The Fairmont Southampton is definitively returning to Bermuda’s hospitality landscape next year, with Simon Boden, the iconic hotel’s direct of sales and marketing, emphatically declaring: “We will be open in 2026".

The $550 million renovation project involves a comprehensive overhaul, with Mr Boden highlighting yesterday during the Bermuda Partnership Summit at the Hamilton Princess & Beach Club that “300 workers and 130 Fairmont colleagues” are on site daily driving progress.

Key features include a reimagined Palmetto Beach Club with a “half-Olympic-sized pool surrounded by private cabanas”, and the Ocean Club, which will be a “turnkey events venue” capable of hosting up to 220 guests.

He also promised the return of the hotel’s signature cocktail lounge, adding: “For all the locals in the room, Jasmine will be back exactly the way it was, and it really acts as the resort’s social heart, social hub and will be refreshed with sophistication.”

The resort’s 593 guest rooms are being completely rebuilt, each a minimum of 450 square feet with “private balconies, brand-new bathrooms, walk-in closets and locally inspired finishes.”

A new signature floor will offer an elevated experience, with Mr Boden noting it will be “like the club-class equivalent of the hotel”.

Reservations are expected to go live in March.

Bermuda Tourism Authority leadership emphasised the reopening’s importance for the island’s tourism capacity.

Erin Wright, the acting chief executive, in a media briefing later that day, noted that “the reopening of the Fairmont Southampton after five years of closure, represents one of the most significant developments in Bermuda's tourism landscape” and will bring “hundreds of jobs, expanded accommodation capacity and increased opportunities for group and leisure business”.

The reopening is projected to give a major boost to visitor capacity, with Ms Wright indicating that “with additional hotel inventory online by mid-next year, our projections for 2026 show a potential increase in air visitors by 11 to 14 per cent”.

The hotel closed in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, with the loss of its nearly 600 rooms felt across the tourism and service sectors.

Demolition and site preparation began in January 2024, and renovations began in November, with government and private-sector support including a $75 million sovereign guarantee.