Sole Resorts, new owner of the Riu hotel

The rumor was confirmed on Friday July 13 at a press conference at the Hôtel de la Collectivité. The Riu hotel, located in Anse Marcel, which seemed abandoned since the devastating passage of Irma, has been sold.

Sole Resorts, a family owned hotel investment company, took over the property last June. Like the other three properties of Sole Resorts, the Anse Marcel hotel will be managed by the Apple Leisure group, specializing in the management of trips and hotel complexes in Mexico and the Caribbean and headquartered in the States. -United. Tommaso Sandretto, CEO of Sole Resorts was accompanied by Alejandro Zozaya, CEO of Apple Leisure Group and Luis Pons, architect, to present the project to the press on Friday July 13, alongside Daniel Gibbs.

The hotel will be completely renovated and refurbished to blend in with the natural decor of Anse Marcel. It should have 300 rooms, a spa, a gym, a food court ... and open in the last quarter of 2019. Tommaso Sandretto talks about a total investment of $ 62 million. The president of the Collectivity did not mince his words and welcomed this acquisition as a "blessing for the territory". And this, even "if [he] has never been a big fan of all inclusive". The new buyers have undertaken to keep the 167 jobs in the Riu. The principle of All Inclusive is controversial and the CEO of Apple Leisure Gourp knows it. This is why he ensures: “We have seven tour operators and move 3,4 million passengers a year from the United States, to Mexico and the Caribbean. […] The fact of managing a hotel in Saint-Martin gives us even more appetite to increase the number of flights to the island […]. In all the destinations where we manage hotels, we are increasing the number of tourists. Only 20% of our passengers stay in our hotels. So the remaining 80% turn to other hotels in the destination. We also encourage our customers to leave the hotel to go to local shops, bars and restaurants. On the one hand so that they can discover the local culture, but also because the less our customers stay in the hotel, the more we make money ”.

(More details on www.soualigapost.com)

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