The Future of Nassau's Baha Mar Resort: A New Hotel, Jazz Club, and More

14.10.2024 - 12:13 / cntraveler.com

In the seven years since its opening, the beachfront resort Baha Mar has become one of the Bahamas’ premier luxury escapes, offering travelers a paradisiacal getaway just a three-hour flight from New York City. Now, the brand has announced it will be constructing a new hotel steps away down Cable Beach, set to open in 2029.

Like other hotels and hospitality companies around the world, Baha Mar used the Covid-19 pandemic to assess its future. One question they contended with was what to do with Melia Nassau Beach, a dated all-inclusive owned by the same Hong Kong-based conglomerate that controls the main resort. The answer became clear in 2020 when the property remained closed even as Baha Mar itself reopened with a world-class Covid prevention and mitigation program. A staged demolition soon followed. But what would be next for the 12-acre site?

The answer is a hotel and residential project to be designed by the storied architecture firm of Foster + Partners, its first in the Caribbean, scheduled to break ground in 2026. The new structure will expand Baha Mar’s footprint to the west, beyond the spectacularly fun, three-year-old Baha Bay waterpark (do not sleep on it if you visit!), and will be connected to the rest of the resort by a common beach boardwalk. It will be set back from the beach to maximize the sun and minimize the shade—"even in the winter, when the sun is on the southern horizon,” says Graeme Davis, the president of Baha Mar. When the hotel is complete, it will give resort guests even more restaurants, beachfront, pools, and other amenities, but in the meantime its distance from the other properties will minimize disruption for visitors.

The 350-key hotel, for which the resort is currently seeking an international hospitality brand to partner, will join the resort’s current Rosewood, Grand Hyatt, and SLS offerings. It reflects Baha Mar’s growing investment in the Bahamian economy and community. Davis often cites the fact that Baha Mar brings in 12% of the Bahamas’ GDP—12%, which, notably, did not exist a decade ago, when the property was languishing in development hell before being rescued by the current ownership group. The resort’s presence on the island helped spur a resurgence in airlift to the Bahamas after the pandemic, with around 48 scheduled daily direct flights from the US at present. Baha Mar promises that the new property will create an additional 500 permanent jobs in the country. “It’s part of our commitment to building a sustainable tourism business,” Davis says.

As Baha Mar has grown, it has also sought to create new pathways for guests to connect with Bahamian life and culture. One of the most obvious examples has been the expansion of its arts program, the success of