Barbados Property News July 2021

Welcome to the July 2021 issue of our Residence Barbados Newsletter. There is also some exciting property news in September don’t forget to check link provided. This edition is packed with news from the island including the launch of The Crane Resort’s new testing lab, the arrival of a new Michelin-stared chef and menu at The Cliff, and we introduce our connection with ZenBreak for those looking for luxury vacation rentals. If you’re coming to the island, we explain the entry requirements (correct at the time of publication) and face-covering protocols.

Looking for property here in Barbados? Let us introduce you to the villas and suites at Beach View at Paynes Bay (just opposite The Cliff) on the popular West Coast of the island.

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Crane Resort opens COVID testing lab

The first on-site Covid PCR testing laboratory in the Caribbean has opened at The Crane Resort, just ten minutes from the island’s airport.

The lab features state-of-the-art PCR instruments and follows WHO guidelines for PCR testing facilities. Guests of The Crane Resort, as well as other visitors, ex-pats and citizens can have their PCR tests processed within hours.

To mark the lab’s opening, the resort is offering a ‘Jetsetter’ package for $109 (£79) that includes:

• Personal VIP service through airport customs
• Fast track through Immigration and the various health ministry processes
• Transfer to the resort
• A rapid antigen test on departure
• Luxury isolation suite at no charge if a fully vaccinated visitor tests positive. 

The facility also offers Covid-19 antigen tests with results available via email within approximately 30 minutes. This is helpful for guests returning to the UK and US.

“Barbados has done an amazing job in controlling the spread of Covid-19 on the island, with current positivity rates less than 0.2 per cent,” said Paul Doyle, the owner of the Crane Resort. “We know that very accurate and speedy testing will continue to be an important tool to keep visitors and Barbadians safe.” 

“In addition, we know that visitors who have been in lockdown and have waited a long while for their holidays will appreciate a hassle-free airport experience and speedy test results. So we decided to help by building our PCR lab.”

He added: “We have nothing but the highest regard for the team here in the ministry of health who have helped and guided us every step of the way. Most recently, we have enjoyed their support for the Barbados Covid lab.”

To arrange a private or a virtual viewing of The Crane Private Residences, then please give us a call on +1 246 230 4982 or email at contact@residencebarbados.com.

Source: Travel Bulletin

Beach View Villas & Suites

This exclusive development of villas and suites connects to the award-winning Beach View Hotel and is set amongst five acres of lushly landscaped gardens in a prime location on the west coast at Paynes Bay. The island’s second-largest town, Holetown, world-class restaurants, bars, shopping and idyllic Caribbean beaches are just a short distance away. World-renowned The Cliff restaurant is just across the road.

The new accommodations combine elegance and charm with modern finishes, fully equipped kitchens, en-suite bedrooms, spacious open-plan living and dining and all the comforts of home. These spacious properties are perfect for families who will enjoy the range of on-site amenities including swimming pools, gym, salon and spa and restaurant.

Owning a villa or suite at Beach View means you are investing in a family-run hotel on the West Coast of Barbados with a proven track record of rentals. Beach View has consistently been rated in the top three positions for hotels in Barbados since its opening in 2009 and has been awarded the Trip Advisor Traveller’s Choice Award for Best Service in the Caribbean every year since 2014.

Beach View Spotlight: The Ylang Ylang Villas

The 10 two-storey Ylang Ylang villas are spread across two buildings located on the east side of the property with their own swimming pool and easy access to the restaurant, gym, spa and salon. The buildings overlook tropical landscaped gardens and offer three bedrooms, three bathrooms spacious accommodation across two floors.

Opened in 2018, the two-storey garden villas offer the most tranquil experience and the private feel of your own home. The ten villas are located in a peaceful oasis, surrounded by an array of tropical flowers and a beautiful infinity edge pool at the entrance.

Each villa offers 2,100 sq. ft. of accommodation. The ground floor features an en-suite master bedroom, two private patios as well as a fully equipped kitchen, a living and dining area and a separate powder room.

The second and third en-suite bedrooms are located on the upper floors.

The Ylang Ylang villas start from US$750,000 and are sold freehold but have been developed with rental in mind.

All owners enjoy three months of personal use per year. During the remainder of the year, the suite or villa remains in the Beach View rental pool. This programme offers buyers the potential to generate significant rental income and a strong return on their investment.

