Reef snorkel
A stop inside the reef, with a guide from the boat.
Open the snorkel
A proposal for Mataqali Sawani
This page is for Mataqali Sawani. It shows the potential of the Batiki Project: an 80-room hotel on part of the island in Lomaiviti. Guests would pay a proposed FJD 1,500 a night. A hotel brand, for example Sofitel, would run the food, the bar, and the activities.
Treat this as a proposal. Investors would fund the build. An international hotel brand that already runs a hotel on Denarau would be asked to operate it.
Proposed resort location
Batiki is a volcanic island of about 12 square kilometres in Lomaiviti. Nairai lies to the east and Gau to the south-east. The proposal uses a beachfront piece of Mataqali Sawani land.
This map marks the island. The lease line is still for Mataqali Sawani and TLTB to settle.
Resort scale and design
Artist impression of the hotel
One proposed rate is about FJD 1,500 a night. That would cover the room and breakfast. The hotel brand, for example Sofitel, and its operations staff would decide, design, and supervise the packaged activities, including whether a guest pays a fee for them. The activities would include kids' activities, snorkelling, jet skiing, beach walks, fishing, and island trekking. Beach volleyball and touch rugby would be included too.
Experiences and activities
The night rate includes one guided activity for each room, on a boat that runs to a timetable. A guest picks from the list. It is not five private trips, and fishing is a seat on that boat, not a private charter.
A stop inside the reef, with a guide from the boat.
Open the snorkelA session from the same boat, in the hours it is out.
Open the jet skiA line on the scheduled boat. Not a boat hired for one party.
The shore in front of the hotel, on a day the boat is not the choice.
A guided walk on a path through the island, arranged with Mataqali Sawani.
Investor partnership
This is still a proposal. A resort company would own the hotel and hold the tourism lease. Outside investors would put in the construction money. Mataqali Sawani would keep a share through a landowner company. A mataqali cannot hold the shares in its own name.
The operator would be a hotel brand that already runs a hotel on Denarau. The brand would run the rooms, the kitchen, and the daily rates. It would not own the land, and it is not signed. One brand would be asked. Two brands would not be pitched in the same room.
The numbers, the fee, and the share split stay off this page. They are still being worked out, and a public page is the wrong place for a shareholders' agreement.
Ask about the proposalAbout Batiki
Batiki is home before it is a hotel. People live here, and the land is native land. This proposal is for Mataqali Sawani, so the mataqali can see a hotel built properly, run to a Denarau standard, with the land still theirs.
If TLTB grants a lease, it would cover the resort piece only. Village life would stay outside that line. The hotel would meet the island as a neighbour. It would leave the village as the village, and it would leave the rest of the island alone.
Work, food supply, and guest walks would meet the island as a neighbour. Where Mataqali Sawani can meet the hotel's standard, at a fair price, that door stays open. Supply would stay open to others too.
Write to us
Say who you are and what you want to know. The picture here is a proposal for the mataqali: 80 rooms, meals included, one boat activity, and the rest of the island still with Mataqali Sawani.