TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Any news on Biras Creek?

It has been a long time without any news. Has anyone been there this summer? Can't believe they are just letting it go to ruin.

Whats happening to Biras are they going under? We have been away from the BVI for some year.

Basically the owners and the management who was leasing it didn't see eye to eye. Not sure of the details but aparently Victor International wanted to make a lot of upgrades but needed to either buy the property or get a long term lease to insure a return on the investment but the owners would not agree to either so Victor closed it down several months before their lease expired. Word is the owners are trying to find a way to reopen.

Rather hard on the VG economy as Little Dix is also closed for the next 18 months or so for extensive renovations.

Why did the owners let is shut down and lose the revenue stream, the goodwill with the business. The cost to restart could be very large.

Welcome to de Ilons! I can recall at least half a dozen businesses that died for totally illogical reasons from a business standpoint. Usually traced to greed and jelousy.

Yes, there is a lot of "what's best for me" going on. The same group that started Oil Nut BAy , developed YCCS in North Sound, leased Biras Creek and was primary proponent of the airport extension. Biras Creek is closed..YCCS was sold at a huge profit and is now closed. Many suppliers to the Oil Nut Property had difficulty collecting their due bills. There seems to be a pattern. I would suspect the owner is quite wealthy and will only reopen Brias under a new owner not connectected to the previous lessee.

To my knowledge YCCS, owned by the Aga Khan, has not been sold...but is simply closed for expansion and improvements. It's been a big hit among the mega-yacht crowd, and the occupancy has exceeded its capacity. It's a favorite among the Aga Khan's holdings.

The Aga Khan and David Johnson from Victor International have no love for one another, and have broken all ties.

Similarly, the owner of Biras, Bert Houwer has had some problems with Johnson...who has quite the reputation of being a bully. Johnson leased the property for ten years in 2006 to service visitors to his new development, Oil Nut Bay. He fully intended to purchase the property. It should be noted that Biras provides a key land bridge to ONB - which Johnson desperately wanted.

As the gossip has it, at the sunset of the lease, Houwer had no intention of selling, and Johnson threatened early closure if he didn't relent. And so it happened. Johnson closed the joint for spite and blamed the whole thing on Houwer. The lease is in its last couple of months, so the ball will be in Houwer's court shortly.

YachtReprise Thanks for the refresher. That makes sense. Johnson originally announced he had "acquired" Biras almost ten years ago. For whatever reason that did not happen or became impossible. Along the way Johnson did put cash into the place. Biras was closed temporarily for at least one Johnson funded renovation. Biras was losing money and was slated to be closed before Johnson took over. Along the way Johnson learns or figures out he will not get full control of the property and Johnson immediately stops putting cash in and destroys the business at hand to reduce or limit the ability of Bert Houwer to sell the asset to anyone else at the end of the ten year lease/failed acquisition.

http://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2006_4th/Nov06_BirasCreek.html

Whether bully or simple hardball business? I think Johnson is still fighting to gain control over the property not just acting out of "spite" as some would claim.

I haven't found, in any written statement, or in any local gossip, any evidence to suggest that Biras was losing money and scheduled to be closed. I have some evidence to the contrary, in fact.

However, that was the rumor that Johnson put forth when he acquired the lease in 2006. It's all Johnson. Not to be at all trusted IMHO.

Mr. Johnson continues to make those claims:

"As the Biras Division Managers and others know, Biras was intended to be closed nine years ago before we entered into the lease."

Johnson's Claims to the employees

If Johnson's claims are false or without merit that should greatly simplify Bert Houwer the actual owner contracting with a great small resort operator or management company to reopen the place. Both groups heavily investing in the property during their time with the keys. Our group really like the place. On most cruises we would at least have dinner at Biras one night. Other guests on the boat would start or complete their trip at Biras. Scrub can be great but is less consistent. Little Dix while closed now for its own renovations was not always a welcoming place to visiting yachtsmen.

Without joining a solid small resort network the marketing will be a major uphill slog to weather in high seas.

Biras was doing just fine, before Victor took it over, as part of the Relais & Chateaux group. Perhaps it will return to that small, luxury collection.

Relais & Chateaux is certainly one of the best. Relais & Chateaux is really a club of members that you must be voted in to join by a member board. With 30'ish suites or rooms Biras was a near perfect size fit. To get the membership back an operator or individual must get the place open including a spectacular dining experience to french standards. A potential member must be open with a top spirit staff fully in place to complete the professionals staff inspection process and individual member inspection process before you can come up for a vote of the member board of directors. Starting from a closed property with no marketing arm that will take deep pockets, commitment, and time. Unlike many other branding/marketing consortiums Relais & Chateaux will focus on the spirit of the staff and the very high end dining experience. Dining is their niche. You can gain the Relais & Chateaux title with just a restaurant but not matter how strong the property or location is you are not one of the best dining establishments in the world you and your chef will have no chance winning the votes to get back into the Relais & Chateaux club. Relais & Chateaux properties list almost 350 Michelin stars between them. We try to never pass up the opportunity to visit any of the member properties we get close to.

For the now closed Biras property(Biras lost their Relais & Châteaux fleur-de-lis plaque in 2012) I would try to find a very high quality operator of similar small resorts to get the place well staffed, open, and revenue producing as a first step. That is the method you will see Little Dix reopen under when the time comes. Running and globally marketing these tiny high end properties is highly evolved profession that a single stand alone owner/operator may find insurmountable.

When I last visited Biras Creek in February of this year, the entire resort was in extreme disrepair. What I can not understand is how Victor could lease a property of this value with out certain maintenance requirements in place to protect the owners interest. I am amazed that there has not been a lawsuit started to stop the decline and make the owner whole. Does anyone know why this has gone on for so long?

Whooboy, there WILL be lawsuits. And Victor is no stranger to lawsuits. They were involved in one with the Hendersons during the initial development of ONB, and with Yates Construction more recently. They're as rich and as slippery as Bill and Hillary, however.

It IS amazing how quickly structures deteriorate in the Caribbean. The salt air, high humidity, rain and wind, termites, ants and cockroaches take their toll.

Such a shame.

You're all too young to remember Smugglers Cove Hotel, and what a lovely little property it was before Nell and Bob lost their collective connection to reality...each in a different way. The hotel just sort of 'melted' back into the landscape, so that it's barely visible now.

Although there is something very 'cleansing' about that, I guess.

That would all come down to the actual lease contract, the entity that actually signed the lease, the jurisdiction and laws that that apply, and probably most important how much money and time are the harmed parties willing invest to get all the way to a judgement that can be collected on. I bet Victor would want to "settle" by buying the property at a discount?