Selling financially strapped hotels is not the only solution for financial institutions to recoup mortgage payments in Samoa.
This is the view of the Samoa Hotels Association (SHA) President, Tupa’i Sale’imoa Va’ai, who said that selling the properties does not do any good to the industry and the economy itself.
Samoa Observer reports the SHA president was speaking after the Development Bank of Samoa put up three locally owned hotels for public auction, last week.
The three properties are the Orator Hotel at Tanumapua, the Le Manumea Hotel at Vailima and the Vaea Hotel Samoa in Togafuafua.
“We need more open minded and courageous financial institutions to find solutions, take risks for something that is good for the industry and the country,” said Tupa’i.
It is understood that more properties are headed in the same direction, after they were threatened with foreclosure notices, due to climbing debts owed to the DBS.
“We are taking the easier option out to just sell them, but it’s not the only option out there,” said Tupa’i.
