Caricom Westin in the Virgin Isles One

CARICOM

Westin in the Virgin Isles

One example of a successful United States-based business venture operating in a CARICOM country is the operation of the Westin in the Virgin Islands. Westin is one of nine brands owned by the Starwood Development Group, a New York-based company that develops, operates, manages, and licenses hotels (Starwood 2011). The company only owns seven percent of its hotels worldwide, while managing another forty-five percent of these properties and with the remaining forty-eight percent of Starwood hotels (including the Westin brand) operating as independently owned franchises (Starwood 2011). This business model is likely one of the primary reasons behind the success of Westin's operations in the Virgin Islands, as it enables a great deal of flexibility and the automatic inclusion of local values and enticements (through local ownership) in the operation of its businesses (Starwood 2011).

An additional factor in the success of this operation is the diversity of offerings and the market segmentation that this particular Westin location has achieved (Westin 2011). With both villas and more traditional hotel/resort accommodations offered, this Westin location can provide a range of services at varying levels of luxury and at varying price points (Westin 2011). With a range of other amenities, this location has also marketed itself towards large groups of business travelers, wedding parties for "destination weddings," as well as honeymooners and other people simply on vacation (Westin 2011). Diversification and independence are thus marks of this successful foreign business venture.

The Grenada Ritz-Carlton

An ongoing controversy regarding a planned business venture in Grenada has resulted from plans for the famed luxury hotel operator Ritz-Carlton to operate a hotel on the portion of Grenada known as Hogs Island (Ferguson 2009). The level of attachment that the Ritz-Carlton hotel operation has had in this proposed development -- and the degree to which this proposed development has gone beyond initial planning phases -- remains unclear, despite being in dispute and discussion for more than a decade (Ferguson 2009). One of the major reasons behind the failure of this proposed business venture, clearly, is a lack of clarity in the land resources and the local desire for such a hotel (Ferguson 2009). The bulk of the issues surrounding this development are beyond the control of the Ritz-Carlton hotel group, and it is not clear that the company could have done anything to increase the likelihood of this proposed development coming to fruition, and indeed it seems to be that the governmental and legal environment in Grenada has made this Particular development difficult for a number of reasons, but this has an effect of increasing perceived barriers to success in this country rather than decreasing them (Ferguson 2009).

At the same time, there are reports that Ritz is still considering a Grenada hotel at some point in the near future (Barnacle 2007). It remains to be seen whether the company will indeed have the flexibility it needs to make this operation successful, ye certain interpersonal connections have begun to be made (Barnacle 2007). The failure here has not been total, and so the situation can still be salvaged.

Guyana and Shell Oil

The Royal Dutch Shell company has begun exploratory operations searching for new places to locate drilling and oil well operations, having purchased exploration rights for specific areas as well as certain percentages of interest in private companies operating in the area, as well as in Guyana's nationalized oil exploration and refining corporation (Hoyos 2009). The success of this venture has yet to be seen, and is far more dependent on the oil and natural gas deposits discovered (or not discovered) as the company continues its operations in this region; while many other companies have shown an interest in this region and therefore it is reasonable to believe that the venture will be profitable, this has yet to be borne out by real results (Hoyos 2009). What can be seen already, however, is that the company has already succeeded in ingratiating itself with the local government and regulatory authorities, and is also in a position of reasonable trust with the local community (Hoyos 2009).