Cox's Bazar green hotel takes off in 2012

The country's first eco-friendly five-star hotel will start operations in Cox's Bazar in early 2012. Sea Pearl Beach and Spa, being built on seven acres at Inani, 20 kilometres away from Cox's Bazar, is based on the time sharing concept.The time sharing model allows members of a hotel to swap or exchange time with another affiliated hotel or resort anywhere in the world depending on availability.

The cost of the Seal Pearl project has been estimated at Tk 143 crore, with Prime Bank raising Tk 85 crore in syndicated funds. Shamim Enterprise that owns Sea Pearl will finance the rest.Aminul Haque, managing director of the hotel, said: "We have started a marketing campaign to get time sharing members."The company says Sea Pearl will be the "real eco-friendly green resort" in the country, which will provide a pollution-free environment for visitors.

“Waste and water from the hotel will be recycled. And it will use solar power," said Md Atoar Hossain, vice president of Sea Pearl.The hotel has been affiliated with Interval International, a timeshare exchange company, based in Miami. Interval has been providing value-added services to its clients worldwide for more than 30 years.Members of Sea Pearl will be able to use the facilities of Interval International-affiliated 2,500 hotels in 75 countries.“A membership contract will be valid for 20 years,” said Atoar. “A member will be given seven days to spend in any Interval International-affiliated resort every year.”The access fee, which is $118 within Asia and $159 in the rest of the world, will be charged, he added. Also, members will have to pay $100 in maintenance fees.Alwyn Dixon, director for sales of Sea Pearl, said the hotel would meet all the needs of holidaymakers -- both from home and abroad.

"The tourism and hospitality sector in Bangladesh has a huge growth prospect. It will grow exponentially, as a large segment of middle-class families will spend much more money in the next five years, " said Dixon.On the time sharing idea, he said it would help get international tourists, particularly the members of Interval that has 45 lac members across the globe.A timeshare is a form of ownership or right to the use of a property, or the term used to describe such properties.These properties are typically resort condominium units, in which multiple parties hold rights to use the property, and each sharer is allotted a period of time (typically one week, and almost always the same time every year) in which they may use the property.

It is also known as holiday ownership that is the art of sharing one's ownership in the resort with other people. Sea Pearl consists of 200 rooms for residential accommodation, including 150 timeshare rooms and suites .It will have the facilities such as spa, bar, barbecue, water sports, swimming pool, children amusement, restaurant, coffee shop, lobby, gymnasium, indoor-outdoor games, air-conditioned shuttle bus for pick-up and drop services and sightseeing. The hotel will generate over 300 employments in different categories and most of them will be recruited locally.