Secret Bay, Dominica’s award-winning, ultra-luxury, all-villa resort, and Fort Young Hotel & Dive Resort, the ‘Nature Island’s’ landmark waterfront hotel and dive resort located in the vibrant capital city of Roseau, have won The Five-Star Award in multiple categories for their stunning design and architecture by the 2019 International Property Awards, Americas Division.
Both properties are part of GEMS Holdings Limited, an impact-driven Caribbean-based company dedicated to managing and developing world-class, sustainable luxury properties and businesses in the hospitality and tourism markets.
This announcement comes on the heels of Secret Bay being awarded the Green Globe Certification, one of the highest standards for sustainability worldwide, and Fort Young Hotel & Dive Resort announcing its 30th anniversary.
In partnership with GEMS, ARGO Development Studio, the architectural and design firm behind both Secret Bay and Fort Young Hotel & Dive Resorts’ expansion and newest amenities, was recognized in the following categories:
● Best Hotel Architecture – Fort Young Hotel & Dive Resort (Redevelopment)
● Best Hotel Interior – Palisades Restaurant, Fort Young Hotel & Dive Resort
● Best New Hotel Construction and Design – Fort Block, Fort Young Hotel & Dive Resort
● Best Leisure Architecture – Zing Zing Restaurant and Gommier Spa, Secret Bay
ARGO was responsible for designing Zing Zing Restaurant, Secret Bay’s first-ever seated dining experience overlooking the Caribbean Sea, and the resort’s Gommier Spa, a three-walled treehousestylewellness retreat, perched on the cliffside and enveloped in nature.
The firm also oversaw the design for Fort Young Hotel & Dive Resort, including the expansion of the hotel’s Fort Block rooms, from 32 to 60 guestrooms, along with a reimagined aesthetic of the hotel and the new Palisades Restaurant, the resort’s signature waterfront, fine dining eatery.
“We’re very proud of our luxury-meets-sustainable design at both Secret Bay and Fort Young Hotel & Dive Resort, so it’s an honour to have each property recognised by such a prestigious organization,” said Gregor Nassief, proprietor of GEMS Holdings Limited.
“ARGO did an incredible job executing our collaborative vision and is very much deserving of this accolade from the International Property Awards.”
“ARGO Development Studio was delighted to be awarded Best Hotel Architecture, Best Hotel Interior and Best New Hotel Construction and Design in relation to Fort Young Hotel & Dive Resort and Best Leisure Architecture for Secret Bay from the International Property Awards,” said DavidCampion, ARGO’s managing director.
“We are honoured to have worked with GEMS on the shared vision for Secret Bay and Fort Young Hotel & Dive Resort and to have made a contribution to the improvement of the hospitality industry in Dominica with our involvement with these two prestigious establishments.
This celebration is one we share with all who were involved in the success of these projects.”
The International Property Awards celebrate the highest levels of achievement by companies operating in all sectors of the property and real estate industry.
An International Property Award is a world-renowned mark of excellence, judged by a highly experienced team of professionals who cover the whole range of property disciplines.
About Secret Bay
Secret Bay is a limited collection of six freestanding, secluded and sustainably crafted villas that are immersed in nature and positioned on a breathtaking clifftop overlooking the azure Caribbean Sea.
Offering a wealth of transformational experiences, fine dining, wellness facilities and stunning architectural design, Secret Bay is a unique tropical hideaway.
Since opening eight years ago, Secret Bay has received numerous accolades, including: Caribbean Journal’s Coolest Hotels, Condé Nast Johansens’ Best Green Hotel in the Caribbean & Pacific, Condé Nast Traveler’s “Readers’ Choice” for Top Resorts in The Caribbean, Fodor’s Finest Hotels, Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best Awards, and TripAdvisor’s “Travelers’ Choice” for Best Small Hotels in the Caribbean for multiple years.
Contact
Secret Bay at +1 767.445.4444 or [email protected]. For more information, visit:
About Fort Young Hotel & Dive Resort
Located on the water in Roseau, Dominica’s capital, Fort Young Hotel & Dive Resort is the country’s only downtown hotel, affording guests unmatched proximity to the “Nature Island’s” vibrant culture, delicious cuisine, exhilarating activities and some of the island’s most prized attractions, like Trafalgar Falls, Middleham Falls, Freshwater Lake, segments of the Waitukubuli National Trail, and world-renowned diving.
Fort Young Hotel & Dive Resort offers a luxurious sense of seclusion, fine dining and meeting facilities.
Fort Young Hotel & Dive Resort can be reached at 767-448-5000 or [email protected].
About ARGO Development Studio
ARGO Development Studio is an international award-winning architectural practice specialising in a design and construction process called Building Information Modelling (BIM).
This process allows ARGO to design, cost and construct intelligent buildings in a 3D virtual environment.
