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New Rota Resort owners eye honeymooners, more flights
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Posted on Sep 12 2008
The new owners of the recently purchased the 600-acre Rota Resort & Country Club are revamping it to take advantage of a growing tourism market, newlyweds, and have begun efforts to improve air service to the island.
In an interview Friday, Hee K. Cho, chief of Rota Resort LLC, a branch of JMSH LLC, the company that purchased the struggling resort last month for a confidential sum, said renovations are now being done to transform it into a honeymoon destination.
“I want to get this resort into the wedding industry,” Cho said, adding that the renovations include refurbishing the suites to make them more suitable to newlyweds and establishing a wedding chapel.
The renovations at the resort come as Cho is vying to boost air service to Rota through talks with Freedom Air on increasing the number of seats available on its flights. In addition, Cho is aiming to boost the number of charter flights from Japan or gain regularly scheduled flights from there to the island. Cho has also organized a host of efforts to market Rota as a destination to travel agents throughout the Pacific.
“For sure, you will see much, much more business coming to Rota,” he said.
On Guam, JMSH owns the Alupang Beach Tower, the Garden Villa, the Mai’Ana Hotel, Horizon Condominiums and the Holiday Resort there.
Perry Tenorio, managing director of the Marianas Visitors Authority, said in an interview that Rota is a key component of the CNMI’s tourism industry and welcomed the new owners of the resort.
“Rota is an important part of the tourism package of the CNMI,” Tenorio said. “There are services there now that we will continue to support. MVA will continue to work with the new owners.”
The Rota Resort features an 18-hole golf course, a spa and dining halls.
The sale of the resort to JMSH comes as the Hotel Association of the Northern Marianas Islands in newly released statistics is reporting a significant drop in the number of hotel room nights sold in the CNMI during the month of August when compared to the same month last year. Hotels in the association sold 52,998 room nights last month, far fewer than the 57,386 sold in August 2007.
