In the midst of the sale process, and the anxiety it has been causing, Viceroy Anguilla, the management company for the Starwood Capital-owned resort, is reassuring the more than 500 colleagues, that there is hope for a positive future.
Over the past several days, executive representatives of Viceroy and the unnamed potential new buyer have been meeting with the Anguilla Government and colleagues, discussing the sale process advising the valued Viceroy Anguilla colleagues that the future is bright with strong investment planned for the resort to take it to an even higher level of luxury hospitality.
The Anguillian availed itself of the opportunity to interview Mr Bill Walshe, CEO of the Los Angeles-based Viceroy Hotel Group; Mr Richard Alexander, General Manager of Viceroy Anguilla; and Ms Dorla Hodge, the Anguillian Director of Human Resources.
“First of all, we manage hotels for business people and business people buy and sell; so what is happening, in terms of the likely sale of Viceroy Anguilla, is no different from scenarios that we see across the world with different hotels,” Mr Walshe explained. “An entity of Starwood Capital, the owners of the hotel,have decided to sell the property. Like many investment companies, they buy and sell assets all of the time.They marketed the hotel around the world for a potential buyer. A potential buyer has emerged. That buyer has paid a deposit and is now working towards what is called a closing with Starwood Capital. It has not yet closed. As we sit here today, Starwood Capital is the owner of Viceroy Anguilla. It is probable that there will be a new owner in the future and, because of that transition process, all related parties are now discussing an agreement with the probable new owner.”
Mr Walshe continued: “As Viceroy, we are talking to the potential owner that when they own this property, we would like to continue managing it for them. We are trying to do that deal, and we are advanced in doing it to make sure that we stay around and that life continues as normal. Because one is selling, and one is buying, we have to redo our contract. The deal is not yet closed and we are hopeful that it will be soon.”
Asked to elaborate, Mr Walshe explained: “The owner of the hotel has a management agreement, which is a contract with Viceroy Hotel Group to provide services. Because the current owner of the hotel is selling, that contract will go away.
There will be a new owner with whom we don’t have a contract, so we need to create a contract with that new owner; so one finishes, one begins – and hopefully in a seamless way.”
Mr Walshe was questioned as to how such an arrangement was affecting the employees, whom Viceroy thoughtfully and affectionally calls colleagues: “Because we are the management company that they work for, and the contract we have goes away, under Anguilla’s law all contracts go away. So the colleagues were told that because of the sale process their contracts, like Viceroy’s contract, will be cancelled. And in the same we have reapplied to the new potential owner to say this is who we are, and we would like to stay managing the hotel, every colleague in the hotel has the opportunity to reapply and say I would like to stay working at the hotel. One owner goes; one owner comes so that transfer of ownership means that the contracts must be cancelled. We must all reapply and then new contracts will be issued.”
Dorla Hodge answered a question about the different levels of contracts. “We have two types of contracts,” she told The Anguillian. “We have our fulltime colleagues and we have our on-call colleagues. But in the fulltime group we have colleagues who either have open-ended contracts – that is they have no end date to their contracts – or colleagues who have close-ending contracts – that is their contracts have an end date. Typically, for the close-ending contracts, they come to an end at the end of each season, but are renewed at the beginning of the new season.”
Ms Hodge added: “Now, with the sale, it impacts all colleagues regardless of what category they fall into.”
“Adding to Dorla’s point, it affects everybody including the General Manager of the hotel and, as I said, including the management company of the hotel,” Bill Walshe commented. “So it is a process that we are all going through together; and I know that it is concerning to people because change is disruptive and distracting, but it is one process that applies equally to all colleagues: Richard is a colleague; Dorla is a colleague; and it also applies to Viceroy’s managing company. So we are on a journey together.”
Alexander, the General Manager, spoke next to The Anguillian: “We put a lot of effort into making sure that we alleviate as much of the uncertainty as we can by holding frequent communication meetings both as groups and also as individuals,” he reported. “I think it is very reassuring to see that the majority of colleagues have applied for their positions and are feeling very positive about the future.”
He added that Dorla and her team in the Human Resource Department will have their hands full dealing with the completed application forms for submission to the new owner.
In reflecting on the sale process of the resort, Alexander said that in the meantime it was important to concentrate on running the resort and providing good guest services. “The important thing for us to emphasise is that we still have a hotel to operate and our guests are as important to us now, as they always are. So we try to focus on business as usual,” he went on. “We try to alleviate any uncertainty. We try to encourage colleagues to focus on today and not to worry about tomorrow – something which perhaps is outside their circle of control.”
It was not possible for any of the three management colleagues above to comment on the discussions between the Anguilla Government and the representative of the potential buyer. Other than that the meeting was very positive and that the new owner expects to receive the necessary Government approvals to proceed with the purchase. An insight into those discussions has been provided in a Government press release published elsewhere in this edition of The Anguillian.
Meanwhile, a look around the property has rightly revealed a calm and business-as-usual atmosphere, with everyone hopeful for a positive future at Viceroy Anguilla, after the sale process concludes on or before March 6.
