Tourism Minister David Allen yesterday trashed a TV news report that Premier Jennifer Smith is to decide who will get the contract to run Stonington Beach Hotel because Cabinet is split down the middle.

Mr. Allen described the report as “total fiction” and said the matter had not even been discussed at Cabinet.

Director of Tourism Judith Hall-Bean said she hoped to announce by October 1, who will run the hotel - used to train Bermudians in the hospitality industry - which was previously managed by Bermuda College.

The South Shore hotel has been transferred from the Ministry of Education to the Ministry of Tourism, and a joint committee of both departments is still evaluating bids.

The front runners are understood to be Bermuda Resort Hotels - owners of the Harmony Club, Surf Side and The Wharf Executive Hotel - and former Elbow Beach general manager John Jefferis.

A third bidder, Mega Contracting Services, has asked Mrs. Hall-Bean to eliminate Mr. Jefferis and Bermuda Resort Hotels - as Bermuda Hotel Association president Billy Griffith sits on the board of Bermuda College - from the process because it alleges both have a conflict of interest.

Mr. Allen said yesterday: “I heard that report and I assumed it was an exercise in creative writing. It is total, total fiction.”

Responding to an e-mail on the Bermuda.com website claiming staff at the hotel are demoralised because they don't know what is happening and that the property has deteriorated, Mrs. Hall-Bean said she was keeping everyone informed about the situation.