An outstanding hotel company with unique properties across the world is setting its sights on Bermuda.

Rosewood Hotels has signalled its intent to operate a new resort on the site of the Castle Harbour hotel after the original management company dropped out.

As well as proposing to run a five star facility, the Dallas, Texas based company could also invest several million dollars in the new hotel.

And it now seems inevitable that the 70-year-old facility, which closed as a Marriott hotel last November, will be demolished after it became clear renovation was an increasingly costly option.

Yesterday, Peter Parker of Bermuda Properties Limited, confirmed that any deal with former would-be managers Regent International Hotels was now off.

And he added: "When it became obvious that we might have to build anew, several operators showed renewed interest...

"We selected the best of the best, which was Rosewood.'' Although the Rosewood name is not widely known, they have built a stable of top quality, unique boutique-style hotels across the world -- with a reputation which could help in the bid to secure the necessary funding for the project.

New hotel in running for Castle Harbour site They include the Hotel Bel Air in Beverly Hills, the Lanesborough in London and Caneel Bay in the British Virgin Islands.

And it can also be revealed that renowned architects, HKS of Dallas, who have built other Rosewood properties, are already working with Bermuda-based architects Barker and Linberg on the project.

It is understood that after several months of working on the scheme, developers have decided that the hotel is "almost certain to come down than be renovated''.

If the project, which hasn't yet secured financing, goes ahead it is likely that it will be as a cottage colony-type development, rather than a traditional hotel building.

Rosewood was started by Caroline Hunt, a Texas-based lady in her seventies, who recently sold a 50 percent share to an outside interest.

One travel industry source said: "She wanted to have the best boutique hotels in the world. They are very, very high end, they don't even advertise.'' Mrs. Hunt's daughter has already been to Bermuda to look at the property, which it is hoped will reopen as a new resort by 2002.