ARGO has offices in Dublin, Barbados, Dominica and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, with project offices in St. Maarten and Tortola.
ARGO’s core team consists of architects, architectural technologists, graphic designers, interior designers, project managers and construction engineers, and offers a full range of design development services.
Igor Nassief, somebody just won a trip on “Let’s Make A Deal” to come to Dominica, sponsored by Fort Young.
I hope you entertain them in a professional way!
I hope you have the appropriate food to feed the lady and her company.
I don’t know white Americans, eat boiled Bananas, Tanya dasheen all that boiled up with salt fish, and fry’s eh!
After the experience on LIAT they will not remember Dominica on their return!
Dominicans are slowly waking up to this wholesale rape of our country!
Boy
If it is to you lot that I have to look forward to in the future governance of Dominica, I shudder to think what life will be like.
You all have been so brainwashed into seeing everything negative in everything about this country that I do not know what it will take to restore this society to some kind of civility.
Guys, this is the same country you all are going to inherit if your honoured leader makes the PM grade. Now if there is something negative about external investors, pastors, public officers, the Dominican landscape, people who take risks to create jobs; government officials; all people who do not share your view; that to me is just about everybody!
So who is the new Dominica utopia of Prime Minister Linton going to comprise? See, there is no one left except %; Ibo France; Views expressed; Francisco in the distance; Spags and the candidates who do not work for a living; etc.
See guys, there is no one left to enjoy your coming utopia!
It’s all good. Also congratulations for whatever the 5 stars it was awarded for. There’s a big problem getting to Dominica. Most people would love a straight Flight to Dominica. The Average person living in Dominica can’t afford spending not even one night in these hotels. So good luck in filling these expensive hotels. I don’t mean it in a bad way 🏝🏖✈
We read plenty of crap about this and that hotel in Dominica is awarded five-star.I consider these people talking to be perpetrators of a lie.
Unless these people can identify which organization awarded five star to Sam and Igor, I say they lie!
A true 5-star (awarded by Forbes) or 5-diamond (awarded by AAA or CAA) hotel will display their rating like a badge of honor on their website’s homepage.
Both the star and the diamond ratings are based on the hotel’s physical facilities, service, atmosphere, and price.
In France the rating is defined by the Public Tourist Board Atout France using a four-star system plus “L” for Luxus which has changed to a five star system from 2009 onward.
In South Africa the award comes via the Tourist Garding Council of South Africa.
Get a life sick old barracuda leave our country Dominica alone you never have anything positive to say off Dominica, just because of joulousy watching a young man half your age doing much better than you Linton put together.
Have you ever thought for a moment the people you are calling sick barracuda are very wealthy people whom they and Lennox never thief anything from anybody in their life?
They know how to invest and make millions, rather than thieving passport money!
When Lennox and the rich barracudas walk the streets they hold their heads high fearing nothing; no police can arrest them for stealing.They are impeccable!
Mr. Telemacak, are you sick or do you have schizophrenia, or multiple sclerosis, or Parkinson disease. You always sound like a disgruntled, angry, and ferocious bum. What have done for Dominica? Nothing, but run your mouth from far away. You are a real Telemacak. Get a real life, man.
I have a name, very academically educated, and rich too!
If you were not ……, and you wish to know if I have mental issues as you say, if you had commonsense you would read me and know if I am crazy or not.
I know your are crazy: I took abnormal psychology too!You are an ……who lack comprehension, insulting me cannot help you; I regard low as a dog!
Now if you want to see what I am doing in Dominica, go in Wesley right now if you look carefully you may see the thousands of dollars I have recently invested there, helping someone and not only one person.
You come on DNO to be heard; that is a privilege DNO affords everybody, even the dunce and ignorant scum of the earth ……
I am Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque, that is my name, who are you “ds”, what is that?
Scum: Professionally I am an Electronic/Electrical Engineer, with a medical background in Real Estate Business!
“Mr. Telemacak, are you sick or do you have schizophrenia, or multiple sclerosis, or Parkinson disease. You always sound like a disgruntled, angry,”(ds).
Admin: When someone who does not know me, defamed me by slandering me as they did in the quote above; which I don’t rely mind; I would hope the defamed have the same rights and privilege to defend themselves!
It is not the first and only time that nobody attack me; nevertheless; when I respond calling the person an idiot which they are; my comments were not cleared for viewing.
This person is messing with me, one who can deal with that person in a high level of psychology, and mesmerize the persons mind causing them not to even know if they exist.
Whereas you allow the person to attack me or anybody that way; I suggest I respond in the appropriate way, and should be allowed!
SMH!!
I like many other Dominicans is looking toward the departure of the present government. But when we cannot see beyond politics and applaud local accomplishments then IT’S SAD!!