The resort offers the most mature and successful rental program in Barbados and one of the best in the Caribbean.

• 2,100 sq. ft.
• Three bedrooms
• Three bathrooms
• Fully equipped kitchens in all villas
• Separate powder room
• Air-conditioned bedrooms & living areas
• Spacious terraces
• Washing machine & dryer 
  

To arrange a private or a virtual viewing of the villas and suites at Beach View, then please give us a call on +1 246 230 4982 or email at contact@residencebarbados.com.

Entry rules and protocols for Barbados visitors

If you’re unsure about the protocols to enter Barbados at this time, we’ve put this handy guide together. Please note that these are correct at the time of publication and may change, so please monitor Barbados websites for further details.

All travellers must travel with a valid negative PCR test. However, Barbados does not accept all PCR tests. 

The PCR test must meet specific standards set by the Barbados government. These requirements include:

• The specimen taken must be a nasopharyngeal or oropharyngeal swab (or both) taken by a healthcare provider
• The sample must be taken within three (3) days before arrival
• The laboratory performing the test must be an accredited, certified or recognised facility

Barbados will not accept certain types of covid-19 tests under any circumstances.

• Nasal swab samples
• Saliva samples
• Self-administered tests (even if taken under the supervision of a healthcare provider)
• Home kits
• Rapid PCR tests

You can travel to Barbados if you’re unvaccinated. However, you will be subject to extra testing and quarantine rules.

Upon arrival in Barbados, you will be subject to a rapid test if you are fully vaccinated or a second standard PCR test for unvaccinated travellers.

Vaccinated travellers will be allowed to enjoy Barbados one to two days after arrival. This will depend on how long it takes to receive the rapid test result. From our experience, this is about 12 hours but can be up to 48 hours.

Unvaccinated travellers will need to quarantine for at least seven days while waiting for the expected PCR test result before they can fully enjoy Barbados.

After seven or more days, unvaccinated travellers will be allowed to exit quarantine- as long as the test returns a negative result.

To be considered fully vaccinated by Barbados’ authorities, you must have completed an entire vaccination program with a vaccine approved by the Barbados Ministry of Health and Wellness. This must be achieved 14 days before travel. Pfizer and AstraZeneca are accepted.

Vaccinated travellers must also have a complete travel history spanning the previous 21 days before travel.

Children under 18 who aren’t vaccinated will enjoy the same treatment as vaccinated travellers if they are travelling with a fully vaccinated guardian.

If you test positive for COVID-19 at any point while in Barbados, you will be assessed at a government facility for a minimum of 24 hours.

Afterwards, you will be allowed to self-isolate at your own expense at a government-approved hotel, villa, or another property.

Source: Manchester Evening News

Residence Barbados announces rental link with ZenBreak

Are you looking for a luxury vacation rental? Do you need a great place to stay during your real estate search? Then Residence Barbados has found the perfect partner for you – ZenBreak.

We are delighted to announce our collaboration with the team at ZenBreak. Based here on the island, ZenBreak offers the same high level of service and attention to detail we provide our clients. Not forgetting, access to some amazing vacation properties across the island.

For example, each guest receives complimentary access to the Zen Break digital concierge app that helps you enjoy every minute of your vacation. With the ZenBreak app, you can book ahead all the activities you want to do during your stay.

Through the app, ZenBreak’s concierge team is just one click away. Do you want flowers in the room before you arrive? Or make dinner reservations at your favourite restaurant? Just ask through the app.

You can view their selection of luxury properties here in Barbados (and across Europe and the Caribbean) on their website.

Use code RBVacations when making your reservations and you’ll receive 14-day free access to PressReader News & Magazines and a bottle of Mount Gay rum to start your vacation off in true Bajan style.

PressReader is a digital newsstand featuring 7,000 of the world’s most popular newspapers and magazines. So, while you’re on vacation you can keep up to date with all the news at home and around the world. And do the reading you’ve been promising yourself for the last 12 months!

Michelin-star chef heading to the new Cliff restaurant

There is excellent news for those who love to visit The Cliff restaurant. Antonio Mellino, the executive chef at Quattro Passi, will open QP Bistro on October 22, with Quattro Passi at The Cliff opening at the end of November. 

