Hilton debt-free, says minister

The Hilton Barbados Resort property, which is owned by Government, is now debt-free and valued at more than $240 million.

Minister of Tourism and International Transport Ian Gooding-Edghill announced this yesterday and suggested that hotel needed to be expanded.

He was responding to a question from Minister of Energy, Business Development and Commerce Kerrie Symmonds, who asked about plans for the Hilton.

“The Hilton is performing extremely well, . . . what I can also tell you and tell Barbados is that the Hilton is debt-free and that is a wonderful accomplishment for our country,” Gooding-Edghill said during debate on the Appropriation Bill, 2026.

“You recall it’s the Barbados Labour Party administration that imploded [the old Hilton Hotel], and there was a lot of comment and controversy at the time. But having done so, having rebuilt the property, having the property perform as well as it has done, . . . to the shareholders’ credit, the property is now debt-free.

“The last property valuation that I’m aware of is that the Hilton is valued in excess of $240 million . . . so I think that’s a wonderful accomplishment, not only for this Barbados Labour Party Government, but for the people of Barbados,” he said.

“And yes, we need further expansion there and when you have a property that is debt-free, you have a number of opportunities that you can leverage the asset in order to grow capacity there. Based on the occupancy rates, I’m sure that they would like to have some additional rooms.”

Gooding-Edghill added that “it was the first time in the history of the Hilton that they paid a dividend”.

Debra Hughes, chief executive officer of Needhams Point Holdings Limited, (NPHL) confirmed the Hilton property’s significantly improved financial performance.

“With respect to the Hilton Barbados Resort, which is our chief source of revenue at NPHL, since COVID the hotel has performed extremely well,” she said.

“We actually went from a position of loss in 2022 to a very good profit in 2025, our revenues have increased over that same period by 108 per cent, our occupancy is 81 or so per cent, which in our competitive set, is probably the best of similar hotels that we compare ourselves to, and our [average daily rate] has increased by 41 per cent.”

“We don’t have any debt. Our board took the decision to retire our debt early, which has resulted in an interest saving of about $3.5 million. So we are now in a position to use that cash flow to start to improve the public areas of the hotel.”

Hughes also said improvements were underway at the hotel which is about 20 years old, noting that “we’ve already done all of the guest rooms”.

“Last year through to this year, we did a complete refurbishment of the ballroom and meeting rooms, but areas like the lobby and the pool deck and the lighthouse restaurant, they’re all slated for refurbishment over the next year or two. So we are very happy with the way that the hotel is operating,” she said. 

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