‘The Palms may no longer be under Sheraton brand’

The good news is that South Korean investment giant E Land is working hard to complete its multi-million renovation of the former The Palms Resort in San Roque by end-October 2015, making available 313 more rooms to the recovering tourism industry. The dismaying news is that the hotel may not be able to reopen under the global brand Sheraton.

“The very important thing is to complete the renovation before high season next year,” Taeho Kim, chief operating officer of E Land’s Micronesian Resort Inc., told Saipan Tribune on Friday.

Having another global hotel brand in the CNMI besides Hyatt Regency Saipan is seen to further boost the CNMI’s image as a tourist destination in the Western Pacific.

Kim, through MRI’s Dennis Seo, said the former The Palms Resort will reopen under one of E Land’s own brands if the Sheraton brand cannot be used by the time the $20 million to $30 million renovations are done.

This comes five months since E Land’s MRI held a ceremony at the former The Palms Resort announcing a working partnership with Sheraton, over Hilton.

Kim said the top management in Seoul, Korea, wanted the former The Palms to reopen by end-October 2015 to meet their internal deadline and to avail of a growing tourism industry.

He, however, said that E Land’s MRI continues to negotiate with Sheraton.

But the negotiations have been meeting some challenges, that’s why E Land may not be able to use the global brand Sheraton when the hotel across the former La Fiesta Mall reopens. Kim said if the negotiations with Sheraton continue to delay the target reopening of end-October 2015, then E Land will move forward with reopening the hotel under their own brand.

Sheraton is owned by and is the largest and most popular global brand of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with nearly 1,200 properties in 100 countries.

“Again, our goal is to reopen The Palms as soon as possible within our planned schedule. To be delayed more, it can affect the entire CNMI tourism business. Our goal is to open it by end-October 2015,” Kim added.

E Land’s MRI has started removing what the hotel industry calls the “furniture, fixture and equipment” from the third floor up.

Kim said E Land’s MRI has tentatively scheduled Oct. 24 this year as groundbreaking for the actual renovation of the former The Palms Resort.

The 12-month renovation will be done by E Land’s Construction Company, their “Structural and Construction” subsidiary. He said they will tap local construction companies as subcontractors, similar to what they are doing in renovating Coral Ocean Point.

He said it is still tentative because by that time, government officials might already be too busy campaigning for the Nov. 4 general elections to participate in the ceremony.

Kim added that E Land will fulfill its promise to bring over 300 guest rooms back online, with Saipan running out of available rooms for tourists. Right now, Korea has already toppled Japan as the CNMI’s prime tourist market while the China market continues to go up.

“Our budget for renovation is around $20 million to $30 million,” Kim added.

The hotel currently has 313 rooms. But because E Land’s plan is to have more suites, the number of rooms may shrink a bit when the hotel reopens.

“We believe the government or the Marianas Visitors Authority is aware of our big interest in investing in the CNMI. So if there is any opportunity for us, we will be very excited and we will be able to work for another project,” Kim said.

Rep. Anthony Benavente (Ind-Saipan), one of the lawmakers who attended E Land’s ceremony in March announcing their partnership with Sheraton, said yesterday that the former The Palms Resort is a private property so he as a government official does not want to interfere or comment on this particular project.

Other hotels owned by E Land in the CNMI include Coral Ocean Point and Pacific Islands Club.

‘Not true about Best Sunshine’

Kim belied earlier reports from other media that E Land or MRI has communicated or negotiated with Best Sunshine International Ltd. involving the former The Palms Resort property. Best Sunshine bagged an exclusive license to build an integrated casino resort on Saipan.

“Not at all,” Kim said. “We haven’t even met anybody from Best Sunshine…nor received any phone call from them. We don’t know them. We are not interested in selling our property The Palms at all. I don’t know where that rumor is coming from.”

Best Sunshine is also racing against time to find tracts of land for their integrated casino resort.