Quattro Passi in Nerano, Italy, is acclaimed as the best restaurant on the Amalfi Coast with two Michelin stars. Bringing the flavours of the Campania region, Napoli and Southern Italy to Barbados, it will offer signature dishes with the finest, fresh ingredients.

Antonio and his team, including his son Raffaele, aspire to have the finest restaurant in the world. Located on the former renowned Cliff restaurant site, the team has paid great care to its refurbishment.

Mellino explained: “I love the energy of Barbados, and I am telling all of my regular clientele to meet me there. I couldn’t be more excited to open this unbelievable Quattro Passi in Barbados. We will make this the best restaurant in the world, on the best island, Barbados.”

Quattro Passi will feature a cigar bar, a lounge, private dining areas, all with tables overlooking the ocean. Next door to the fine dining of Quattro Passi will be QP Bistro. This will have an all-day, 7:30 am-2:00 am, bistro menu, a large Italian pizza oven, homemade soft-serve ice cream and young, vibrant energy.

Quattro Passi is taking reservations for the winter season at 1-246-432-1922 and QP Bistro at 1-246-432-0797.

New route from Norwich, UK to Barbados

Flyers from Norwich Airport in the UK can now reach Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago thanks to new onward routes announced by KLM. 

The flights will begin in November this year and ending in March 2022. 

Analysis from flights app Jack’s Flight Club shows that the standard fares out of Norwich to Barbados this winter, via Amsterdam, are £431 a trip.

The changes between flights at Amsterdam are, on average, just over an hour long.

KLM chief executive Pieter Elbers said: “For KLM, this represents the next, significant step towards rebuilding its network for the benefit of our customers. Furthermore, with this latest expansion, KLM’s intercontinental network will be significantly strengthened for winter.”

Source: Eastern Daily Press

Barbados welcomes first cruise ship in 15 months 

Barbados welcomed the first commercial cruise in 15 months when the Celebrity Millennium sailed into the Port of Bridgetown early on June 7. 

The Celebrity Millennium became the first ship to sail with guests from North America in more than a year. The vessel left St. Maarten on June 5 with 95 per cent of its passengers and the entire crew fully vaccinated. 

Just under 600 guests were on board, some of whom disembarked for pre-booked, cruise line-approved “bubble tours” between the vessel and the shore excursion points.

Source: https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com

West & South Coasts new marine managed areas

Sections of the south and west coasts of Barbados are to be designated as marine managed areas. 

The areas of Fitts Village to Weston and the Pier Head to Rockley will be named “no-take zones” in response to a study examining the coral around the island.

The Minister stressed that this action became necessary following the findings outlined in a report card from a study carried out by the Coastal Zone Management Unit and CERMES, which examined all the coral around Barbados.

Minister of Maritime Affairs and the Blue Economy Kirk Humphrey said: “There is no coral around Barbados currently defined as very good. We have gone from good to very poor. This tells us that there is a necessity to start managing this space.” 

Humphrey added corals play a key role in protecting the coastline in Barbados and throughout the Caribbean. 

“It is a most important part of the Caribbean understanding and the Caribbean reality.” 

Source: https://barbadostoday.bb

British boarding school to set up in Barbados

UK-based Malvern College is set to open a campus in Barbados in September 2023. This will be the eighth campus for the international board and day school and the first of its kind in the Caribbean. However, the location of the institution is still unknown.

“Malvern College is one of England’s great independent schools, and our new school in Barbados will embody our over-arching transformative approach to learning and education. With a firm focus on academic excellence and an enrichment programme that stimulates intellectual curiosity, our commitment across all our schools is to develop outstanding young people with the skills, resilience and initiative to flourish in a rapidly changing global landscape,” the school said.

The school will emphasise the outdoors and sustainability, with a purpose-built Environmental Studies Centre offering Marine Biology and Sustainable Development subjects.

Malvern College Barbados is currently seeking expressions of interest from prospective parents as it continues to work towards finalising plans for a 2023 opening.

Source: https://barbadostoday.bb/

Cliff chef Paul Owens joins The Beach House team

The Beach House in Holetown has announced that Paul Owens, executive chef at The Cliff Restaurant for over 25 years, has partnered with Howard Palmer and the Beach House crew.

The newly rebranded ‘Paul Owens at the Beach House’ is an exciting dining experience featuring Paul’s signature cuisine.

