Melia to operate all-inclusive resort at Baha Mar

Melia at Baha Mar will be the first all-inclusive resort in the $3.5 billion Baha Mar complex under construction in Nassau's Cable Beach area.

Melia Hotels International will take over the current Nassau Beach Hotel, currently operated by Sheraton, on Dec. 1.

The 694-room resort will operate as the Melia Nassau Beach Resort until its integration into Baha Mar in December 2014, when it will be renamed Melia at Baha Mar.

The property will be the first hotel in the English-speaking Caribbean for the Spanish hotel chain, which has properties in 40 countries under seven brands.

In the Caribbean, Melia has five properties in the Dominican Republic and one in Puerto Rico. It has nine in Mexico.

When it opens, Baha Mar will include five hotels with more than 2,900 total rooms. In addition to the Melia, there will be the Baha Mar Casino & Hotel plus Rosewood, Mondrian and Grand Hyatt hotels.

Baha Mar also will have private residences, a convention center, an 18-hole golf course, a spa, entertainment venues, shops, a dozen pools and a beach.

The Melia property will update restaurants, pools, the lobby and guestrooms.

"Melia's expertise in the European, Latin American and Russian markets will further support Baha Mar in attracting a worldwide clientele," said Sarkis Ismirlian, Baha Mar's chairman and CEO.

The presence of the Melia brand "will be a tremendous asset as the Bahamas seeks to increase international airlift," according to Obediah Wilchcombe, Bahamas' minister of tourism.

Source: Travel Weekly