Work to reopen one shuttered hotel property continued to make progress, while plans were unveiled to breathe new life into a second historic resort.

Gencom, the owner of the Fairmont Southampton, continued redevelopment of the island’s largest hotel over the course of 2025.

The hotel’s closure in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, and loss of its 593 guest rooms, sent ripples throughout the island’s tourism and service sector.

Ground was broken on the redevelopment in late 2024 and continued throughout 2025 as the company worked to get the hotel ready to welcome guests in 2026.

Workers, however, faced tragedy in April when Thomas Lauwaske Jones, a 56-year-old father of three, was killed in an industrial accident at the site.

In August, the company said more than 150 Bermudians, spouses of Bermudians and permanent resident’s certificate holders had been involved in the redevelopment project, and job fairs were held to identify prospective employees before the hotel’s scheduled reopening.

In September, Diallo Rabain, the Minister of the Cabinet Office and Digital Innovation, announced that a revised special development order for the project had been completed.

The SDO, officially gazetted in November, laid the groundwork for the construction of up to 159 tourist accommodations and up to 91 residential units in buildings of two to four storeys on the property.

The order specified that development of the new units could not begin until the hotel itself has reopened.

The SDO also proposed the creation of three conservation areas, including a 4.9-acre area next along the South Shore, a 1.4-acre site north of Turtle Hill and 1.2 acres to the north of the hotel.

The project also included a realignment of South Road and improvement works to the Railway Trail.

While concerns were raised about a lack of clear guidance on what changes had been made from earlier versions of the SDO, the Government said the order had been strengthened with “strict conditions and enhanced regulatory clarity”.

The Ministry of the Cabinet Office and Digital Innovation said a “comprehensive suite of environmental safeguards” came with improvements to the site through the creation of protected areas and woodland restoration, and “stringent” wastewater treatment standards.

Farther east, The Loren Group announced that it had purchased the Elbow Beach Hotel in Paget, with plans for a “comprehensive redevelopment” of the site. Work is expected to start in 2026.

The Elbow Beach Hotel closed in early 2020 and went into liquidation in October 2023, by which time the main hotel building was understood to be in a state of disrepair.

The Loren Group, which previously redeveloped the Pink Beach hotel property, said that it intended to run both properties as a single hotel in two locations.

It was subsequently announced that the main hotel building would be demolished as part of the project, with a 75-key building to be built on an area occupied by tennis courts.

The project would also include a combination of 27 estate homes and cottage-style accommodations.

Stephen King, the co-owner of The Loren Group, said that it was hoped that work would be completed on the site in late 2028 so that the hotel is ready for the 2029 season.

A third hotel project also made headway in 2025, with Ay Ay Holdings Bermuda Ltd receiving planning approval to convert the vacant Victoria Hall in the City of Hamilton into a nine-storey hotel referred to as Sankofa House.

Planning documents for the project suggested that the 94-room hotel would employ 40 workers, with about 16 staff for a restaurant at the site.

The proposal for the hotel initially received an “obligatory refusal” because of its number of storeys and lack of setbacks — buffer areas that separate buildings or structures from the road — but the Department of Planning expressed support for the proposal, which was approved on appeal.

Figures released by the Bermuda Tourism Authority showed the island’s hotels had enjoyed slightly increased occupancy in the first nine months of the year along with increased revenue.

The BTA said that hotel occupancy was up by about 1 per cent year-on-year, while revenue per available room rose by 11.6 per cent.

It was estimated that air visitors injected $247.9 million into the Bermuda economy in the first three quarters of 2025, an increase of 0.5 per cent year-on-year.

However, visitor arrivals fell overall, with a 1.3 per cent drop in air arrivals reported and a 5.5 per cent drop in cruise arrivals.

The decline was blamed in part on storm activity in the Atlantic, which forced several cruise ships to divert to alternate destinations.