The current 2019 Novel Coronavirus pandemic has altered the landscape of the travel industry significantly — including the reduction of the bookings of reservations at hotel and resort properties — and one of the latest victims is a historic hotel property which is set to close on Tuesday, February 15, 2022.
This Historic Hotel Property Is About to Close Indefinitely In a Few Days.
What is now known as the British Colonial Hilton Nassau opened on Monday, January 7, 1924 as The New Colonial hotel property, which replaced its predecessor. A fire burned down the Colonial Hotel on Friday, March 31, 1922.
Located in downtown Nassau, the site on which the hotel property is currently situated was once occupied in the eighteenth century by the Old Fort of Nassau in order to protect the western entrance of Nassau Harbour until the fort was demolished in 1897 — almost exactly 200 years after it was first built in 1697. This view from the hotel property looks west.
Both the hotel property and the land on which it is situated had undergone numerous changes in ownership — as well as many changes in its name, which include the British Colonial Hotel; the Sheraton British Colonial; and the British Colonial Beach Resort, which was a Best Western hotel property. Hilton first started managing this hotel property — which has been used as the set for two James Bond movies — back in 1999.
I stayed in an executive room with a queen bed back in November of 2010 for a total of $332.32 for four nights — the full rate for the first night and one dollar per night thereafter. I received a telephone call from a representative of Hilton informing me that the rate would not be honored and that I should pay more than $800.00 for four nights; and I would be compensated with a choice of the following:
- A discount of 25 percent for every night except the first, or $199.00 per night instead of one dollar per night after the first night;
- Two free nights for a future stay at this property; or
- 10,000 Hilton HHonors points.
I refused the offers and was able to keep the rate.
I did not have the foresight to take photographs of the room at the time because I did not post reviews of lodging stays at The Gate back in 2010; but I did take photographs of the views of the water. One could even watch the cruise ships pass by to and from the nearby harbour. The room had several windows from which to look out.
When I checked in and went into my room, the room was not made up. I then went to the Executive Lounge and they promptly assigned me a slightly better corner room with a view of the water. They also apologized profusely, to which I replied that it was no problem at all.
Although a mandatory resort fee was included in my really inexpensive room rate, the maid was tipped a couple of extra dollars. Suddenly my room was filled with extra towels, toiletries and full-sized bottles of water, and I did not even ask for them! The service at this property was excellent; and members of the staff were friendly and welcoming, and they remembered my name whenever they saw me. I declined a complimentary bottle of wine delivered to my door simply because I do not drink alcoholic beverages and I did not want to check luggage on my way back to the United States. I also received several complimentary miniature boxes of Bahamian rum cake.
The food in the Executive Lounge was good: the offerings of one evening included some kind of what I believe to be a seafood canapé, assorted pickled vegetables, pita bread slices with two types of hummus, fresh broccoli, celery, carrots and cucumber strips, assorted cheese and crackers, assorted peppers and little squares of bread topped with brie cheese and a white grape sliver. Assorted drinks were available; but children who were younger than the age of 12 were not allowed in the Executive Lounge while alcoholic beverages were served.
The pool and grounds were nicely manicured, but beware of the rats which scurried about at night. I personally saw at least a half dozen of them while on the grounds; and I watched them scurrying about the pool area from the Executive Lounge balcony on the seventh floor.
The room was clean and comfortable, with a flat-screen television, a desk and a refrigerator to keep the water chilled. There was a bathtub and a shower, plenty of mirrors, and the standard set of toiletries and amenities.
The property was very nice, but the private beach was not very clean. With what I noticed was a constant pouring of water just to the west of the beach — combined with the aforementioned cruise ships passing close by — possibly leaking fuel and oil, I was loathe to go into the water.
Greater than 100 employees of the The British Colonial Hilton Nassau will be unemployed as a result of the closure — although the minister of tourism, investments and aviation of the Bahamas met with the current owners of the hotel property with 288 guest rooms; but Chester Cooper had not convinced China Construction America to keep the hotel property open at the time this article was written.
Final Boarding Call
Even back in 2010, the British Colonial Hilton Nassau had seen better days. This hotel property should have been restored to recall the days of its full grandeur.
Overall, I would have recommended this property — but not as a destination unless you want to be close to downtown Nassau; and certainly not at a minimum of $200.00 per night. Then again — with the rate I paid — it cannot be beat; but a daily mandatory charge is still added to the room rate and includes both a service charge of five dollars and an energy surcharge of $13.44 per person per day.
The future of this hotel property is uncertain at the time this article was written — but hopefully it will be restored and preserved.
All photographs ©2010 by Brian Cohen.
