I understand Beaches bought the property... any movement on development?
Pictures would be useful!
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I understand Beaches bought the property... any movement on development?
Pictures would be useful!
Sorry to hear that it didn't stay locally owned. It's unlikely to stay in it's former traditional food, well prepared in a rustic setting. Heart breaking.
A Jamaican purchased the property.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marblehead
That's encouraging, Bnewb!
is it butch stewart ?
Yes, it is! Well, technically his son Adam now...
Yes pine tree john THAT "Butch" Stewart: For more than three decades Gordon 'Butch' Stewart was said to be "The man called the 'King of All-Inclusive Resorts' and the 'Master of Marketing', has blazed a trail of far-reaching entrepreneurship, spearheading two-dozen diverse companies that are collectively Jamaica's largest private sector group, the country's biggest foreign exchange earner, and its largest non-government employer.
This focuses on the subsidies from Jamaican taxpayers, which is fair, but to say that Sandals or some other hotel in Jamaica should benefit is the exact opposite of the argument made when Butch Stewart owned Air Jamaica before it fell into bankruptcy the airline that he was using to benefit his hotel chains and his pals!
You can't have it both ways.
I hope Cosmo was a good bargainer!!! His property was prime real estate, a place where tourists and Jamaican's alike could visit, eat, drink, swim and be happy for a fair sum. Time will tell what the Stewart Family does with the sacred legacy that was???
Like Joni Mitchell said -
They paved paradise & put up a AI
...sorry that's a parking lot
Yes, it is THE Stewart family that created the Sandals Foundation. Recently they have been involved with:
SANDALS FOUNDATION HELPS NEARSIGHTED STUDENT TO LOOK AHEAD
Negril, Westmoreland: According to child development experts, in first grade, children transform into true readers. They read a variety of […]
Free one stop Health Fair for deep rural community of Grants Bailey
The deep rural community of Grants Bailey came alive last Thursday as a team from Sandals Foundation joined with the […]
PRAYERS ANSWERED FOR WHITEHOUSE ECI
Whitehouse, Westmoreland, March 31, 2017– Happy days lie ahead for the students of the Whitehouse Early Childhood Institute (ECI) in […]
Jul 4 2017 Sandals Foundation boost for National Junior Golfers
Jun 30 2017 LLANDILO ANSWERS RESIDENTS’ NEEDS WITH FREE HEALTH FAIR
Jun 30 2017 Game Changer Programme forges new Partnership to benefit youth in time for the Summer
Jun 30 2017 THE SANDALS FOUNDATION AND SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIRS ENCOURAGE READING TO PREVENT THE “SUMMER SLIDE”
Jun 13 2017 Sandals Foundation forges Partnership for Coral Conservation efforts in St. Lucia
May 30 2017 CEDELLA MARLEY EMPOWERS WOMEN ACROSS THE CARIBBEAN WITH SPECIAL VERSION OF ‘COULD YOU BE LOVED’
To find out more what the Sandals Foundation does such as building schools, please check out:
https://sandalsfoundation.org
Johng,
I think you may want to brush up a bit on the history of Air Jamaica. Air Jamaica lost money 40 out of its 42 years of existence, amounting to about $1.54 billion.
Stewart along with Canadian investors owned part of it for only 10 of those 42 years (1994-2004). I flew Air J many times during that decade, and loved their US$50 Negril to Kingston flights. I never once felt obligated to go to any Sandals property and had no connection to Sandals whatsoever. Could you please present some facts to back up your claim, "before it fell into bankruptcy the airline that he was using to benefit his hotel chains and his pals!" ?
Air Jamaica, originally British owned Jamaica Air, was never a profitable venture. The Jamaican government divested and reinvested several times when it was losing money and investors. This is a Caribbean issue as this Barbados article states:
https://barbadosfreepress.wordpress....-be-necessary/
Here is the first readers comment from 2008:
"Rohan on June 15, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Agreed. It’s the same here in the U.S.
Gov’t bail out->Airline resurgence-> Airline mismanagement->Airline Bankruptcy->Gov’t Bail out
and the cycle continues.
