Sandals success at World Travel Awards
25 September 2018 - Loop Jamaica
Sandals Resorts International (SRI) won a total of eleven awards at the Saturday night’s prestigious 25th World Travel Awards.
The stellar event took place at the recently upgraded Sandals Montego
Bay. Among the many wins by Sandals was for Jamaica’s Leading Resort
(Sandals Montego Bay), Caribbean’s Leading Luxury All-Inclusive (Sandals
La Source Grenada) and Caribbean’s Leading Hotel Brand (Sandals Resorts
International).
Speaking with Loop News, Sandals Resorts International’s Deputy Chairman
Adam Stewart said: “The World Travel Awards is the best of the best, it
really is the Grammys of the travel industry. There is no higher
accolade to win. We have won its award twenty-five years consecutively.
The brand continues to evolve over its thirty-seven year history. We are
honoured to be voted the Caribbean’s leading luxury resort brand and
the world’s best.”
Sandals has made considerable investments in its properties. It has
invested some US$65 million in Sandals Montego Bay over the last
twenty-four months, giving it a totally modern and stylish new look.
Stewart said that the approach is to give guests a premier luxury
experience and at Sandals Montego Bay guests are transported by brand
new 5 and 7 Series BMWs.
The Group is in expansionist mode doting the Caribbean with state-of-the
art resorts that continue to up the ante. In December last year it
launched Sandals Royal Barbados, its single largest investment.
It is about to break ground on a three hundred-room resort in St Lucia
which should come in at around US$250 million. This will be its fourth
hotel in St Lucia. It will stand next to Sandals Grande St Lucia. It
will be called Sandals La Source St Lucia.
The year 2019 kicks off with SRI breaking ground on Beaches Barbados in
January. This will be a 550-key, 700 room resort including 4-bedroom
suites. This will spell a total of US$800 million invested in Barbados
alone over a six-year period. With Beaches Barbados coming on stream,
Sandals will be employing 3000 people in Barbados. It currently employs
1,200 persons in its hotels to date.
“Beaches Barbados is going to be unbelievable. Everything we have done
in Beaches Turks& Caicos will be found there including the Sesame
Street characters. It will have its own train track and contain 18 top
restaurants. It will be a US$450 million investment.
“We are in discussions with the Government of Trinidad & Tobago
to build a Sandals and a Beaches resort, side by side. We will also
launch a Greg Norman golf course in Tobago. In fact we under
construction of an 18-hole Greg Norman golf course in St Lucia.
“When you look at it, we are partnering with the best whether it be in
transportation or golf courses. We are taking our operations to another
level,” declared the Deputy Chairman of Sandals.
The Group will be venturing into city hotels and is expected to open the
doors of a state-of- the- art Marriott hotel on Kingston’s Lady
Musgrave Road in June 2019. Plans are on track for this 220-room hotel
which will boast 10,000 square feet of banqueting facilities.
Sandals is also currently planning a boutique hotel in Port Antonio with
its chairman and founder Gordon “Butch” Stewart personally overseeing
the planning and design. This resort will be very different project from
what the Group has executed before.
Source: Loop Jamaica