Reef snorkel
A stop inside the reef, with a guide from the boat.
A proposal for Mataqali Sawani
What a hotel on part of Batiki could be.
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 one rate for the room, three meals, and one activity on the resort boat. The rest of the island would stay with the mataqali.
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. No brand is signed, and none of this is final.
Proposed resort location
Batiki, with Wakaya to the north-east.
Batiki is a volcanic island of about 12 square kilometres in Lomaiviti. Nairai lies to the east and Gau to the south-east. People already live here. The proposal uses a beachfront piece of Mataqali Sawani land. The rest of the island would stay with the mataqali.
Guests would arrive by boat from the mainland. The reef water is the swim and the snorkel. Power and fresh water would be made on site, because Batiki is not on the Denarau grid.
This map marks the island. The lease line is still for Mataqali Sawani and TLTB to settle.
Resort scale and design
Eighty rooms. One restaurant. A boat, not an airstrip.
One proposed rate is about FJD 1,500 a night. That would cover the room, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and one guided activity on the resort boat. Anything from the bar, beyond the set meal, would be extra.
- 80 rooms The cap. Low buildings among the trees, finished to a Denarau hotel standard.
- One restaurant and bar Poolside, about 100 seats. A full house uses a second dinner sitting. The sunset is from here.
- Power and water on the island Generation and desalination, because the island is off the main grid.
- Arrival by boat No new airstrip. No overwater rooms. The rest of Batiki would stay with the mataqali.
Experiences and activities
One activity a day, on the resort boat.
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.
Jet ski
A session from the same boat, in the hours it is out.
Fishing seat
A line on the scheduled boat. Not a boat hired for one party.
Beach walk
The shore in front of the hotel, on a day the boat is not the choice.
Inland walk
A guided walk on a path through the island, arranged with Mataqali Sawani.
Investor partnership
Mataqali Sawani would keep a share. Investors would fund the build.
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
The island already has its people.
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
Mataqali Sawani, investors, and a future brand use the same door.
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.