Government will name the private company which will take over Stonington Beach Hotel within two weeks, Tourism Minister Renee Webb said last night.

The Royal Gazette has learned that Bermuda Resort Hotels (BRH) was chosen by Stonington's owners Bermuda College in the initial selection process earlier this year.

But the Ministry of Tourism took over the process and decided to start from scratch to eliminate fears of a conflict of interest because BRH executive Billy Griffith sits on the Bermuda College Board of Governors.

BRH - which owns the Harmony Club, Surf Side, and the Wharf Executive Hotel - and John Jefferis, the former Elbow Beach general manager who now runs the Coco Reef Resort in Tobago, were short-listed by the College.

A joint Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Education selection committee has also narrowed its search down to BRH and Mr. Jefferis.

Ms Webb said last night: "A decision is imminent within the next two weeks. We are at the final stage of talking to the short-listed people and getting some responses on things like the terms of the lease."

The Royal Gazette has seen a copy of a letter from College President Michael Orenduff to Mr. Jefferis from earlier this year informing him he had been unsuccessful in his bid to run Stonington, which is used to train Bermudians for the hospitality industry.

Dr Orenduff said last night he could not reveal the identity of the short-listed applicants because the selection process was confidential.

But he said: "The Ministry have the results of the College's search and they have their own, and they wanted to make sure there was no appearance of a conflict of interest because one company had an employee who was on the Board of Governors.

"So the Ministry felt to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest, it would be better for the Ministry of Tourism to start over again with the process.

"What I have been given to understand is that it is down to the same two finalists that were the finalists in the College process, which gives me a certain amount of confidence that two different processes produced the same two finalists. It gives me a confidence that the same two finalists had the best two proposals."

The College wants an outside team to take over running of Stonington, but insists they must continue to use it as an educational facility training Bermudians in hospitality.

Dr Orenduff said staff at the college had done a great job over the summer but were anxious because they did not know which company will take over the property.

Mr. Griffith, who was President of Bermuda Hotel Association until earlier this year, did not respond to calls for comment last night.

But in the past he has denied any conflict of interest, because he had no role in the selection process, which was then transferred to Tourism and the Ministry of Education.