Although the Government of Montenegro announced two months ago that the exclusive city-hotel Sveti Stefan will be reopened after two seasons, it is only available these days for a tourist tour, not for a stay. And while the Government and the competent ministry are silent on any inquiry about the agreement with the tenant Adriatic Properties, the locals say that everything is a “colorful lie” and that their demands that once exclusive beaches for wealthy clientele be unconditionally available to everyone have not been met.
Although the Prime Minister of Montenegro, Dritan Abazović, announced in May that an agreement had been reached on the opening of Sveti Stefan, there were no guests in that city-hotel on July 7th, the day when its opening was announced, and restaurants and other catering facilities were not open. It is only possible to visit it in an organized way in one of six tours per day, for which the ticket costs 25 euros per person. Children up to 12 years old have free entry. The number of visitors per group is limited to a maximum of ten adults and four children.
Catering facilities and business premises at the approach to the city-hotel are also closed.
There is no indication that a Nobu restaurant from the most famous chain of Japanese cuisine in the world, one of the owners of which is Robert De Niro, will open, and which was opened in Sveti Stefan in 2016.
And the well-known multi-decade brand of local and Mediterranean cuisine “Pod maslinom” is closed.
The right Sveti Stefan’s beach is intended for hotel guests, but it is also available for all those who want to pay 200 euros per day for beach furniture – 180 euros for two deckchairs and an umbrella, and another ten percent for service.
The beach on the left side of Sveti Stefan’s waterfront is categorized as a public – family bathing area, so entrance is free on one half of it.
Even more expensive is the rental of beach furniture on the beach of Hotel Miločer, which costs 220 euros. For now, there are no accompanying catering facilities.
As reported to RSE by the Public Enterprise Morsko Dobro, which manages the Montenegrin coast, Adriatic Properties paid a total of 77.5 thousand euros in annual fee for the lease of hotel beaches, excluding VAT.
Officials in the government and the ministry, as well as the tenant, did not answer RFE’s question about whether and when the Miločer hotel, which has six exclusive apartments and two villas, will be opened. Apart from security and supply vehicles, there are no signs of tourists staying in the hotel.
And while access to the previous two hotel beaches is possible for anyone who can pay for the exclusive atmosphere, only hotel guests have access to the Small Beach in Miločer, which some call the Queen’s Beach. The gate is open, but a friendly security guard will warn you if you try to enter the beach. The spa in its immediate hinterland is closed.
The agreement to open exclusive hotels, which are subject to arbitration before a court in London, is shrouded in secrecy.
Since the Prime Minister in technical mandate, Dritan Abazović, announced in May that an agreement had been reached, neither the Government, nor the line ministry, nor the tenant have announced what specific agreement it is. All RFE’s inquiries about it remained unanswered from all those addresses.
Local resident Krsto Rađenović tells RFE “that the pompous announcement of the opening of Sveti Stefan is a hoax” because he states that the demands of some of the locals that all beaches be unconditionally accessible have not been met.
When asked whether new protests by citizens can be expected, he says that “they will probably make a plan at some point in order to reach our goal.”
Among those who prefer exclusive over mass tourism is local resident Zago Mitrović, who has been in tourism and catering for over four decades.
– I would close it (the hotel) so that not even an intruder can enter there, but only a guest who has money. Someone who pays a thousand euros a day for a room can’t lie on a couch, and I can sell him donuts and grain on Sveti Stefan – says Mitrović for RFE/RL.
And that, he adds, is what the locals are looking for who rent apartments and advertise to tourists with “you have a beach on Sveti Stefan for free”. He states that previously private apartments in that area were rented for 200-300 euros, and now for ten to fifteen euros.
– That is all dictated by St. Stephen. Without a city hotel, everything here boils down to trying to earn five euros to spend the winter. Is this the future of tourism? – asks Mitrović.
Hotel tenant Adriatic Properties and operator Aman Resort closed the Sveti Stefan and Miločer hotels before the 2021 season because, as they stated, they could no longer guarantee the privacy of their guests.
This was preceded by several protests by some of the locals and leaders of the Budva government from the Democratic Front (DF), the Democrats and the URA movement, who tore down the fence leading to the beach.
They demanded unconditional access to the leased hotel beaches, which for decades were for the guests of those expensive hotels and those who could pay more than a hundred euros a day for beach furniture.
Part of the locals and the local government opposed another job of Adriatic Properties – the construction of real estate in the complex of a new hotel worth EUR 70 million.
Adriatic Properties sued the state of Montenegro and the owner of the hotel, the company Sveti Stefan hotels, at the arbitration court in London, and the defendant company responded with a counterclaim.
The most famous Montenegrin tourist brand with the hotels Sveti Stefan, Miločer and Kraljičina plaža was leased in 2007 to the Singaporean hotel company Aman Resorts for 30 years, which was later extended to 42 years.
That contract was later taken over by the Adriatic Properties company of Greek businessman Petros Statis, and Aman Resorts remains in business as a hotel operator.
The hotels are majority owned by the Government, and they are registered with the joint stock company Sveti Stefan hotels.
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