Some hoteliers, angry over the high cost of electricity and the apparent lack of movement towards lower rates, have considered shutting down in protest, one hotelier has told the Sun.
"It is very serious. About a year ago, we had seriously considered shutting down the hotels in protest (and) we may very well consider doing that now," said the hotelier who spoke on condition that we do not name him.
Most local hotels, hit by low occupancy, have been struggling to meet operational costs; particularly their electricity bills which they say have doubled over the past two years even with less usage.
One of the leading west coast properties, the Castaways Hotel, has closed and its power supply has been disconnected and last Thursday, the Dominica Electricity Services Limited (DOMLEC), a subsidiary of the British-based Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC), discontinued the electricity supply to the Portsmouth Beach Hotel.
But the most significant development, which emphasized the problems facing the hotel sector, came when DOMLEC asked the police to investigate the Garraway Hotel with a view to instituting criminal charges against the Roseau-based property.
The hotel has a monthly electricity bill of EC$24,000 and has paid EC$1.779 million in electricity rates since 1994, according to Gene Pestaina, the attorney for Garraway Hotel.
Unable to meet its commitment, the hotel reached an agreement with DOMLEC in May, under which it would pay EC$2,500 per week on its arrears, along with its current monthly bills. It was also given permission to use a generator for certain periods each day.
But even that was too much for the hotel, which, like the Caribbean's tourism sector, has seen some very hard times since September 11th, 2001; and a decision was taken to use the generator fulltime.
"We will not stop the hotel and we will continue to use the generator and we will challenge the law that says we need a licence to operate a generator," Pestaina told the Sun, referring to the Electricity Supplies Act #21 of 1996, passed by the then United Workers Party (UWP) government when it sold DOMLEC to the CDC.
The Act gave the CDC a monopoly on the generation, distribution and sale of electricity in Dominica for 30 years in the first instance.
"The root cause of the problem is the injustice done to the people of Dominica by the UWP government," said Charles Savarin, the tourism minister who said the problem facing the hotel sector was one of grave concern.
"The whole problem is the clandestine sale of Domlec to CDC and the passage of the electricity act that makes CDC governor general over the people of Dominica," he continued.
Savarin said the hotels had other issues to tackle, including a lack of expertise at the managerial level.
But he said the increasing utility costs compound the situation.
"It (the situation) is not helped by high interest rates in the bank and increasing utility charges," the minister told the Sun.
Savarin's view was supported by Samuel Raphael, the president of the Dominica Hotel and Tourism Association (DHTA).
He told the Sun that the rates here are "quite high" and that properties were having a difficult time applying themselves especially during the period of low occupancy.
But he said the membership should be creative and should take corrective action in the areas over which they have control.
"The problems are real. But I cannot focus my energy on lamenting over that situation. I am pretty confident that the hotels that are willing to make the necessary operational adjustments will work," he said.
The DHTA president said the association was in discussion with DOMLEC seeking to get the power company's blessings for the hotels to generate their own electricity and he ruled out a shutdown of the hotels.
"There was no such consensus (on shutting down in protest). That would never have happened," he said.
But one angry hotelier expressed his displeasure at the power and operational problems facing the sector in an explicit manner.
"The whole situation stinks," said the hotelier.