Cheaper flights to the Island and strong international branding are the keys to rebuilding Bermuda’s hotel industry.

Speaking to The Royal Gazette as part of a series of interviews on the status of the tourism industry, hoteliers Paul Telford, Sally Kyle and Clarence Hofheins all gave their thoughts on how the industry could be strengthened.

Mr Telford, the managing director at Rosewood Tucker’s Point, feels the Island is in transition and needs to develop and focus its brand to better sell itself as a destination.

“Bermuda over the last few decades has kind of lost its way,” he said. “We lost the definition of what is ‘Brand Bermuda’.

“If you ask 20 different people to define ‘Brand Bermuda’, you’ll probably get 20 different answers.

“Ferrari makes cars. They make phenomenal sports cars. Ask anyone about Ferrari and they’ll tell you they make sports cars, they’re fast, they look amazing, the finest materials. They can identify it, they can define what that brand is. Bermuda needs to know what its brand is, and we need to determine who is out there looking for our product.

“Bermuda’s so small that it has to be one brand, it has to all work together. We are starting to create ‘Brand Bermuda’ based on all of our strengths.

“We are starting to identify who our market is and we’re starting to align the brand to what our market is demanding.

“We are now getting to the point where we can communicate it out there effectively and build the interest and build the demand to get these people here to Bermuda.”

Ms Kyle, of the St George’s Club, said the keys to rebuilding the industry were to provide good value for money, and make it easy and affordable for visitors to get here.

“Obviously, the air service is hugely important for us,” she said. “We have the advantage that we are a safe Island, with everything else that’s going on in the world, and we are so close to the eastern seaboard.

“At certain times of the year the price to get here on the airlines has a negative impact. Certainly it does for the European traveller.

“And with the European traveller there is an advantage because they will always come for a week, perhaps ten days, and often two or three weeks.”

Mr Hofheins, the general manager at Cambridge Beaches, also stressed the importance of lowering the cost to fly to the Island, along with rebuilding Bermuda’s group visitor business.

“The next thing is to get those airline rates to a point where once people click on it, they want to come to Bermuda,” he said. “There has always been an adage that Bermuda’s hotels are too expensive. Now we have such a variety of guesthouses, small properties and big hotels, there is a wide range of rates.

“If someone wants to come to Bermuda, based on their economic situation, they can find a property. It’s getting the people here, that’s the issue.

“We need something that is going to change the game for Bermuda and the only thing that is going to change the game is somehow being able to offer our guests coming to Bermuda an affordable flight from the eastern corridor.

“If you can go out and get a flight from the east for $300 round-trip, that will change the game. Whether it is offering deals like your companion flies free, whether it is offering a $200 credit. If we are able to do that, then you will see it change on the Island.

“It’s really easy to say that. There’s a lot more to it. If it was that easy, it would be done.”

“I would love to see the hotel industry, not just the BTA [Bermuda Tourism Authority], get together and figure that out and make it happen. That will increase business, it will increase arrivals, everyone will benefit.”

All three hoteliers praised the BTA’s work, but acknowledged that turning around the tourism industry would not be easy.

Mr Hofheins said: “They are between a rock and a hard place. They have a huge challenge ahead of them.

“I really like the team. They are doing everything they possibly can. For the first time I feel that they have gone out and got credible data and they are now using that data to make their decisions. That was one of my big criticisms in the past, people had that data and didn’t use it, and they didn’t make the decisions based on that data.”

Ms Kyle said: “We are an amazing destination and the word is out there now, which it perhaps hasn’t been in the past. The BTA had a lot of ground to cover and it won’t happen overnight.”