By Denise Clarke, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
A NEGRIL guest house where several tourists were robbed last year has resumed operations but the owners have decided to put the property up for sale.
The guest house, Falcon Cottages, was closed for three months after gunmen killed an employee and robbed several guests in September. However, although the incident impacted negatively on the property, crime is not the main reason behind the sale. According to Maud Nunes, one of the owners of the guest house, high overhead costs are driving them out of business.
"Right now we have it up for sale because we can't manage it financially," Mrs. Nunes told The Sunday Gleaner in an interview last week. "It's not that we are not getting a few guests but the overhead expenses are too much."
Guests are slowly returning to the guest house, but a frustrated Mrs. Nunes said Government taxes as well as competition from other properties added to their inability to continue the business. She said the guest house has had to offer its rooms at a reduced rate in order to compete with other properties.
"The Government might think you are making a fortune but you are not making it because the rooms are so cheap just to stay in the business, and the amount of taxes is killing us. If the Government would really help small hoteliers we would be able to do better," Mrs. Nunes said.
The business started as a small guest house in the 1970s and gradually expanded into a 27-room property, boasting amenities such as a restaurant and pool. On September 17 last year, the police say four armed men entered the property and robbed guests of an undetermined sum of money. The gardener, Robert Legg, was shot dead during the hold-up.
Four men were arrested in connection with the incident, and are to return to the Savanna-la-Mar Resident Magistrate's Court on January 29 on charges of robbery and murder. The property now has 24-hour security.
"We have to be paying out for extra security. Whatever we get we will take for it because we just can't manage it. There are a lot of places on the West End that are still locked down, we are even fortunate to have a few people. A lot of people around there are still not doing any business because they are not making it and it's terrible. "
