Veteran hotelier Dennis Tull is preparing to retire after four decades as one of the country’s leading indigenous hotel owners, with plans to sell his Golden Sands Hotel, Barbados TODAY can reveal exclusively.
Tull, who will turn 90 in August, is reportedly in negotiations to sell the long-established Maxwell Coast Road property in Christ Church. There is a prospective buyer but discussions are still in the embryonic stages.
“Nothing has been finalised as yet, but that’s the plan – to sell …. and bow out of the industry,” a source confirmed.
Tull’s departure marks the close of a career that has spanned more than 40 years and helped shape the island’s small hotel industry. He took over the property in November 1985 while operating as a minibus owner and went on to build Golden Sands into a recognised fixture on the south coast.
Throughout his tenure as managing director, Tull became known for his advocacy for small and Barbadian-owned hotels, particularly as the founding chairman of the Intimate Hotels of Barbados (IHB), the non-profit umbrella organisation of small, independently owned boutique hotels, apartments, guesthouses, and villas.
IHB was established in 2000 to provide marketing and operational support for small hotels.
Fellow hotelier Renee Coppin hailed Tull for securing recognition and support comparable to that afforded to larger luxury properties.
Coppin, also a former IHB chairman, who worked closely with Tull in the early years, described him as someone who is “very passionate about tourism”.
She told Barbados TODAY: “He is very passionate about small businesses… established the Intimate Hotels of Barbados. He served as chairman; it’s something he took a great amount of pride in; and to see the development of that secretariat to work on behalf of the small hotels, is something that I know, personally gave him a lot of pride.
“He really had a belief in what he was doing and stood by his convictions in terms of the secretariat. Some pioneering things he did like setting up the marketing fund and working with the government to set up that fund.”
Tull recognised early that smaller hotels needed to be marketed on par with larger properties, Coppin said.
She recalled that Barbados, as a luxury destination, did not afford the same recognition to smaller indigenous properties as it did to larger, high-end developments: “Dennis was really somebody who was very, very vocal in ensuring the smaller hotels got the same favourable exposure.”
Under the Owen Arthur administration, Tull also successfully lobbied for concessions for small hotels and villas at a time when incentives were largely reserved for the biggest operators.
Through these efforts, the government introduced grants for marketing, bulk purchasing and other initiatives, including the creation of a secretariat to coordinate services on behalf of smaller properties.
The establishment of the Small Hotels Investment Fund followed, offering concessionary financing for renovations and upgrades. The fund was managed by Enterprise Growth Fund Limited, with Tull serving on its committee from inception.
Tull’s advocacy stemmed from direct experience. As a hotelier, he understood the financial constraints facing small properties, many of which struggled to finance upgrades and remain competitive. Without support, there were concerns that these establishments would be edged out, limiting Barbados’s ability to offer diverse accommodation options to visitors.
(EJ)
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