That’s the maturity we need to get as a people. And if we can”t allow ourselves to get there no amount of regime change will help us.
I must congratulate you for your honesty, and I respect your opinion.
The International Property Awards have been very successful at what they do. They issue residential and commercial PROPERTY awards.
What does a Five-Star award from this organization mean?
What is the significance of each star?
DNO: This was another opportunity to educate your readers.
Agreed. DNO needs to move away from merely regurgitating the facts and present new points of view that may be hidden or absent in the original communication. More often than not, the comments that follow the articles are more informative than the articles themselves. I am not suggesting that DNO should distort the truth, but rather, provide the public with a higher level of reporting that seeks to raise the level of knowledge in a responsible way. There is a huge opportunity to do more insightful, investigative, and knowledge-based reporting. I am thankful that they have moved away from reporting using quotation marks and hope that they can find writers who have strengths in various areas – history, geography, art, information technology, science, languages, politics etc. There are a lot of young people who could help in these areas. Instead of rushing to be the first to report, aim to provide stronger and more meaningful articles that raise the level of discourse in the country.
Ft Young Hotel is a lot older than 30 years, the original hotel was constructed by a construction firm, Smith and Company a Dominican company in the early 1960’s. Mr Titre was the foreman of construction. Come on D N O. Give credit where credit is due.
Congratulations.
Let’s be proud of achievements in our country.
The International Property Awards have been very successful at what they do. What do they do? They issue PROPERTY awards.
This article should educate by identifying the criteria met by each star issued by the organization.
Big investments made courtesy of the CBI program. Imagine, Dominica’s (our) resources are freely given to these private enterprises. What does the state of Dominica (us) get in return? Nothing, absolutely nothing! They might argue they create jobs but I say this is the most expensive ‘job creation’ in history. Skerrit and these guys are fooling all you. There is only a few winners in this scam: Skerrit, Gregor, Sam, Allick and Colin. But there are thousand of losers and these losers are all citizens of Dominica. We need to stop Skerrit to steal our most priced assets!!!
Why do continue to write such foolishness. You are so caught up with your political partisan beliefs that it impedes your reason to think and see the big picture. Do read, what do you read in your spare time when not on DNO. To suggest this is the most expensive ‘job creation’ in history, is ludicrous and says a lot about your understanding, is this a scam, wow. When you say quote “But there are thousand of losers and these losers are all citizens of Dominica” you make such statement, give me one argument or fact to back up your claim that the citizens of Dominica are losers of such development. Do you really believe that our Passports are the most prized assets, Wow. I will tell you this, our most prized asset is the infinite creative power residing in all of us.
Ft Young Hotel is a lot older than 30 years, it was originally constructed in the early 1960’s by Smith and Company, a man by the name of Mr Titre was the construction foreman and it first opened around 1964. The last construction was just a renovation. Even though it suffered major damage in hurricane David in 1979 it was originally constructed in the early 1960’s. The original swimming pool was just in the front entrance on the left close to the bar and there was a shower behind the diving board where customers took a shower before entering the pool. Who told the writer of this article that FT Young hotel is 30 years old?
I read in a previous post they are not counting the original date but the date they rebuilt after hurricane david.
The awards are based on “architectural and design” and to the best of my knowledge the architectural and design were foreign based and not locals, so nothing to be proud of as a Dominican. If the awards were based on customer service, well kept, good food and others, then it would be something to be proud of as a Dominican. But when our passports were sold to build these places foreign architects were paid unknown sums of money for design and then who cares about five star or 6 star? According to prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, “Go to hell” it’s not my damn business
They make it sound like they constructed Ft Young Hotel when the hotel was originally constructed by a Dominican company in the early 1960’s by Smith and Company.
Wow.
You must lead such a happy life.
Wow, what a shallow mind. Have you ever heard of the term, matter of greatest importance. Don’t you think that construction of the physical structure with the ambience is the first step. The other things you mentioned will follow. Why can’t you appreciate what has been done, it seems you are one of those who want Dominica to remain in the dark ages with your type of thinking. Your comment quote “passports were sold to build these places foreign architects were paid unknown sums of money for design and then who cares about five star or 6 star”? This is such ignorance on your part wallow in your foolishness, such thinking has no effect as to what is taking place in Dominica.
Mary, it’s rubbish you are talking as per usual. Explain to us what you mean with ‘what is taking place in Dominica’.
I tell you what’s taking place in Dominica: corruption and thievery of the state’s assets. That’s what’s taking place in Dominica. Nothing else. As far as Nassief’s development is concerned, I couldn’t care less. What I care about is, what did the state of DA get in return for the CBI investment in this place. I tell you: NOTHING, ZERO… For that, amongst others, Skerrit will be held accountable when the time comes. Rest assured about that!
Jungle Bay doh get?