The brothers who run Bermuda Island Cruises Ltd. have dismissed as "sour grapes'' a litany of complaints against their company from tour boat operators.

In a two-hour interview with The Royal Gazette , company chairman Mr. Donald Morris, 57, and president Mr. Derek Morris, 44, said they outhustled their competitors in gaining control of the Island's tour desks. Other operators should spend less time complaining and more time improving their own products and marketing, they said.

"Tell them to come and make us an offer -- we'll go away,'' said Mr. Donald Morris. "I'll be happy to take my golf shoes and go play golf.'' In running the desks, Mr. Derek Morris admitted BIC was "somewhat biased.'' But both he and his brother maintained they would book any operator a customer requested.

Long-simmering unhappiness about BIC was laid bare in The Royal Gazette last Monday. Boat operators who compete with BIC for the visitor dollar said the company used its tour desks to steer customers toward BIC boats at their expense.

As a result, they said visitors who complained there was "not enough to do'' in Bermuda were being left with an incomplete picture of what the Island offered.

Through BIC and a 33 percent stake in Reef Roamers Ltd., the Morris brothers control five sightseeing yachts and glass bottom boats. They recently added Marriott's Castle Harbour and Grotto Bay Hotel to their stable of hotel tour desks, which already included the Hamilton Princess, Southampton Princess, Elbow Beach, and Sonesta Beach Hotel.

Responding to the Gazette articles, Tourism Minister the Hon. C.V. (Jim) Woolridge said "where there's smoke there's fire,'' and he hoped hotel managers would assure that companies holding tour desk contracts were "not acting in any way that could be detrimental.'' Mr. John Harvey, executive vice president of the Bermuda Hotel Association, has yet to comment.

Brothers say BIC entitled to `push' own business From Page 1 The Gazette highlighted the case last summer of Mr. Jed Rhoads of Philadelphia, who said the BIC desk at Southampton Princess -- which is managed by Mr. Donald Morris' wife Mrs. Linda Morris -- insisted he book Mr.

Michael Hayward's snorkelling boat when he requested Mr. Joffre Pitman's.

Mr. Rhoads -- a businessmen who regularly brings clients to Bermuda -- said he eventually got a refund and went on Mr. Pitman's boat, but he was so angry and embarrassed over the incident that he has not returned to the Southampton Princess.

Mr. Donald Morris did not deny that BIC favoured Mr. Hayward over Mr. Pitman, since BIC had a longstanding friendship and a business relationship with Mr.

Hayward.

But Mr. Morris pointed out "some inconsistencies'' in Mr. Rhoads' story.

While Mr. Rhoads said he finally had to telephone himself to book his party of 12 with Mr. Pitman, Mr. Morris produced a receipt showing Mr. Rhoads was booked on Mr. Pitman's boat through the BIC desk.

And while Mr. Rhoads said he had tipped Mrs. Morris $10, her husband said she would not have accepted a tip, because it was against BIC policy. Nor would any BIC employee tell a customer to go book a trip themselves.

"I'm not saying Mr. Rhoads didn't have a problem,'' Mr. Morris said. "I apologise to him if he did have a problem. My only concern was if he was that upset, why did he tip $10? And if he had a problem getting a refund (on the Hayward vouchers), why did he turn around and do another $510 (on vouchers for Mr. Pitman's boat?)'' Incorporated in 1963 by Kitson & Company, BIC employs nearly 40 staff in peak season and 17 during the winter.

Mr. Donald Morris joined Kitson's as a messenger boy at age 13 and had risen to Kitson's vice-president and BIC operation manager when he purchased BIC in 1985. Mr. Derek Morris started as a cruise director/entertainer in 1976 and was promoted to group manager in 1979. Just as Mrs. Linda Morris is active in the company, Mr. Derek Morris' wife Ms Kyle Messick manages the BIC group department.

"Water tours are the smallest part of our business,'' said Mr. Donald Morris.

About 60 percent of BIC's business was group-related, stemming from deals with incentive houses in the United States.

BIC arranged airport transportation, theme events, dine-arounds, and functions from St. George's to Dockyard for visitors who won trips to Bermuda as incentives from their companies, they said. BIC organised moped rallies, sailing regattas, and beach Olympics.

