Nine days of arguments aimed at settling a dispute between a union and major Bermuda hotels ended yesterday amid hopes it could signal a new dawning in relationships between the two sides.

The Essential Industries Disputes Settlement Board was sitting to solve a conflict between the Hotel Employers of Bermuda and the Bermuda Industrial Union, both trying to map out a new three-year deal.

About 30 issues are at stake including pensions, pay, maternity and sick leave and holiday entitlement, although it will be about four weeks before a decision is made by the Board.

After the hearing ended, Mr. Ottiwell Simmons, BIU president, said he had found the whole process burdensome, but was hoping for a good settlement.

He added: "I am hoping that the hotel employers will take a keener interest in the union and I am hoping the talks will lead towards an improved relationship between management and staff.'' The six largest hotels on the Island, the Southampton Princess, Princess Hotel, Marriott's Castle Harbour Resort, Sonesta Beach, Belmont and the Harmony Club, are involved in the dispute.

They say the union's demands are excessive and out of line with settlements in other industries. The BIU said its members were entitled to a better deal and the hotels were in a position to fund better conditions.

Among the issues at stake is pay, where the HEB proposes a one percent rise for tipped and non-tipped workers in each of the three years of the contract and two percent each year for live-out tipped and non-tipped staff.

BIU demand increases of 7.5, 6.5 and 5.5 percent in years one, two and three for all categories of employees.

Arguments also centred on gratuities with the HEB proposing increases of $11.70, $11.90 and $12.10 over the three years with the BIU asking for $13.50, $14 and $14.50.

Both sides now have until next Friday to sum up their arguments in writing for the Board chairman, Mr. Arnold Zack, who will have three weeks from then to present his report to the Government.

Speaking after the hearing ended, Mr. Stephen Shawe, the hotels' lawyer, said a Board was an unsatisfactory way of resolving the terms of a new agreement.

"You are always nervous with a Board finding a compromise because that rewards the more extreme position,'' he said.