The US$100 million Pegasus Suites and Corporate Centre will open next month end to cater to an expatriate clientele seeking long-term stays with luxury accommodation, proprietor Robert Badal said on Friday.
While the facility was originally slated to have 200 rooms, Badal said that he changed the plan after looking at accommodation trends here.
“This model blends well with the new reality of our evolving business environment. Instead of building 200 rooms, we built 100 large suites, ranging from 700 to 1100 sq ft. This would diversify our offerings to the increasing expatriate businessmen and women, some of whom demand larger, elegant living spaces on a more long-term basis,” he told Sunday Stabroek.
“With the glut of low-grade rooms being planned in Georgetown with low-grade international flags we are convinced that this strategy will achieve our long-term objectives of expanding on the Pegasus tradition of fun, entertainment and life-long memories. As our motto goes ‘Come for the Business, Stay for the Fun,’” he added.
All of the suites are elegantly furnished with stunning views of the Atlantic Ocean, Demerara River and city skyline.
“Our office spaces are the only Grade A office complex in Guyana. We have [parking space for over 250 cars], renewable power provided by 20,000 sq ft of solar roof-top [panelling], up to date building management system, CCTV surveillance system, high level of greenery, all at the best address in Guyana,” Badal boasted.
But he pointed out that his pride in the project is not only for him but all Guyanese and they too can boast that one of their own embarked on a project that most felt only foreigners could do and succeeded.
“I am confident that Guyanese would be immensely proud of this development – to know that it is owned, built and managed by Guyanese,” he posited.
He said that his hotel leads the way with staff hiring and training and he said that the same effort will go towards staffing at the two imposing buildings, work on which began in July 2018.
He had in a prior interview with this newspaper echoed similar sentiments. The Pegasus, according to Badal, has a great advantage as not only have locals been the pillar behind its services but it serves as motivation and inspiration for aspiring entrepreneurs and brings national pride.
“We have an advantage and our advantage is our staff, my business experience, my hard work, my critical thinking, in addition to the good name that the Pegasus has built over the years and the loyalty of locals. Pegasus has held its own since we started in 1969. It went through so many owners; international flags and it ended up being locally owned. I could have given it to an international flag but then what is left for Guyanese? When our youngsters graduate from the University of Guyana and see only foreign brands, what kind of model are we exposing them to? What are we doing to them, teaching them, exposing them to, when we don’t develop our own capacity? Pegasus is a local pride and it is in the interest of everybody that we keep the Pegasus as a local brand,” he said.
“I can give it up and go somewhere and live off of the profits. But the sense of pride that I get knowing that I am a custodian of Guyanese hospitality, that was built and strengthened by Guyanese and what Guyanese feel proud about is what grounds me. That is how you get a national label. We have few national labels: Banks DIH and El Dorado brands. Pegasus will be that number one local hotel brand. It is part of our need to diversify our business, to increase capacity but also to put my footprint on something I have built myself and leave a legacy. Youngsters coming up will look up and say ‘this is the best building we have seen and it was built by Guyanese for Guyanese and can sustain the community’. They can say this long after I am gone. Pegasus did that before me and I want to do the same,” he added.
He said that he trusts that as with Guyanese spreading the word of their local brand, foreigners will come to experience it and will also share with their counterparts and his business will grow from strength to strength.
And according to Badal, it is already a hotspot for photos and YouTube videos.
He said that he is confident that there will be full occupancy as he believes that he alone offers this level of service here.
“This development, unrivalled in the region, brings a new dimension to our local hospitality sector. A combination of high end one-bedroom executive suites and Grade A offices offering business executives unparalleled comfort in both living spaces and first-world equipped offices,” he said.
Badal’s vision for the remodeling of the area he owns near the Kingston hotel is a seven-storey, state-of-the-art corporate office complex adjacent to a fifteen-storey tower offering luxury residential accommodation. These buildings are on the eastern part of the property. It has been described as the largest investment here by a Guyanese.
Badal has said that the entire complex will offer the most innovative, mixed-use facilities on par with any first world facility of the same nature. It will also be complemented by the food and entertainment facilities currently offered by the Pegasus Hotel.
Facilitated through financing by Republic Bank, the construction project is being undertaken by China Harbour Engineering Company.