Mr. Donald Morris said his brother Derek built Bermuda's incentive business, organising parties like an early one for Chrysler Corp. which saw Front Street in Hamilton recreated at Dockyard, complete with 10,000 helium-filled balloons and replicas of major department stores.

"These are the things that keep us in business,'' Mr. Donald Morris said.

"If BIC hadn't had the good sense seven or eight years ago to go into (incentives), we would be out of business.'' The tour desks, which had to be staffed all year despite quiet winters, "cost us money,'' and hotels could not afford to operate them, Mr. Donald Morris said.

One unidentified tour desk in Bermuda, with rent and labour, cost BIC $80,000 a year, Mr. Morris said.

Last year, many operators were angered when BIC hiked the commission it collects for tour desk bookings to 15 percent from ten percent. But Mr. Donald Morris said operators have approached and "asked to let them give us more, and we've turned them down.

"We've been offered as much as 25 percent to favour them and we've told them no,'' he said. "These things start to get out of hand.'' Several operators complained that BIC desks rarely or never displayed their brochures.

"You've got 300 or 400 operators doing all kinds of things,'' Mr. Donald Morris said. "How do we display all of those brochures. You'd have to use up the whole lobby. We don't have room to please everybody. It's just impossible.'' Mrs. Linda Morris said BIC tried to "rotate'' brochures, but operators should drop by regularly to check their displays.

The tour desks booked 80 to 90 percent of the 9,000 people a year who took BIC all-day island cruises that sailed on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

But the desks accounted for only 20 to 25 percent of bookings for the four-nights-a-week pirate parties, now a big part of the boat business. About 35 to 40 percent of those who took the BIC pirate cruise to Hawkins Island were locals, Mr. Morris said.

As for glass bottom boat bookings, about 40 to 50 percent came from the tour desks, and the balance from cruise ships and small properties which did not have tour desks, the brothers said.

While he admitted BIC would "push'' its own boats, Mr. Donald Morris said that in 1993-94, 32 percent of total dollar sales from tour desks were for BIC and Reef Roamers. The rest went to other operators.

While tour desk staff received commissions on BIC sales which they did not get when they booked other operators, they were not allowed to run down other boat operators, and no tipping or under the table deals were allowed, the brothers said.

"In legal terms, we have no obligation in any of our contracts that says we have to sell any other operator,'' Mr. Derek Morris said. However, "it is in our best interest that we try and provide a fair, honest approach.'' On glass bottom boat sales, BIC only competed directly with Mr. Bruce King of Bermuda Water Tours, who has refused to comment on the controversy.

"We work with Bruce,'' Mr. Derek Morris said. But, if someone came to a desk and asked to book Mr. King's boat, "we're going to show them ours,'' he added.

"We'll give them both brochures,'' Mrs. Linda Morris said.

Mr. Derek Morris said operators like Mr. Pitman should do a better job of marketing their boat trips. Mr. Pitman never visited tour desks, having someone else drop off his brochures. "We shouldn't have to justify whether we like Michael Hayward of Joffre Pitman,'' he said. "Personal preference is a human right. We all have these rights in business and in everything else.'' Mr. Hayward paid BIC a monthly fee to answer his telephone and take reservations, Mr. Donald Morris said.

But, "we have done business with Joffre Pitman,'' said Mrs. Linda Morris. Mr.

Donald Morris produced a statement showing BIC did $7,300 in business with Mr.

Pitman in August of 1994, the month that Mr. Rhoads visited the Southampton Princes. "If I was doing business and had a client that was doing that kind of business with me, I wouldn't be trying to chop off the arm that feeds me,'' Mr. Donald Morris said.

At another point in the interview, Mr. Derek Morris said: "If Andrew Trimingham upset Stephen Barker (of Princess Hotels), Barker has the right to cut Trimingham's out of every one of their hotels.'' It is statements like those which strike fear into other boat operators. While a few came forward publicly with their complaints, others would speak only on condition they were not identified. They said if they spoke out, they feared what bookings they did receive from BIC would be lost.

