Development to Feature the First Park Hyatt Branded Hotel in the Caribbean

St. Kitts is pleased to welcome the Cockleshell Bay Resort development, which will be set on 150 acres in the island’s picturesque southeast peninsula and will feature a Park Hyatt hotel and residences as well as a 160-berth Camper & Nicholson’s managed yacht marina, a casino and a selection of world-class restaurants.

In a small but impressive ceremony in Basseterre on Thursday, September 17^th, 2009 an agreement was signed between project developer Chris Kanhai of St. Michael’s Foundation Ltd. of Canada, and Rakesh Sarna, Chief Operating Officer–International, of Hyatt Hotels Corporation, for Hyatt Hotels & Resorts to manage the Park Hyatt St. Kitts at Cockleshell Bay. It will be the first Park Hyatt hotel in the Caribbean and will feature 125 guestrooms plus a state-of-the-art luxury spa with eight treatment rooms. 100 Park Hyatt-branded residential townhouses and condominiums and 86 estate villas will also be included in the Cockleshell Bay development, which is scheduled for completion in 2013.

In signing the development agreement at the ceremony, Prime Minister Dr. Denzil L. Douglas said, “We are extremely pleased to welcome the prestigious Park Hyatt brand to this development, which will further advance our Government’s economic transformation of St. Kitts following the closure of the sugar industry in 2005. Both the developer and Hyatt share our Government’s commitment to the creation of a mix of sustainable tourism enterprises that reflect St. Kitts’ unique heritage and culture, and I am confident that this high-end project will be an excellent addition to the island’s overall product mix.”

The Cockleshell Bay Resort development is the latest major luxury project being created on the island’s southeast peninsula, complementing the Christophe Harbour development, which is currently under construction.  Other major mixed-use developments in various stages of planning and development on St. Kitts include Kittitian Hill (to be managed by Sedona Resorts), Ocean’s Edge Resort and the Silver Reef Resort. 

About Park Hyatt:

Intimate and residential in style, Park Hyatt promises elegant and gracious service on a personal scale, and is further distinguished by prime locations and exceptional interior design. Hyatt Hotels Corporation and its subsidiari

es operate 25 Park Hyatt hotels. Current locations include; Baku, Beaver Creek, Beijing, Buenos Aires, Canberra, Chicago, Dubai, Goa, Hamburg, Istanbul, Jeddah, Melbourne, Mendoza, Milan, Moscow, Paris, Philadelphia, Saigon, Seoul, Shanghai, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Washington DC, and Zurich.

About Hyatt Hotels Corporation:

Hyatt Hotels Corporation, headquartered in Chicago, is a leading global hospitality company with a proud heritage of making guests feel more than welcome. Thousands of members of the Hyatt family in 45 countries strive to make a difference in the lives of the guests they encounter every day by providing authentic hospitality. The company’s subsidiaries manage, franchise, own and develop hotels and resorts under the Hyatt®, Park Hyatt®, Andaz™, Grand Hyatt®, Hyatt Regency®, Hyatt Place® and Hyatt Summerfield Suites™ brand names and have locations under development on five continents. Hyatt Vacation Ownership, Inc., a Hyatt Hotels Corporation subsidiary, develops and operates vacation ownership properties under the Hyatt Vacation Club® brand. As of June 30, 2009, the company’s worldwide portfolio consisted of 413 properties. For more information, please visit www.hyatt.com.

About St. Kitts:

Located in the northern Leeward Islands of the Caribbean, St. Kitts offers a diverse tourism product developed from the destination’s natural beauty, cultural heritage and rich history.  The island’s stunning variety of tourism attractions include hiking through the tropical rainforest, riding the scenic railway that connects the island’s sugar plantations, touring Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park, the only man-made UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Eastern Caribbean, and the more traditional vacation pastimes such as watersports, golf, shopping, tennis, gourmet dining, gaming at one of St. Kitts’ two casinos or simply relaxing on one of the island’s sandy beaches.  Guests can select from accommodations ranging from intimate plantation inns to larger hotels or resorts.

For more information about St. Kitts, please contact the St. Kitts Tourism Authority toll free from the US at 1-800-582-6208 or from Canada 1-888-395-4887, e-mail info@stkittstourism.kn or visit the website at www.stkittstourism.kn. Follow St. Kitts on Facebook and Twitter.