Eleven properties will take part in the Department of Tourism's Temperature Guarantee Scheme next year.

The programme entitles visitors staying at participating properties between January 1 and March 31 to special bonuses when the temperature fails to reach 68 degrees during their stay.

But the number of participants is down from the 17 properties which took part in the scheme this year.

Gone from the list are Angels Grotto, Belmont Hotel, Fourways Inn, La Casa Del Masa, Lantana, Longtail Cliffs, Mermaid Beach and Sonesta Beach Hotel.

Of those properties missing from the list, Angels Grotto is up for sale, the Belmont Hotel has closed its doors and is set to be sold to Elbow Beach soon and Lantana has been closed for some months and is to be sold to White Sands owner James M. Dwyer Real Estate Investment and Development early next year.

Meanwhile Longtail Cliffs has become condominiums as have more than half of Mermaid Beach's units.

Added to this year's list are the Royal Palms Hotel and White Sands.

Making up the final list are Astwood Cove, both Canadian Pacific Princess properties, Grotto Bay Hotel and Tennis Club, Palmetto Hotel & Cottages, Pompano Beach Club, The Reefs, Stonington Beach Hotel and Surf Side Beach Club.

The Tourism Department's Assistant Director of Marketing Cherie Whitter said all hotels were invited to participate in the scheme each year and she agreed that the number had dropped over the past few years.

She put the decline down to the hotels' desire not to suffer profit losses but noted that the bonuses visitors now received when the temperature fell were designed to add value to the vacation experience rather than give a discount.

Originally a room rate deduction of 20 percent was offered when the temperature dropped but now very few of the hotels offered discounts and instead provided other amenities.

Ms Whitter stressed that the idea behind the scheme was for it to be used as a communication tool.

The overseas travel trade and consumer base had a misconception that Bermuda's weather between November and March was too unreliable so the Department used the Temperature Guarantee Scheme to indicate this was not the case and show that temperatures then were spring-like.