There has only been one consistently profitable airline and that’s Southwest: No frills, no first class, no assigned seating, only fly one type of plane for the cost efficiency, and treat your employees well. It’s not rocket science.
Oh well.."
And here is a Gleaner article from 2008 explaining the situation as it was then:
http://old.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean...business7.html
Johng...are you saying he owned the land?Quote:
Originally Posted by johng
You guys should be friendlier to your guests. You seem to pick on johng an awful lot, and I can't wrap my head around it at all. Just one reason I don't really post here anymore, or read it very often these days. It's a huge turn off, I can't overstate that.
Thanks for chiming in TAH -
Slightly - over & out
Not sure exactly which "you guys" you are referring, Tah. But, if you mean me...I'm pretty sure I simply asked a question.Quote:
Originally Posted by TAH
TAH,
We try our best to be fair to everyone. This thread began as a loose, factual and friendly thread. We always want the information on Negril.com to be factual. There are plenty of places to find misinformation about Negril on the Internet already.
I had already answered that Butch Stewart, actually his son Adam had the property.
The friendly tone of the thread changed with these words, "Yes pine tree john THAT "Butch" Stewart". This post then went on to make non-factual statements with the point of disparaging a Jamaican business man and his family. What gives anyone the right to do that to anyone?
Please let me know what is offensive about my Sandals Foundation post. They provide a great service to all parts of the island as well as the Caribbean. How is that post picking on anyone?
And my post to Johng about the history of Air Jamaica is to correct misinformation. I pointed out some basic Air J facts and I asked him to produce facts to back up his claim.
To be fair to the Jamaica Observer and honour their copyright, the above lines are a direct quote from a February 2013 article.Quote:
Originally Posted by johng
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...ccess_13713568
Further down in the same article it states about Butch Stewart and the acquisition of Air Jamaica:
"Not long after, in 1994, Stewart agreed to take over leadership of the ailing Air Jamaica, at the time, the national carrier of the country and the Caribbean's largest regionally based carrier. It was a daunting task, but Stewart's formula prevailed. He improved the passenger experience, provided increased staff training and expanded routes. In late 2004, Stewart gave the airline back to the government with an increase in revenue of over US$250 million."
Rob, Lisa, & Negril.com, I just want to let you guys know that I am behind you 100%. I appreciate your business model. I come to Negril.com for insight and information about what is happening in and around Negril. I don't want to hear about rumors and conjecture and I don't want to hear about "I was told" this, unless it's a proven fact. You guys have been in Jamaica for many years and know what is going on and who is doing it. If I post some information here and it is not true, I want to hear from you and I want to be put straight. I'm am not here for you to be "friendly" too, I want the facts. The big news in Canada right now is people coming back from Mexico saying that they drank a whole 26oz bottle of Tequila and started to feel funny. They were awake but could move their bodies. They went to bed and when they woke up the next morning they were feeling fuzzy and sick, therefore the booze must have been poisoned or the hotel was buying home brew. Give me a break. Nothing will kill a resort or a resort town faster than rumors and conjecture.Quote:
Originally Posted by TAH
Keep up the good work, and see you guys soon.
Nothing will kill a resort or a resort town faster than .....
overdevelopment
Thanks Brownsd54! We do our best to keep it real and as friendly as possible.
This was no doubt true years ago. Overdevelopment takes time to occur. And during this time, measures can be taken to mitigate unforseen problems.Quote:
Originally Posted by Slightly Stoopid
But thanks to modern communication, rumors and conjecture can spread worldwide instantaneously with minimal options to counter the damage once done.
Let's not glance over this important point. It appears a lot of us are assuming that Cosmo owned the property. Maybe someone else owned the land and Cosmo had no choice but to close.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bnewb
Hey TAH thanks for standing up for me when Rob and Bnewb take shots at me it's OK I'm a big man I can take it but I think it says more about them than it does about me. All I do is share my many and mostly old photos. I have no vested interest as they do in Negril.com and for them they feel they must defend those that support the enterprise. I know how it works. What makes them angry is when I comment on social issues that they did not really want the public interest to know, sort of shut that down and sweep it under the covers. I failed to QUOTE the article I was referring to, my bad but the point of what many bordies are seeing and saying is that Negril is starting to sell off the favored properties such as Cosmo's. AS if Negril needs more AI that most can't afford. If Cosmo didn't own it who did??? Called Cosmos for30-40 years and he didn't own part of it??? If he did not oun it who did??