Paul and his dedicated team of chefs have revitalised the kitchen and added six of his dishes to the existing menu. As a result, there are new specials every week and a fully revamped menu in the works. 

The current summer menu includes:

• Scallops with truffle mash and creamed leeks
• Tuna Tartare
• Linguine with Caribbean shrimp and garlic chive sauce
• Thai green chicken curry
• Cajan swordfish
• The Beach House rum baba
• Warm bread and butter pudding

The Beach House is currently open Friday through Sunday for lunch and dinner. Sunday lunch is especially popular. Check out their Facebook page for further details.

Lone Star staff off to Jersey, Channel Island 

Barbados Today has reported that eight staff members of the Lone Star Hotel and Restaurant are set to work in the United Kingdom for the busy summer tourist period.

Kristin Boland explained that their sister hotel, Saint Brelades Bay hotel in Jersey, the Channel Islands, was understaffed.

The group comprises representatives from the kitchen and wait staff. They will spend 16 weeks in Jersey before returning to Barbados.

https://barbadostoday.bb

Music festival to return in 2022

The Vujaday Music Festival, one of the Caribbean’s major music festivals, is planning a comeback in 2022.

It is planning a five-night event from Feb. 9-13, 2022. 

The festival guides attendees from oceanfront stages to private villas and pool and boat parties with a high-profile slate of performers. 

Past editions have included Bob Moses, Peggy Gou, DJ Tennis, Bedouin, Green Velvet, DJ Minx, Lee Burridge, Justin Martin, Francesca Lombardo, Octave One, and Soul Clap. 

The event nurtures “a boutique experience that reflects the island’s natural wonder and diverse heritage, bringing together a community of festival lovers and adventure seekers to dance alongside the bright blue waters of Barbados,” according to the festival. 

For more, visit Vujaday. 

Source: CaribJournal.com

Mike’s ‘Pirate’ Rum Punch launched

Mike’s Fresh Bajan Rum Punch is considered one of the most delicious rum punches on the island. The punch is made from freshly squeezed local limes, Barbadian homemade sugar syrup and of course, Old Brigand Barbados Rum.

The one downside for visitors is that because it’s so fresh, it needs to be refrigerated.

However, all that has changed with the launch of Mike’s Pirate Punch which doesn’t need refrigeration and has a six-month shelf-life. So, it’s perfect for export.

Visit their Facebook page for further information.

Welcome Stamp Update

Close to 5,000 long-term visitors have taken advantage of the Barbados Welcome Stamp Programme, says Minister of Tourism and International Transport Senator Lisa Cummins.

She confirmed that by the end of June 2021, approximately 4,800 global citizens have chosen to work and live in Barbados, boosting the country’s economy by $8 million in fees generated via the programme.

Cummins added non-nationals who have been living and working in Barbados over the past year had requested the opportunity to extend their stay beyond the July 30 original deadline.

The amendment bill allows for the extension of the existing legislation governing the welcome stamp in place since last July. The Remote Employment Act 2020-2023 provides for the welcome stamp to be renewed for those here for the past year.

Cummins said: “Here it is we have a welcome stamper on a long-stay visa who is renting a home on average between US$1500 to US$3000 monthly, in some instances, even much higher because the minimum threshold for them to be able to sustain themselves is $100,000 a year. You have welcome stampers that I have met who have decided to purchase real estate in Barbados.

“I know many of them who have purchased homes in places like Royal Westmoreland, Apes Hill and in the premier districts in Barbados at the higher end of the real estate market. And so, we have translated what would have been a short-stay visitor from $150 to the $300 a day that I mentioned to someone who is investing millions in a single transaction.”

Senator Cummins indicated that despite Barbados experiencing the La Soufriere Volcano, the freak storm, and Hurricane Elsa, welcome stamp visitors had not left the island.

“They have been among those that have been bombarding us to say we have seen this little island go through all kinds of things. When we left where we were and came to Barbados, we did not anticipate any of these things, aside from COVID-19. But we are so proud of the choice we made because of how Barbados has handled it.

Source: BarbadosToday.bb

Content Disclaimer

The information contained above is provided for information purposes only. The contents of this newsletter are not intended to amount to advice and you should not rely on any of the contents of this newsletter. Professional advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from taking any action as a result of the contents of this newsletter. Residence Barbados disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of this newsletter.