UWI restructures Mona Visitors’ Lodge

THE UNIVERSITY of the West Indies, UWI, Mona, is on the hunt for an investor to restore and manage operations of the small hotel on its campus formerly known as the Mona Visitors’ Lodge and Conference Centre. This comes on the heels of a restructuring exercise completed last year.

In a notice to the public on Sunday, the UWI says it is now taking proposals for the restoration, management, and operation of the property, which was recently registered as a separate business called the Mona Inn and Conference Centre Limited. The previous Mona Visitors’ Lodge existed as a department of the UWI.

“The arrangement will be under a lease for 14,189.06 square metres of space designated for the operation of the Mona Inn and Conference Centre,” the notice said.

Acceptance of proposals runs up to June 1, 2023.

The hotel, which carries no more than 20 rooms, has been closed since February 2020, following a decision by management to radically change its organisational, financial, and operating structure.

At the time, the UWI had advised of its intention to reopen the entity through the implementation of a phased restructuring strategy, which would allow the university to align operations with a new business model that fostered “greater effectiveness within the hospitality industry”.

The phased approach would also bring with it improvements to the current facilities, service offerings, and customer experience, the university said in a press release on its website.

Campus Registrar Dr Donovan Stanberry on Wednesday told the Financial Gleaner that the UWI’s need for an investor is in part to get the building up to date with Tourism Product Development Company, TPDCo, requirements. Additionally, a private investor would also relieve the UWI of responsibilities of managing the hotel.

“Our core business is teaching, learning, and research. We are not necessarily adept in running a hotel, and we don’t have the funding to do the renovation. And so we have put out a request for proposal from entities who have the experience and the natural wherewithal to get the place up to TPDCo standard and operate it on our behalf,” Dr Stanberry said.

“Of course, we will have a share of the returns in the agreement,” he continued.

A budget for the restoration of the building, along with its surrounding property, is still to be determined by the UWI and the chosen investor. Thereafter, work will begin to have the premises reopened for business by next year.

Marketed on its lush landscape, location, and peaceful surroundings, the hotel has for years attracted clients travelling to the campus for business meetings and medical procedures at the University Hospital of the West Indies. Dr Stanberry hopes to build on that client base once the renovation works are completed.

“We’ve had significant traffic certainly before COVID-19 because we are a regional university. People are always coming from our other campuses here for meetings, symposiums, conferences, etc, and they enjoy being close to avoid the travelling,” he told the Financial Gleaner. “We really had a captive market.”

“Apart from that, quite a number of people use our complimentary facilities like the UWI Chapel for weddings, and so on, and they might very well need a hotel for their bridal party,” he added.

In its current state, the hotel offers three room categories: deluxe standard rooms, junior suites, and the honeymoon suite.

karena.bennett@gleanerjm.com