does anyone know if they've started the construction of the ritz next the marriott yet?

The deal for the Ritz Carlton fell through.

The Ritz is not being built. As of last report, it looks like it is going to be a Fairmont Hotel.It is a luxury hotel with several resorts in the US(mostly Calif),Canada,Bermuda,Barbados,Mexico,Dubai,London ,Monaco & Kenya. I just hope this is the end of the hotel expansions. I did see they are/will be building a Ritz in the Turks & Caicos.

In Aruba Today Thursday April 14th it had an article about The Fairmont chain looking into the proprety next to the Marriott.

Last I heard the plans were cancelled because Aruba was not granting the building permits that Marriott wanted.

Good, definitely overbuilt

Yes, odd how the licensing worked out (or didn't), as the Rui Palace Hotel being built VERY quickly is being constructed by an almost completely foreign crew (from Dominican Republic?), not Arubians. Meanwhile, construction on the South Beach Mall and other projects being built by local crews are going slow, slow, slow.

Construction sites (Rui or otherwise) may or may not be run by contractors of Aruban nationality however almost the entire labor pool is imported (legally or otherwise)

Construction on Aruba has alsways suffered with and enjoyed the following:

Slow and halting due to various hollidays that are observed or lack of available materials

Strong and stable construction

be well
charles
arubafastphones.com

As I stated in another thread, i fear the island is heading for trouble with all this building, more and more and cheaper flights, its going to become just another overcrowded island destination, and we'll all have to go to St. Kitts, to capture what we used to have on Aruba, a few years ago.

There are 3 proposals for the site north of the Marriott. There is a Hilton hotel proposal and Fairmont hotel proposal. Fairmont seems very promising as it fits the government goal of developing a five star hotel on that lot. The Ritz Carlton deal fell through, but other parties are interested. So sooner or later expect a hotel to rise north of the Marriott.

As for cheap tickets. Airfares to Aruba are cheap from certain regions like the NYC metro area, due to increase in airlift from existing and new carriers. Hotels in Aruba are overal moderate to expensively priced. So I do not expect the island to become a Spring Break haven for youth.