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Crane implements year round local package
9/26/2009
By Randy Howard
BARBADOS’ oldest resort, the Crane Hotel and Residences, has taken the decision to implement its now seasonal local special rates programme year round.
This announcement came yesterday from Director of Marketing, Ann Marie Thompson, who stated that the decision was based on the success of this year’s programme, in conjunction with the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) run, “Staycation” initiative.
She stated that for the year, the Crane has booked over 700 room nights with Barbadians, and have received tremendous feedback from these guests, with persons saying that they felt very refreshed after having stayed there.
The year round programme, which will be subject to availability to peak tourist periods, is being developed as a core product for the resort, given the significant contribution that local patrons made to the hotel’s success this year.
Speaking at a media briefing held there yesterday by the Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA), Owner and Managing Director, Paul Doyle, stated that this has assisted in the Crane is actually having a good year, and praised the BTA for its marketing efforts, which have helped in making 2009 a successful one for the resort, a result that is somewhat uncommon given the current trends in the industry.
Doyle stated that since the success of the programme a number of Barbadians have now decided to buy into the Crane through the traditional time share vacation exchange programme.
He argued that the one being offered at the Crane is far better than those being offered by resorts in other countries, and has resulted in that property being rated the number one Resort in the world, as it relates to this category of business, by Resorts & Condominiums International (RCI), the largest world’s largest timeshare vacation exchange network.
This achievement is quite profound considering that the network consists of approximately 4 000 resorts from across the globe.
“So we get the best exchange, and our prices are about half that or less than what people would sell for in the main destinations people know for this business, and the reason for that is that they spend a lot of money on the gifts and incentives used to attract people, but we let our product speak for itself”, he said.
He therefore argued that given that they offer the best price, it was expected that people would buy time share at the Crane and then exchange for vacations elsewhere. However, this has not proven to be the case, with 90 per cent of Barbadians who buy at the Crane choosing instead to stay at the resort, arguing that they actually feel like they are away when they are there.
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