WEST END, Negril – Despite the heavy battering that some hotels in the north west resort town of Negril experienced on the weekend due to storm surges associated with hurricane Wilma, hoteliers there are optimistic that they will bounce back and enjoy a strong winter season.

“After having a really bad fall season we are confident that we will have a great winter,” Negril Chamber of Commerce president Wayne Cummings said Monday, after a tour of some of the affected properties.

According to Cummings, hotels in the Negril area had feared better than some overseas destinations including Cancun, Mexico and the Dominican Republic.

He said if the proper marketing plans were implemented, Negril hotels would show strong bookings for the winter season.

“The possibility exists that if we play our cards right and we market our products properly, we will be able to capitalise on some of the bookings that will have to be diverted,” said Cummings.

Hurricane Wilma tore into Mexico’s resort-studded Caribbean coastline on Friday with torrential rains and shrieking winds, filling streets with water, shattered glass and debris.

Several hotels were also said to suffer damage in Cancun during the storm, as well as hotels in sections of Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

On the weekend, the storm surges in the Negril area dumped tonnes of sand and debris on several of the hotels’ properties.

The 52-room Mariner’s Inn Hotel, which was undergoing a multi -million facelift, was among the properties battered by the high waves.

The hotel’s general manager Donald Wallace told the Observer Monday that the property suffered severe damage.

“We were in the process of remodelling and repositioning the hotel when this happened,” Wallace said. He said losses incurred would run into millions of dollars.

The storm surges, he said, inflicted damage to the resort’s retaining walls, pavements, rooms, toilets and furniture.

He said, however, that the property was still open for business, pointing out that the clean up of the property had already started. He was confident that the hotel would be fully operational in time for the winter tourist season.

At the nearby Tensing Pen property, general manager Courtney Miller said that two of the 17 cottages were badly damaged as a result of the high waves.

He, too, was optimistic that his property would benefit from the expected fallout in tourist destinations of Cancun and the Dominican Republic.

“We have already spoken to our sales managers overseas (about the expected fallout) so we’re expecting some business from the fallout,” Miller said.