to see what's out there.
"We are also pursuing doing a better job running the hotel and refocusing on the training mission. We are not making any assumptions about whether a possible partnership will materialise.
"In addition to advertising in The Royal Gazette, we've sent it to hotel associations, in Canada and the United States, and all hotels on the Island.
"There are a number of training institutions that do four year courses. We do two years, and we could have both, given the economy of working together." Dr. Orenduff said one possibility might be that a foreign training school or hotel chain would send its staff and students from overseas to Stonington. But Bermudians would still be trained side by side at the hotel.
Tenders must be submitted by November 15. Dr. Orenduff said he expected the Board of Governors would reach a decision about what to do with Stonington as soon as possible after that date.
