Sandals Resorts making mark

SANDALS Resorts International (SRI) which has been making a significant mark in Barbados, and other Caribbean islands, continues to spend millions on marketing its product, in addition to focusing on delivering unbeatable customer service.
The 37-year-old brand, which for 22 consecutive years has proudly earned the distinction of being voted the World’s Best All-Inclusive Resorts, continues to be a trailblazer in the hospitality and vacation industry.
And on Wednesday evening, Sandals staff and stakeholders, joined SRI Chairman, the Honourable Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart, and the members of his management and marketing team, to witness a showcase of how Sandals has taken the luxury inclusive vacation to an unprecedented new level of supreme perfection and what the future holds for the World’s Leading All-inclusive Resort.

“We advertise all over the world, more quality inclusions than any resort on the planet. Now you live in a world, if you advertise something like that and you have a competitor that does more than you. . .Nobody has tried to sue us, and we have been doing it now for five years. It is for the same reason, that we have won World’s Best 23 All-Inclusive Resort, World Travel Awards. So you are working for the company that has won that award 23 years in a row. And you cannot do that, unless you have got the world’s best staff,” Stewart told the employees in attendance, urging them to always stay ahead of the guests’ expectations to avoid negative publicity.

Alluding to the fact that Sandals is always on top of the game as it relates to staff training and development, in order to ensure the best service is delivered to clients, the Chairman urged the employees to take advantage of Sandals Corporate University, which is the only one of its kind.

“Sandals Resorts is the company that trains,” the Chairman declared, commending his Director of Human Resources, Training & Service Standards, Dr Phillip Brown, for his outstanding performance in the area of staff development.

SRI is considered the World’s Only All Inclusive Superbrand, with 19 Resorts in seven islands, 5, 481 rooms across the region, 84 percent brand recognition amongst North American consumers, over 1 million guests every year, an over 40 per cent return guest rate, and holds an industry leading staff room ratio, with 14 000 plus team members.

Meanwhile, Dr Brown who also delivered remarks at the event, noted that what is phenomenal about SRI, are the employees who create a successful product. He especially commended Sandals Barbados for its achievements thus far.

“I was here in the beginning and I remember faces that might not have been certain if they might have made it to a night like tonight, but you did. Today, I walked around the resort, and let me tell you what I am proud of more than anything else.

“Your smiling faces, your helpfulness to the guests, and your kindness, but more importantly, you are setting a trend in Barbados, about the importance of service to people,” Dr Brown said.

Sandals Foundation has also been making its mark as it relates to helping to develop and enhance the lives of those living in the communities in which it operates, through education, health care, and the preservation of the environment.

Recently, the Foundation announced that over the next five years it will donate US$600 000 to become a Catalyst Donor supporting the SickKids VS Limits fundraising campaign of SickKids Foundation, based in Toronto, Canada.

Sandals Foundation has already donated US$400 000 to SickKids Caribbean which seeks to build local capacity to advance the study, diagnoses and treatment of cancer in children, and blood disorders, across the region.

“Our mission has always been the same. It is about making life better for all Caribbean nationals. We do this through encouraging dreams, through education, engaging youth through sports, entrepreneurship training, empowering lives through skills training. . .”

“Of course it is super important for us to remember about tomorrow and future generations. And so we look to the health sector and how we are making a difference there, building facilities, and engaging programmes and making them better, and also about the conservation of our precious environment so many lives depend on here in the Caribbean,” Heidi Clarke, Executive Director of the Sandals Foundation said.

As SRI looks to the future, the highly anticipated Beaches Resort, to replace the existing Almond Beach Resort, is one of the projects now being focussed on. Those who attended the Overdrive received a sneak peak of what the property which it is being said will revolutionize family vacation in Barbados, is expected to look like. (AH)