I have not heard that. Since the condo units are owned by individual owners it seems improbable that Carlson Corp purchased every units in The Palms.

However maybe they have signed a management agreement with the condo board to brand The Plams as a Regent hotel and manage it. If so I wonder if The Regent Grand will get renamed ;)

Anyone has more info on this?

I wrote about this a little while ago.

The Management of The Palms is being taken over by The Regent Group. It will now be known as The Regent Palms.

The Regent Grand which are nothing to do with the Regent Group are refusing to change their name, so that could cause some confusion indeed..

This will not have an effect on anyone's stay there. Well except that the Regent group would hope it would be better!!!

:-)

Here is more details from SUNTCI...it seems that this will address the service quality comments reference seen on this site. It also look like the current training may have to do with the more positive feedback as of late...

The 72-suite Palms resort on Grace Bay Beach in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos signed a management contract with Carlson-owned Regent Hotels & Resorts earlier this month.

News of this came from Stan Hartling, CEO of the Hartling Group, which is a co-owner of the Palms,

“Regent has established itself over the years as a worldwide leader in the hospitality industry. As part of the evolution as a premier world-class resort, we were convinced it made good business sense to align ourselves with a true luxury brand with global reach Regent is a company that can take us to the next level of product and service excellence,” according to Hartling”

“This agreement in no way represents a sale of any kind of the resort, but is simply a deliberate move to deliver on our promise of a world class resort, while providing vastly improved training and job growth opportunities to the employees at the resort,” added Hartling.

The deluxe property, which has had no management company since its February 2005 opening, will be re-branded as the Regent Palms, Turks and Caicos in early 2007, according to Frank Klare, who is serving as acting interim general manager.

A permanent general manager will be named following a 90- to 120-day transition period in which the Palms will remain open throughout.

“The real important people and the VIP’s at The Palms are really the employees. The team of employees has brought this hotel to the service level that it at today and it will be our aim to build on that service to take it to the next level.

“We have during the transition a team from different Regent Hotels and Cruise Ships who are professionals in their various departments who are here to help work with the staff in order to train in the Regent Service level.”

Minister of Home Affairs, Hon. Galmo Williams added: “This project has been a major benchmark along others and has placed the TCI as a world leader on the international stage of fine resorts. It is my hope that the Regent will succeed.

“For to long in the TCI we had many resorts but the ability of the resort to provide training for our people was lacking. So today I can say with this property that will change. I urge all the staff to take advantage of the training and the employment opportunities and attend all of the workshops and make an effort to take advantage of overseas training which can help them move upward in the company.”

Also at the press briefing was Caesar Campbell, CEO of the Turks and Caicos Hotel Association, who added, “I have no doubt that this company will take us to the next level as a global brand. I have stayed in one or two of your hotels and I must say that the service is first class and we are very excited to have you with us.”

To show its commitment to the Turks and Caicos the Regent Hotels has already began training their staff to meet the expectations required.

“For regent this has been very exciting. We started coming here 10 months ago when the negotiations first started taking place and I have to say from our very first visit the island and the property truly captured our fantasy and imagination and were so impressed with what had been done here.

So we are thrilled to have been honoured with the opportunity to mange this property under the great Regent brand. We will be conducting in depth training and employee meetings,” said Monica Neuman, Vice President, Hotel Operations.

The venture marks Regent’s debut in the Caribbean.

The firm has six properties worldwide and plans to open eight new hotels by 2008, including properties in South Beach, Fla., and Beijing this fall, followed by Bal Harbour, Fla.; Boston; Budapest, Hungary; and Kuwait in 2007.

Planned for the Palms in Turks and Caicos is a revamping of hotel operations, including back-of-the-house, food and beverage, staff training and the guest room experience, as well as implementation of Regent’s product and service standards..