Business View Caribbean - June 2016 57
When hurricane season arrives, the folks at Divi Ca-
rina Bay Resort and Casino pay attention.
The property’s original hotel on St. Croix – the largest
island in the U.S. Virgin Islands chain – was destroyed
when Hurricane Hugo swept through the territory in
1989 and the land sat undeveloped until the Divi Re-
sorts group arrived with rebuilding plans nine years
later.
A new hotel was built – and construction on a newly
legalized casino was nearly completed – when another
significant storm, Hurricane Lenny, destroyed the lat-
ter facility and prompted yet another rebuild that was
completed by March 2000.
“The long and short of it,” said Andreas Conhoff, the
property’s general manager, “is that hurricanes have
played a particularly big role in the history of the prop-
erty.”
Casinos had been authorized by the territorial gov-
ernment during the initial post-storm downtime in
1995, and the post-Lenny project ultimately yielded
a 20,000-square-foot casino with 300 slot machines
and 20 table games – including craps, roulette, Carib-
bean stud and poker.
The casino features entertainment and gaming op-
tions that allow resort visitors to “party until 4 a.m.” if
they choose to, said Anton Kipers, the casino’s general
manager. But the presence of a casino on the proper-
ty, he said, has evolved into more of a nice perk upon
arrival than a pre-trip decision-maker. “In this day and
age, a casino is an amenity,” Kipers said. “Destination
gaming went away a long, long time ago because peo-
ple in the States in the markets we’re after typically
AT A GLANCE
WHO:
Divi Carina Bay Resort Casino
WHAT:
200-room resort hotel, 20,000-square-
foot casino
WHERE:
St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands
WEBSITE
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