The Tourism Minister's private business has succumbed to the power of plastic.

The Reefs cottage colony is now accepting Visa, Mastercard and American Express cards.

General manager Neil Stephens yesterday told The Royal Gazette the hotel dropped its no-credit-card policy as of November 1 last year.

This, he said, was due to a "little bit of pressure'' on owner David Dodwell as the Tourism Minister.

But he said the main impetus came from the fact that many guests preferred to travel with credit cards.

Mr. Stephens also admitted that it will cost the hotel some $144,000 a year in commissions to accept credit cards as opposed to under $5,000 for bad cheques.

But he said: "Credit card companies tell you that your business will increase with people travelling with credit cards, especially since cards are often affiliated with frequent flyer programmes.

"It will be interesting to see what will happen over the winter when you have more people taking advantage of winter packages.'' American Express, in a recent newsletter, invited cardholders to take advantage of a special package being offered by The Reefs from January 8 to March 14.

The package, it stated, allowed the visitor a three-night stay "at the enchanting resort which crowns the cliffside on South Shore, Bermuda'' for $466 or to pay $498 and receive the fourth night free.

American Express also noted that the price per person for the four days included double occupancy, an oceanfront room with a balcony, applicable Government taxes, service charges, and daily gourmet breakfast and dinner.

Mr. Stephens estimated that the letter would go out to some 30,000 cardholders.

"We will probably know by March if it is worth it (to accept credit cards),'' he said. "But there's no turning back now.'' Small guest properties in Bermuda, including The Reefs, have been reluctant to accept plastic money because they fear they would have to increase their rates by four to five percent to cover commission cost.

But last year Mr. Dodwell predicted that despite the cost, all hotels in Bermuda would accept credit cards within the next five years because a growing number of visitors were travelling with them for safety and convenience.

By planning for the change over three to five years, he told The Royal Gazette , hotels could gradually increase their rates to take into account the cost, rather than "suddenly just jacking them up''.

Last April, Pompano Beach Club began accepting credit cards in response to numerous guest requests.

The Southampton hotel's manager Dave Block said the decision was made to make the hotel more convenient for visitors who wanted to use their credit cards when they travelled.

But some other smaller properties continued to refuse to budge because they said it enabled them to keep their rates down. But they argued they were still able to provide good service to visitors.

David Dodwell