TAH you have character my man, a trait missing way to much in the world today. You would have loved Negril back in the early 70- early 80's. Great fun, economical . I like you don't bother posting here much anymore as anythink that challenges the "MEDIA" gets put down.
I see Rob is already losing many regular guests to Cuba, two very outspoken regular guests are now spending their $ in Cuba pretty soon it could become a big trend. Thanks again TAH and anybody else that enjoys my photos. Cool Runnings!!
As much as I would love to visit Cuba, I believe the freedoms I enjoy in Jamaica would put me in a very uncomfortable position there....a communist run prison. Not the vacation I'm looking for.
JohnNYC, Plenty of problems with the current political system in Cuba. No shortage of problems with the political system under which Jamaica operates. Example, the IMF choking Jamaica. Good and bad in both systems, labelling Cuba as a communist run prison not constructive to reasoned debate.Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnNYC
Johng,Quote:
Originally Posted by johng
Mike D seems to have hit the nail on the head. And I think what is the most telling about this exchange is how much you assume to be true, then become so vested in these assumptions that they become facts for you. Let's take your latest post and look for the false assumptions you believe are facts.
"All I do is share my many and mostly old photos." In this thread, to which you answered a question to which i had already answered, you have posted not one picture. While you may think that pictures are all you post, this thread proves otherwise.
"I have no vested interest as they do in Negril.com and for them they feel they must defend those that support the enterprise. I know how it works." You are assuming now that Negril.com is defending those that support us. The truth of the matter is we support with the truth everyone as fairly as possible. Sandals nor the Stewart family are sponsors of Negril.com, we have no connections whatsoever, but we are not going to allow anyone to make untrue comments about them. That is not fair. So your assumption that you know how it works is false.
"What makes them angry is when I comment on social issues that they did not really want the public interest to know, sort of shut that down and sweep it under the covers." Well, the fact you state that you comment on social issues counters your above assumption that you post only pictures. As for assuming we sweep things under the covers, in the "Cosmo's Closing?" thread, on June 5th, almost 2 months ago I started a post with "Cosmo's has a sign up on the main gate that says it is temporarily closed. But Cosmo's, as it has been known for 41 years is officially closed." By any measure, that is a really bad way to sweep something under the covers. And it is quite time consuming to have to correct misinformation when it is posted. It is not so much anger as irritation because it seems like such a waste of time having to correct gossip, rumour and speculation. And for you to assume that we try to sweep anything under the covers in the day of instantaneous social media is simply absurd. We have to address all social issues just as we have been discussing the begging issue in the Shanty Town thread.
"I failed to QUOTE the article I was referring to, my bad..." You copied the entire beginning of a copyrighted news article without even as much as using quotation marks. Your "bad" is called plagiarism. To defend and be fair to another non-sponsor, who we have no connections with whatsoever, I had to make sure that the Observer was given their due credit. We try our best to be fair to everyone. For you to use their lead as your own words and then not use their Air Jamaica section demonstrates that you pick and choose only things that back up your assumptions, even when it is from the same source.
"..the point of what many bordies are seeing and saying is that Negril is starting to sell off the favored properties such as Cosmo's. AS if Negril needs more AI that most can't afford." It is a sad fact that the majority of people on the planet will never travel internationally. They will never be able to afford it. And if someone can afford and wants an AI experience, who are any of us to tell them they are wrong? To each their own. And, um, what other "favored properties" such as Cosmo's are starting to sell off? Cosmo's ran his restaurant and beach for 41 years! This is what I wrote again back on the 5th of June. "It was bittersweet to see Cosmo drive away today, leaving the restaurant and bar he has owned and operated for the last 4 decades. The red pea soup was as good the last time as it was when I first had it in the mid 80's. But I totally understand his decision to retire as owner of one of the oldest establishments on the beach." Did you honestly assume Cosmo would run the restaurant forever?
