Dominica: Secret Bay paid out over USD1 million in return to investors

The Residences at Secret Bay, which is Dominica’s crown jewel development and the only six-star, all-villa resort, has made an announcement that it has paid out in excess of US $1 million in return to investors and now has over 100 citizenship by investment(CBI) owners from around the globe.

The CBI project, which is a part of award-winning resort Secret Bay, has just released year-over-year results between the fourth quarter of 2019 via the second quarter of 2022. During this time period, the Residences at Secret Bay has outperformed expectations which is related to CBI investor growth, total sales, return on investment payout, ADR, occupancy rate as well as resort employee growth.

In addition, the team delivered on-scheduled new villas & new amenities. This win, along with The Financial Times’ subsidiary Professional Wealth Management naming Dominica as the “Best Nation for Citizenship by Investment in the World” for the sixth consecutive year, which further assures Secret Bay as the gold standard when it is about CBI real estate investment opportunities.

Year-over-year growth successes added that,”

• Between Q2 of 2021 & Q2 of 2022, The Residences at Secret Bay have grown from 41 investors to 103, which is a 151% increase.
• Between Q4 of 2019-Q2 of 2022 the total ROI was USD 1 million, with an average ROI being 3.6%, and when set up for operating days, exceeded 7%.
• The villa count has increased by 100% between 2019 & 2022, and will again more than double in size by 2024 end, reaching 28 villas.
• The operating occupancy rate has hiked from an average of 58.9% in 2019 to 90% in 2022.
• Between 2019 to 2022, the Average Daily Rate (ADR) has spiked from US$957 to more than US $1,000.
• Between Q4 of 2019 to Q3 of 2022 the number of employees has increased from 33 to 104- a 215% increase.
• Non-CBI transactions accounted for 36% of revenue & that includes The Residences setting a Dominica price record with the sales of a US $7.2M multi-villa compound in 2021.

Meanwhile, the proprietor of Secret Bay and the Residences at Secret Bay, and CEO of GEMS Holdings Limited, Gregor Nassief, said, “Our year-over-year results is a testament to the value proposition of Secret Bay from an investment perspective & sets the stage for future years of growth and profitability for our investors. We are really grateful to our investors for the commitment of our resort management and development team that has paved the way for Secret Bay to achieve this level of performance & growth in just under three(3) years. We are hopeful as well as excited about the future.”

Secret Bay Staff

In addition to having extraordinary performance & growth over the past three years, Secret Bay has introduced several state-of-the-art amenities, including a heralded restaurant, spa, a wellness pavilion, welcome house, lap pool & bar as well as more. In addition, the number of new amenities are under construction including a second restaurant and bar, art, broadwalk, floating platforms, funicular, chef’s table and EV charging stations, all of which will be unveiled over the next 12 months.

Secret Bay’s Gwiyavye’ Lap Pool and Bar

Over the past several years, Secret Bay has been consistently recognised for its exceptional design, service as well as experience by such global travel along with lifestyle publications as Architectural Digest, National Geographic, CNN, Fortune, Outside, the cover of Travel+Leisure as well as the Telegraph.

For the second time in last three years, it has been named among one of top 500 hotels across the world by Travel+Leisure, and the #1 Resort Hotel in the Caribbean region, Bermuda as well as the Bahamas.

The property is the first & only property in Dominica to be affiliated with the elite luxury brand, Relais as well as Châteaux. The Residences were recently represented in global publications like Architectural Digest, Departures, New York Post, Luxury Magazine, Ocean Home Magazine, Robb Report, Wall Street Journal as well as Wealth Magazine, among others, recognised not only for their unique offering, but their most coveted amenity — second citizenship.

The notable hike in the luxury eco-resort sector, which is fuelled by the USA and European market with savvy travellers looking for natural beauty is a growth area. Dominica stands to appeal this market making Secret Bay more attractive for investors.

The Residences’ CBI offering costs at US $208k for fractional ownership & from US $1.5 million for whole ownership.