Anybody visiting Anguilla’s renowned Malliouhana Hotel and Spa would be surprised to see the vast amount of renovation workin progress there, as efforts continue to restore the once “small leading hotel of the world” to its former glory and popular rating.
Many of the old fixtures of the rooms have been dismantled and thrown out. Some restructing work is also taking place, and there are piles of discarded material and equipment everywhere as teams of busy workmen carry out their work. With the renovation in full swing, a shipment of containers,with new replacement supplies,has been ordered and the operators and owners of the property are hoping to have the resort functioning within the first few months of the coming tourism season. It is an accomplishment which all persons in Anguilla are looking forward to as well.
Malliouhana (the Arawak’s name for Anguilla), which closed its operations some two years ago, largely due to the downturn in the economy, was Anguilla’s first up-market hotel which was owned and operated by the Roydons – an English family – for over a quarter of a century. It employed well over 200 Anguillians during the peak of its operations.The hotel was the recipient of various raving reviews and awards for outstanding service, and had enjoyed top ratings in the regional and international marketplace. Among other features, it has long boasted the largest wine cellar in the Caribbean.
The 55-room hotel, located on an elevated 20-acre beachfront, overlooking Meads Bay and Turtle Bay, was sold to Adventurous Journeys Capital Partners (A.J. Capital) – a group ofinvestors and developers in Chicago. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between them and the Anguilla Government on February 1, 2013. At the signing ceremony, the investors and developers pledged “to create something truly exceptional.” The Management Company is Auberge Resorts – a collection of award-winning hotels and world-class spas in Napa Valley, California. The company has been hired by the owners to assist with the renovation work and to market and manage Malliouhana.
Interestingly, the newly-appointed General Manager is a onetime guest at Malliouhana who came to Anguilla as a tourist and fell in love with the hotel and the island. He is Mr John Vasatka who is joined by his family. His two children are students at the Teacher Gloria Omolulu Institute.
“I had heard so much about Anguilla. I was working in the Caribbean and thought I had to come and see what the island was all about,” he told The Anguillian. “I stayed at Malliouhana and fell in love with the island and the property. Now, years later, I have had an interview with Auberge and was lucky enough to be chosen to run the hotel.”
Mr Vasatka has much experience in hotel management. Over the years he managed hotels in the Philippines, the British Virgin Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
The Anguillian asked him what it would take to get Malliouhana up and running again. “We have started a full-scale renovation just in the last few days,” he told the newspaper. “We are taking all the furniture out, taking ceilings out and replacing floors at all of the guest rooms at the main house, the terrace and most of the villas. We are looking to reopen in winter in 2014, this coming season, and we are hoping to do so as early as February. We want to see how, in another month or so, the construction workis going, before we come out and announce a hard and fast re-opening date – but we hope to do that very soon.”
Questioned about the expected extent of the operations of the hotel by that date Mr Vasatka stated: “It doesn’t look like we are going to be able to open all 55 rooms. We are looking to open 46 because we just don’t have the time to work on the remaining rooms. Again, we are concentrating on the rooms in the main house – with the main restaurant, the terrace rooms and four of the seven villas.”
Replying to a question on marketing, the General Manager said: “We are so lucky that Malliouhana has such a fantastic name in the business with travel agents, magazine and newspaper editors. Everyonewho has travelled to the Caribbean knows about Malliouhana. In that way, the name is out there, but we need to certainly go out and re-introduce the property. We will go out shortly and talk to travel agents, the media and repeat guests, and let them know that we are coming back and that we hope to be open by this season. I have been on the island for eight weeks and every person I have spoken to has nothing but great support for Malliouhana’s re-opening. That support is from Immigration, Customs at Blowing Point, at the Airport, folks in town and in the shops. Everyone is fantastically supportive of what Auberge is doing in getting the resort back open.”
Speaking further about marketing Malliouhana, Mr Vasatka said: “Auberge Resorts has a corporate marketing team in California and we have a New York Office. We do a lot of the sales out of New York and we have begun some preliminary marketing and, of course, we have years and years of data on our repeat guests here. We have thousands of guests who have stayed at Malliouhana and many have been contacted in the last few weeks. They have been asking about the renovation and when they can book.”
He was quizzed on what clientele the hotel would be looking to attract. “The market continues to change, but romancing couples – whether [celebrating] honeymoons or wedding anniversaries – have always been good for Malliouhana. What are also growing in the market are multi-generational families so that is going to play a big part of our marketing as well. The staff, still with us, who have been with Malliouhana for years, have always been wonderful in bringing families to Anguilla during the holidays and school breaks in the summer. We are going to continue with what Malliouhana has been so successful in doing. We will be also growing new markets. South America and Canada are quite popular in the Caribbean. European numbers are down a little, but the East Coast of the US and the UK will still be a big focus.”
Mr Vastaka was asked what new supplies had been ordered for the hotel. “It is a lot of material for the renovation. Later on, it will be new furniture…and construction material that we won’t be able to find locally. I think the container traffic will pick up in Anguilla because of Malliouhana,” he stated. He was not in a position to disclose the cost ofthe renovation, saying: “I can say, however, that it is a sizeable amount – certainly in the millions but, as to the final cost of the refurbishment, I am not able todo so.” The renovation work also includes new pools and a re-doing of the landscape. “It is quite a bit of work to get done before the season, but the quality of work I have seen on the island is fantastic and I know that we will get it all finished,” he pointed out.
Asked about the number of workmen, he responded: “That is also a very good question. We are just ramping up now so I think we will probably be getting ready to have over 200 people on the site.” He said about the construction company: “Tandem is the group assisting us with the renovation. They have done some good work for a number of the resorts on the island.”
Mr Vasatka was requested to comment on the employment ofstaff. He replied: “Malliouhana has had a great legacy of customer service, and we are lucky that we have some wonderful staff members who were able to stay with us through the transition from the ownership of the Roydons to A J Capital. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to keep more than 15 or 20 but, certainly, I am in a great hurry, as soon as we start our recruiting process, to speak to all those people who have worked atMalliouhana. We value so much the guest service they have provided – that anyone who has been associated with Malliouhana, I would be overjoyed to speak with.”
The General Manager was asked whether Malliouhana would retain its original name. He answered: “Absolutely. Malliouhana is such a key name, and has played such a key role, not only in Anguilla, but in the Caribbean luxury resorts, that we are going to keep its name, but we are going to have just a small addition. It is going to be Malliouhana – an Auberge Resort. We want people to still remember Malliouhana. We don’t want to change the name at all.
Mr Vasatka added: “Auberge manages wonderful resorts all over the United States. There is one resort in Mexico, and now this in Anguilla is the company’s first resort in the Caribbean and we couldn’t be more pleased that it is Malliouhana.”