"If Cosmo didn't own it who did??? Called Cosmos for30-40 years and he didn't own part of it??? If he did not oun it who did??" The LANDOWNER owned the land and leased it to Cosmo. And that was at 1976 rental rates. Lease agreements in Jamaica are often 99 year leases and have escape clauses for both parties once the agreed upon notification is met. Cosmo knew he was retiring long before it was announced in early June. Just because he had a restaurant on the land, why are you making the assumption he owned the land? Maybe have some facts before assuming your assumptions are facts.
"I see Rob is already losing many regular guests to Cuba, two very outspoken regular guests are now spending their $ in Cuba pretty soon it could become a big trend." I own no hotel, resort or guest house, so how am I losing guests? If you are referring to viewers, this is Negril.com yet we encourage people to see the rest of the island. It would be bad business for us to promote other destinations outside Jamaica, but there is nothing wrong with people seeing the world although I have to agree JohnNYC that visiting a communist controlled country is not my cup of tea.
Johng, just because you assume something doesnt make it the true.
Sunray,Quote:
Originally Posted by sunray
I agree that the "prison" term may be a bit harsh, please note that the IMF is dominated by the USA...
I started to keep my boats at Cosmo's in 1977. Never occurred to me to ask who owned the property. Not my business. The sign said "Cosmo's" and my business was with him!
When I returned in 2010 after 23 years I was so happy to see "Cosmo's" was still there.
Cap
I read John's post as expressing concern that the activities he enjoys on vacation in Jamaica might land him in a prison in Cuba, not as a blanket denunciation of Cuba.Quote:
Originally Posted by sunray
My parents arrived in Cuba for their honeymoon just as Castro was taking over - armed soldiers entered their airplane and escorted them off and to their hotel for a sleepless night then back on the plane the next morning. Luckily, Jamaica was next on their tour and they had a great time there! I wasn't back in Jamaica (only the half of me in my Mom's ovary was there the first time) until I was three and then 5 yo. I guess I know how my fascination with the island started.
I feel sometimes like I should complete my parent's Cuba trip and probably will someday. I do have a close friend that visited Cuba last year on '5 star tour' - he was very disappointed with every aspect of the trip from the crumbling infrastructure and buildings to the dearth of fresh food and water. Maybe viable in a few years but for now, I am sticking with the Land I Love.
Comparing Cuba to Jamaica is apples and oranges. I love Negril and will always continue to go , I love the beach and the water, the people, the food , the music, the vibe........
But Cuba was amazing.....I would advise for everyone to go just once.
It was like stepping into a postcard from long ago, with no guns or drugs to worry about, and the lowest crime rate of any of the Caribbean destinations, that in itself makes the appeal undeniable.
I'm pretty sure Cosmo would not have retired if he had known the angst it would cause on the message board.
LOL.... Imagine not being allowed to retire!
Amen! Cosmo deserved to retire. Just like me! Forty-nine years in the construction industry was enough for me. Time for long winter stays in Negril!Quote:
Originally Posted by Rob
lQuote:
Originally Posted by sunray
You may have taken my post out of context. What I meant is if I were to do the same thing I do in Jamaica while in Cuba, I would wake up in prison. If you read into it any further than that, your overthinking it, but if you really need to, knock yourself out.
People,,,lets just take a breath and relax
The man wants to retire,,,so let him..Enjoyed many a dinner and drink over the years, there
A very reputable business family bought the property
Let them do there thing, and they have been doing it for decades
If anything it will become another new fantastic destination for people to enjoy
And yes I have enjoyed many AI hotels and many other small privately own hotels for over 20 years
It's called progress,,,embrace it...Progress benefits everyone...nothing wrong with vibrant change
Negrilbound
JohnNYC, Thanks for explaining your comment to me. I did take it to mean something other than what you state you intended. Maybe that is on me, maybe not.Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnNYC
Like the old saying goes...When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
Now that's the point I was trying to make! It was all about me (as usual). Not a political comment or anything against the beautiful island or its people. Hey, I couldn't smoke a spliff in midtown Manhattan legally either....or at least not yet.Quote:
Originally Posted by sunray