Hotel Travel Reviews
Caribbean

Commercial Real Estate Looks Promising for the Cayman Islands

April 21, 2016 by · Leave a Comment 

Written by: REMAX.ky

The real estate on the Cayman Islands has seen its fair share of growth over the past decade. The islands are thriving and are also considered one of the most visited tourist destinations in all of the Caribbean. The market is exponentially growing, with the aid of both tourism and investors. This flourish is one of the main reasons why there are continuous residential developments and construction sites being added on a monthly basis.

Commercial Opportunity

Investors will also be pleased to hear that commercial real estate on the Cayman Islands are a lucrative opportunity as well. Not only are the locals visiting these businesses, but you also have to factor in the expats, tourists, and locals. Home to one of the largest banking districts in the entire world, the Cayman Islands are seeing a massive growth in business relations and large transactions. The market is undeniably booming, and there are no signs of it slowing down.

Grand Cayman is the Pinnacle of Business

Grand Cayman is responsible for much of the residential population. The largest island out of the three, it serves as both a tourist destination and a business hub for the Cayman Islands. Furthermore, the growth of this ambitious island has led to a treasure cove for investors and residents alike. See it for yourself. Although highly competitive, the real estate in Grand Cayman has become the luxurious standard for all the Caribbean. If you want to get in on the action, speak with a real estate agent for more information today.

Hotel or Rental? Your Best Options for Grand Cayman

November 24, 2015 by · Leave a Comment 

grand-cayman-aerialSo you’ve decided to book a trip to the lovely beaches of Grand Cayman, now for the big question: hotel or rental? The answer to this question could be the difference in hundreds of dollars, and an authentic experience. Here, we’ll attempt to show some of the pros and cons of both hotels and renting from Cayman Islands property leasing.

Choice

Hotels offer some excellent views of the area, and occupy some prime land space. The flipside is that apartments, condos and houses also offer the same stunning views in a property you can call your own for the duration of your stay. Kitchens, for instance, are simple pleasures you’ll love to come home to at least a few times throughout your trip. Renting a home or condo gives you those kinds of options.

Amenities

Hotels offer the usual amenities, including a breakfast service, gym, pool and lounge space. Condos also offer those amenities, sometimes with breakfast served in your room. Condos may have other special touches too. Some owners, for instance, like to leave bicycles or surfboards for guests to use. That personal touch isn’t available at a hotel.

Privacy

A hotel offers you a private room, a home offers you a private residence in an authentic Grand Cayman neighborhood. It might be too much space for smaller groups, like a family looking to travel on a budget, but homes offer seclusion and space to relax. That’s one of the reasons why celebrities keep coming back to Grand Cayman.

Before you book your stay, browse the Web for property management in Cayman Islands. The benefits far outweigh the usual hotel fair, and you get a unique experience instead of the same tired room.

REM Services is a Caribbean property management company that specializes in both commercial and residential properties.

What Investors Need to Know Before Investing in rental property in the Cayman Islands

December 17, 2014 by · Leave a Comment 

Written by: REM Services

Summary: Before you invest offshore in the Cayman Islands, read these tips on buying real estate.

You may have heard that the Cayman Islands was tax-free. It’s not wrong to call it tax-free, but the region is more like tax-neutral. Goods that come into the country are still subject to customs duties, work permits cost money to issue to expatriates, businesses licenses also cost and tourism income makes up for the bulk of the government money flowing in. The costs, while higher in some areas, are comparable or cheaper in others. As a result, owning rental properties in Grand Cayman has always been something of an attractive investment long-term. Here is what a foreign investor needs to know before buying real estate in the Cayman Islands.

Entry is Easier

If you wanted to purchase property in Bermuda, you’ll find that there are several legal speed bumps in your way. You’ll need to bring significant cash into the country, with an established bank account, and may need to jump through other hoops to buy property. Grand Cayman doesn’t carry these extra requirements; anyone can purchase real estate in the country as long as they pay the fee on the transaction, which is about 7.5%.

Value Increases Year Over Year

Grand Cayman offers a lifestyle unmatched in most other places. The Island has a busy night life, beaches are lively throughout the day with some of the best dive sites in the Caribbean and the urban areas are relatively crime-free. That makes the Cayman Islands an excellent vacation spot, which makes vacation rentals a popular investment. If you hire a Cayman residential property management company, you can watch your investment grow with little to no input from you directly.

Demand for property to rent is always high

There are many investment properties and opportunities in the Cayman Islands for both local and international investors no matter the budget. The number of ex-pats who arrive in Grand Cayman each year is growing and they all want great rental property for their duration of the work permit. REM Services offer relocation advice and will work with both landlord and tenant to find the best property and best tenant. Investment in rental property in Grand Cayman will benefit all involved.

How to Adapt to Island Life in the Grand Caymans

June 13, 2014 by · Leave a Comment 

Summary: The Grand Cayman Islands are beautiful, but living there will require some adjustments. 

