The Fiesta Inn turns into a Princess

It was born as the Ramada Royal Reef and died as the Fiesta Inn. Today it was reborn as the Princess Belize. The new owner of Belize’s biggest hotel is Princess International Limited, a European company based in Turkey. Less than a decade old, the hotel originally managed as a Ramada, was in serious financial trouble almost from its birth. Last year, unable to pay its bills, it went into receivership under the control of the Belize Bank. Princess International declined to give the purchase price but new manager Cenk Basar told news five that under the terms of the contract the Princess group bought the hotel’s assets, not its ongoing operations. What this means is that creditors of the old Fiesta cannot collect from the Princess but instead must see the receiver Stanley Ermeav. Regarding the hotel’s eighty-six employees, Basar said that yesterday they were all terminated by the former owners but immediately rehired this morning by his company. Where these workers now stand with regard to benefits and severance is not clear. Some have worked at the hotel for almost ten years. News Five sought answers from Ermeav but he said that he was too busy to talk but would be issuing a press release next week. Meanwhile, busy is just what Basar will be over the next several months. He says the hotel will undergo major changes to turn it into a state of the art entertainment center with a theater, upgraded restaurants, and disco. Whether “entertainment” also includes the widely anticipated casino gambling, Basar would not say. Princess International, not to be confused with the US based chain of the same name, operates seven hotels in Turkey, Eastern Europe and the Caribbean.