TEAM JERSEY’S Island Games chief holds ‘hope’ that family and friends of those competing at Guernsey 2023 will be able to support their loved ones, amid fears of a severe bed shortage throughout the week-long event.
Islanders looking to make the journey to the sister isle next July have faced problems finding suitable or affordable accommodation, as hotels in Guernsey have had their rooms block-booked for athletes and officials.
Games organisers had planned to house up to 700 visiting competitors and staff at a temporary camp site at Beau Sejour Leisure Centre, but it is understood that all 23 visiting islands rejected the proposal.
‘They are very tight on hotel accommodation and they won’t do anything about taking on non-Games people until everyone who is accredited is sorted,’ said Island Games Association of Jersey chairman Steve Jacobs. ‘There’s hope that there will be spare places when rooms free up and we definitely want them there. There will be boats going over and I’m sure they’ll be accommodated somehow, but we’ve got to make sure the athletes are looked after. It’s no good ramming them into rooms … they need a good night’s sleep. All the islands are the same.’
An online accommodation search, conducted by the JEP yesterday using three well-known hotel-booking sites, identified just two available options for a seven-night stay from the opening day of the Games, on Saturday 8 July 2023. Both were holiday apartments, priced at £1,175 and £2,363 per room for the week, for two guests.
A change of dates, covering two-, three- or four-night stays from Sunday 9 July or Monday 10 July, provided up to two further options – priced from £129 and £221 per night at The Imperial Hotel and Fermain Valley Hotel, respectively.
Jersey’s team, which could feature over 270 names, has been offered the entirety of the Duke of Richmond Hotel in St Peter Port and half of St Pierre Park Hotel, sharing with the Isle of Man.
‘At the moment we’ve been offered two and we’ve been over to Guernsey to look at them, to see how we can best fit the teams in,’ Jacobs explained. ‘But it is still early days … we haven’t had confirmed numbers from the teams yet and it sounds like quite a few islands’ numbers will be going down a bit.’
Jacobs said he will be attempting to bring the cost down to approximately £800 per athlete for an eight-night stay from 7 July, and he added that ferry transport is also still a work in progress. However, he did reveal that Condor looks set to offer a 50% discount on car fares for competitors.
Julia Bowditch, Games director for the Guernsey 2023 NatWest Island Games, said: ‘We have been working very closely with all of the member islands regarding their accommodation requirements and we are now in the final stages of addressing their requests. We should have all of this done before the end of the year and will confirm all of the islands’ requirements with accommodation providers. Any additional availability for visiting supporters should then be known. This has been a challenge, but we would like to thank everyone for their cooperation and patience.’