Condos in Cayman Islands offer some of the most exotic beach side living you can find anywhere in the world, but you must be prepared for the move. A lot of things about life on the island differ completely from anything on the mainland. You have to determine the cost of living, including the rent and your day-to-day needs. This short list of preparations should be considered before you make the move to Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac or Little Cayman.

Keeping in Touch

One of the first things you’ll notice about moving to the Cayman Islands is that, while it’s beautiful you can’t take your friends and family with you. Keeping in touch will require a good Wi-Fi connection and a free program like Skype. You can make calls to and from your friends and family for free, as long as they are using the same system. International calling cards are also useful, and offer a lower rate than a standard phone line (international calling cards are not available for purchase on island, so be sure to bring them with you). You can also revive the lost art of letter writing if all else fails.

Food

The food on the island is reminiscent of the main land, but you’ll find it to be just a bit pricier. This is because the island relies almost exclusively on its ability to import goods from elsewhere. Even though Cayman Islands and Grand Cayman real estate are tax free, you’ll still pay a bit more for the food you consume, and those of you on a budget can easily find everything you need to prepare a gourmet meal, from one of the many grocery stores on island.

Bio: RE/MAX Cayman Islands has affordable Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, and Cayman Brac real estate listings available. Start living the dream in the Grand Caymans thanks to RE/MAX.

 

Unhappy with Carnival Cruise Experience

May 10, 2011 by · Leave a Comment 

Article Written by Pierre Zarokian
carnival_liberty
Couple of weeks ago, my family and I went on a Carnival Cruise to the Eastern Caribbean. While the whole trip was fun and relaxing for us, I did have some negative experiences with Carnival Cruise lines that I wanted to post about so maybe I can help some future travelers make better decision before signing up with them.

1) Slow Internet: The onboard internet was slower than a 14.4K modem. If you ever used internet before mid 90′s, you know how slow internet used to be. We were charged $100+ for internet access for approximately 4 hours of use, which we only used 2 hours . By the 4th day of the trip I had experienced so much slowness and several disconnections that I decided it was not worth using it anymore. I spoke to the internet manager and asked for a refund for at least my unused minutes. However, I was declined and instead provided with 30 minutes of free credit in my last day. Needless to say, this was not useful to me.

2) Automatic Gratuity: We were charged $70 a person for gratuity. I was not ever that gratuity was added additionally to our bill afterwords. I had assumed that it was part of the bill when I heard a mention of it being included. However, as everybody knows it is customary to leave you waiter(s) a tip when you eat, so we always left tips for our waiter(s) on board.

3) Bad Choice of Islands: The Eastern Caribbean trip included 4 islands, two of them I really liked (San Juan Puerto Rico and St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands). However, the other 2 islands were not worth the money we paid to see. One was Half Moon Cay in Bahamas, which is actually an island that Carnival Cruise owns and the other was Grand Turk, part of Caicos and Turk Islands. Both these islands were very small and not that interesting to see. My expectations of an island vacation is to go to an exotic island with lot’s of exotic trees, birds and beautiful nature scenery such as water falls, but you won’t find any of these on the two islands. Next time I should do my research little better.

4) Kid friendly or not? When me and my wife initially viewed the pictures of the cruise line (Liberty) and asked the rep over the phone if it was kid friendly, we were told about the kid camp and playground. However, we were not told that that you cannot stays long with your kid while he plays. So turns out the camp is like a baby seating service. Our kid being only 2.5 years old has never stayed in presence of stranger and were not going to do so. We were very disappointed that the parents were not allowed to stay with their kids while the kids play at their play rooms.

5) On Board Photo services a rip off: On board on the Cruise there are photographers all over taking your pics. There are also specific professional photo areas setup with nice backgrounds. You are encouraged by the cruise staff to take as many pics as possible, because at the end you only buy and pay for what you like. The photos turned out to be $22 each for 8×10 photos and ended up costing us around $700. This was an unforeseen expense. Many of the pictures came out really nice. Personally, I would probably have not bought so many of the photos, but my wife insisted on buying many of them. Since we also bought many of the pictures on different days, turns out that when we came home and reviewed them, we had actually also bought doubles of 2 photos in black and white. This was an unnecessary expense, as we could have easily scanned them and reprint for much cheaper. My complaint on this issue is that Carnival charges too much for these photos and should also reward their guests that buy multiple pics. “Buy 2 get one free,” would have been a great offer, but nothing like that was available. They also do not offer the photos in smaller sizes such as 4×6. This would have been another good option to save some money.

I want to say that I am very upset with Carnival Cruise and would not recommend it to anyone, unless the above items do not bother you. Besides the regular cruise fare, which was about $800 per person, my family spend about $2400 on on board services such as spa, food and photos. I consider myself a VIP customer. I have asked for a refund from Carnival Cruise lines for the internet access and the gratuities again after my trip via emailing their customer support and just today I was declined again. I ask Carnival Cruise lines that if they are reading this to make it right and provide me these refunds, so then I can tell everyone how good their customer service was and would be glad to revise this article to say that they care about their customers.