At a time in our competitive industry when outside-the-box thinking is all but a requirement, the professionals featured by HOTELS can inspire you to think differently. This week, it’s Beth Clifford, a real estate developer who is leaving an indelible mark on hospitality and humanity in Belize. Last week: Praveen Moman, founder of Volcano Safaris with accommodation is southern Africa’s gorilla mountains, who roots his philosophy around the idea that travel means kinship with humanity. Stay tuned in the weeks ahead for other profiles of hoteliers challenging the status quo — they’re all featured in HOTELS People Issue, published this month.
Beth Clifford went fishing for a destination where she could leave her mark. She found it in Belize. It took 16 years, but the opening of Mahogany Bay Resort & Beach Club last December embodies a commitment she has made to improving the lives of Belizeans.
Today, Clifford has made an indelible impact on Belize’s economy that goes beyond the resort. Her original plan was to start, fund or ignite 50 new companies; so far she’s helped launch 22 startups, often through seed funding. But she doesn’t want to run those firms. Her end game is to leave behind 50 sustainable businesses that will be owned and operated by locals.
Contributed by Megan Rowe
Clifford took a few detours before tackling her first resort, spending 14 years in technology and working as a management consultant before leaving those worlds behind to focus on construction and real estate, mainly residential and office projects. But she craved more. “I was looking for a long-term, legacy project,” she recalled, and narrowed it down to the hospitality space, preferably in an emerging destination. She spent more than two years studying potential markets before settling on Belize.
“We wanted a place we could help define and grow appreciation in — and a place that was a natural for great tourism,” Clifford explained. “Belize has so many different great aspects: you can feel like you’re in Africa, on a wild river in South America, on a savannah or in a rain forest. And it also has the largest living reef in the world.” The Caribbean nation’s shabby chic ethos made it ripe for travelers seeking authentic experiences, she reckoned. And with a dearth of upscale accommodations — most of the island’s lodging stock consists of older small properties — the time seemed to be right for a project like Mahogany Bay.
Detours, roadblocks
Getting Mahogany Bay off the ground wasn’t the simplest process, but Clifford’s development experience, ingenuity and tenacity helped her overcome some of the tougher hurdles on her largest development yet. The first one was a lack of local funding. “Anyone who develops here has to bring their own money,” she explained.
And this project was capital-hungry — so far, more than US$70 million has gone into the 60-acre village, which now includes 205 cottages and villas as well as a retail marketplace. Clifford financed the common areas, but presales of the units to vacation home buyers have supplied much of the funding.
The next challenge was timing. Her company started acquiring land for the project in 2006, “then 2008 happened,” she recalled, and plans were put on hold until early 2013. Because it’s on an island, Ambergris Caye, all the building materials and the labor had to be imported from the mainland — honoring one of Clifford’s commitments to build sustainably. Fortunately, Belize is known for its forests, so after considering the possibilities, she set up a manufacturing facility near the source of the wood and the craftspeople. The factory’s 160 employees create kits for the cottages and load them onto semis, which are transported on barges to Mahogany Bay, where they are offloaded and assembled on site. The process takes less than nine weeks, shaving a substantial amount of the time ground-up construction would demand.
Besides incorporating Belizean lumber, the cottages and villas are designed to reflect the destination, with tent-like vaulted ceilings and open windows, spacious porches, decor that evokes the British Colonial history and customized furniture.
Clifford’s company manages the resort, but she has deliberately avoided operating amenities such as the spa, sports rentals, retail and foodservice, which are all outsourced. “It’s better for me to be the master developer and invite others to come in,” she said. She also outsourced reservations by signing on with Hilton’s Curio Collection. That relationship has lent Mahogany Bay instant credibility and broader exposure.
Doing it her way
Clifford considers her outsider’s frame of reference a distinct advantage. With no preconceptions, she was able to design something more customized and individualized — qualities travelers increasingly seek out, she says.
Clifford admitted that she is less motivated by financial gain than by the potential to improve lives—whether it’s the craftspeople behind the structures and furniture, the cottage businesses that are popping up in the resort’s village, the staff at the hotel or even the guests. What she likes most about her job, strategic planning and oversight of resort management (the latter in a hands-off manner), is when she sees signs that a staff member is growing professionally and learning.
Mahogany Bay is still developing: Clifford expects to add another 100 units to the rental inventory by the end of 2019. Meanwhile, she is hatching plans for two more resorts. One is a high-end intimate development on a secluded piece of land; the other is a more affordable product designed for the mass market.
“Beth and the Mahogany Bay team have shown great vision with this investment,” said Karen Bevans, director of tourism, Belize Tourism Board. “The Mahogany Bay property has now set the stage and standard for new investments.”
“We are extremely happy to have partnered with Beth as she developed this property, which has brought employment to over 700 Belizeans,” added Juan Corvinos, vice president of development, Latin America, for Hilton Worldwide.
For Clifford, her biggest development yet has been “a labor of love and a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”