The Batiki Project
A quiet beach and coconut palms on a green island coast.

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 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, 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. 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.

Batiki, about 17°47′ south, 179°09′ east. Open the map
Aerial study of a small reef island. Not a survey of Batiki.
A coastal study for the feeling of the site. Not a survey photograph of the lease.

Resort scale and design

Eighty Rooms. One Restaurant and Bar.

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.

Study of low guest rooms among palms beside a beach.
Room study. The architect has not drawn the hotel yet. The count is 80 rooms, on land.
Study of one open-air restaurant and bar beside a pool at dusk.
One poolside restaurant and bar. There is not a second venue in the plan.

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.

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.

A small wooden boat on clear reef water.
The day's activity leaves from the resort boat.

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 proposal

About 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.

The hotel

Welcome.

Have a look at an artist impression of the hotel. Thirteen pictures, from the resort to the staff rooms. Skip this if you have already seen it.