Marlon Brando's Private Island to Be Site of New Luxury Eco-Hotel

by Freddie Mooche

March 16, 2005 New York - Marlon Brando's private Island is being turned into an Eco-friendly hotel to be called, The Brando. The lavish digs will include 30 delux villas and are slated to open in 2008.

The project is being overseen by Tahiti Beachcomber SA, whose CEO Richard Bailey, the owner of several luxury resorts in French Polynesia, had been in contact with the actor for a number of years and has continued meeting with the Brando Estate to fulfill Brando and Bailey's joint vision for an environmentally enlightened project.

Brando bought Tetiaroa in 1965 after falling in love with it while filming 'Mutiny on the Bounty' in French Polynesia. The island is 26 miles from Tahiti. Brando's son, Teihotu, is the only one living on the island at this time, the developer Bailey said.

"There will be only one hotel on Tetiaroa, on Motu Onetahi, which is in keeping with Marlon's wishes, and the rest of the atoll will be set aside as a private natural preserve," says Bailey. "The Brando eco-hotel will be exactly what Marlon would have wanted: Energy-autonomous and built with natural materials, it will rest lightly on its environment and be nearly invisible from the water. It will showcase the latest in renewable energy technologies, including some we are already employing in our new hotel in Bora Bora, which Marlon had promised to inaugurate. We worked together on this project for three years before he died. I am privileged to have known him, and honored to play a part in his legacy by bringing one of his dreams to fruition.".

Bailey's resorts employ a fulltime marine biologist and veterinarian, Dr. Cecile Gaspar, who has carried out extensive studies on Tetiaroa to ensure that such a project will not disturb the flora and fauna of this extraordinary ecosystem, which includes sea-turtle hatching grounds and the designated seabird sanctuary on Motu Tahuna Iti that provides a home to thousands of rare indigenous seabirds. The archeological department of Tahiti Museum was also called in to conduct research into the past use of the atoll by Tahitian royalty.

Source: Tahiti Beachcomber SA