Saturday.

Cancelled bookings and visitors demanding to leave early were the short-term results of the industrial action.

Now the hotels are hoping there will be no long term effect on what was turning into an improved performance for tourism this year.

Tourism Minister the Hon. C.V. (Jim) Woolridge said he was pleased the strike had ended but added: "We will have to work to make up for any losses over the past couple of days.'' Mr. Woolridge said he had personally had to reassure at least one group of future visitors to continue with their holiday plans, and he praised the Ministry of Tourism's public relations team overseas for calming fears after stories about the strike appeared in the US media.

News agency stories were appearing late on Saturday evening reporting that the strike was over.

Bermuda Hotel Association president Mr. Stephen Barker said: "There was a financial loss to the hotels. We had some cancellations and people did not arrive over the weekend. We have not yet calculated the cost.

"There were some early departures because of the disruption and the unpleasant atmosphere particularly around the picket lines.

"People generally come here for a happy, carefree holiday, they do not want to experience any sort of problems.

"However it would have been a lot more serious if it had lasted any longer.

There would have been an escalation in the numbers of calculations.'' Mr. Barker stressed he was mainly describing the situation at the Princess hotels but his claim was backed by other hoteliers, including general manager at Marriott's Castle Harbour Resort, Mr. Roger Borsink.

Although Mr. Borsink claimed there was little disruption for hotel guests with some 80 percent of staff arriving for work on Friday, he said: "We have had some cancellations as a result of the industrial action. Hopefully they will be short-lived.'' However a spokesperson for Elbow Beach said that hotel had suffered little disruption from the stoppage.

The strike over unpaid tips ended after a six-and-a-half-hour meeting at the headquarters of the Bermuda Industrial Union on Saturday.

Hundreds of hotel workers left the picket lines at 10 a.m. to attend the meeting where lawyer Mr. Arthur Hodgson explained the effects of rulings made late Friday by Puisne Judge the Hon. Mr. Justice Meerabux that the strike was illegal at all hotels.

The order also granted the Island's largest hotels an injunction against the union continuing to strike.

Reports were that the meeting was stormy at times but it eventually ended at 4.30 p.m. when BIU president Mr. Ottiwell Simmons came out to speak to the assembled media, some of whom had been waiting for hours for the decision.

Mr. Simmons said: "I would just like to say that we held a meeting with a very large group of sweet and sour people.

"Sweet because they feel that their decision to strike was justified against the hotels, who they know have been withholding gratuities.

"Sour because the court order forced them to return to work. This had a debilitating effect on them after the strike had such good support.

"As law abiding citizens our members took the decision to end the strike a few minutes ago.'' Mr. Simmons said the majority of members voted to return to work, but only under protest. He said that a minority had voted not to go back to work but had agreed to go along with the decision to return together.

He added: "The meeting was six and a half hours long. One of the longest meetings I have been involved in. And one of the most interesting and informative meetings I have attended.

"We have agreed that if there are any redundancies or victimisation, then everyone is out. If one person is fired everyone is considered fired.

"We still feel the court's decision was unfair. Workers still know that the employers collected tips from tourists and kept them.'' Mr. Simmons added that he was preparing for negotiations for new contracts and was not expecting a tough time from the employers "if they are fair''.

Mr. Woolridge said he was pleased with the union's decision.

"I was very pleased to hear Mr. Simmons say he was prepared to adhere to the rulings of the courts,'' he sid. "They have acted reasonably and I just now hope all parties can sit down and get through the next stage of this.

"I am glad it is over. I hope it is resolved and has not done great damage to our major industry.

"It started off as a great new season and then there was a lull at Easter, but bookings for June and July are still coming in.'' ABIDING BY THE LAW -- Bermuda Industrial Union president Mr. Ottiwell Simmons, surrounded by his members, tells the media that the hotels strike has ended, watched by official Mr. Austin Wade.