Industry sources said Mr. Derek Morris threatened to "cut off' boat operator Mr. David Ashton from future bookings at a Chamber of Commerce committee meeting a few years ago.

"I may have said it to Nigel Prescott,'' Mr. Morris said. "I have never cut David Ashton off and I would never cut him off unless I thought he was being sleazy.'' Asked how many operators had been "cut off'' for being sleazy, he said: "We have never had that happen.'' Mr. Donald Morris admitted to "a hate relationship'' with Mr. Nigel Prescott, one of the boat operators who complained about BIC.

But Mr. Prescott, who relies on group sales on his luxury yacht, "has nothing for us to sell at the tour desk,'' he said. Still, "if a client wants an upscale yacht, we will show them (Mr. Prescott's boat) Lady Tamara ,'' he said.

A similar relationship existed with Mr. Doug Shirley, a tour boat operator who also voiced his complaints publicly, and wrote to BIC in 1990, alleging customers were steered away from his boat Veebyes .

"We don't have to display his brochures,'' Mr. Donald Morris said. "He's always rude to my staff. We don't have to do business with him.'' Asked if that meant Mr. Shirley was "cut off,'' Mr. Morris said: "We still sell him.'' Monday's articles prompted a call to the Gazette from Mr. Curtis Dawson, former owner of the snorkelling boat The Big Dipper .

About five years ago, Mr. Dawson said he took a group of US Navy people out on his boat. They had such a great time that three of them tried to book him again the next day, through the desk at the Hamilton Princess.

The BIC employee on the desk, Mrs. Angela McKey, "flat out refused to book them tickets on The Big Dipper ,'' and instead sold them tickets on Mr.

Hayward's boat, Mr. Dawson said.

Upon learning what happened, "I took the tickets back to Michael Hayward, and he was so embarrassed, he gave the money back,'' Mr. Dawson said.

"We know nothing about that,'' said Mr. Donald Morris, adding Mrs. McKey no longer worked for BIC.

"Things have changed in five years,'' said Mrs. Linda Morris.

"If Angela McKey did that deal, I'm very sorry, but it was not a Derek and Donald deal,'' Mr. Derek Morris said. "She probably should have booked it.

She may have made a mistake.'' Mrs. McKey did not recall the incident but said if it did happen, it could have been because she had a high opinion of Mr. Hayward's product. "I know I used to push Hayward's, because he goes well out, where Joffre Pitman goes as well, right over the wrecks,'' she said.

The articles also drew a call from Ms Carol Hall, a meeting planner with Ecolab Inc. of St. Paul, Minnesota. She had been working with BIC for eight to ten weeks, and "these people have handled us just beautifully,'' she said.

Mr. Derek Morris said complaints were inevitable in the service industry, and he could identify hundreds of happy BIC clients. He challenged critics to produce the names of six unhappy ones.

"If JC and his disciples were down here running that desk, someone would complain,'' said Mr. Donald Morris.

A Centrex telephone system proposed by some operators for taking activity bookings in large hotels would be "fine,'' Mr. Donald Morris said. But "that doesn't mean we're going to give up the desks.'' "You get what you negotiate,'' Mr. Derek Morris said. "They had every opportunity to do the same thing we did, and they didn't take advantage of it.

Is that my fault? Whose fault is that?'' For instance, Mr. Donald Morris said BIC recently approached Marriott's Castle Harbour about taking over its desk after reading about financial problems the Tucker's Town hotel was having. Any other operator could have done the same thing, he said.

The Gazette articles prompted a call from a Hamilton restaurant operator, who did not wish to be identified. He said he turned down a request from BIC for commissions on groups sent to his restaurant. Since then, he said he has had large groups cancel after they have arrived in Bermuda.

Mr. Donald Morris said at none of the tour desks was BIC staff allowed to promote or make reservations for any restaurants outside the hotel.

But in group business, BIC "makes no bones about'' adding 12.5 percent to 15 percent to clients' restaurant bills on Dine-Around programmes, Mr. Derek Morris said. "Sometimes the higher the better, I don't care,'' he said. But "the client pays, not the restaurant.'' `SOUR GRAPES' -- Mr. Donald Morris says any boat operator could have done what what he did with Bermuda Island Cruises.