Barbados Today: Barbados celebrates victory at World Travel Awards

For the fourth time in a row since opening their doors just over three years ago, Sandals Barbados has been declared the Caribbean’s Leading Resort at the World Travel Awards.

At the event held last Saturday night at Sandals’ flagship Montego Bay, Jamaica hotel, the Sandals Barbados Resort topped a field of 14 nominees from eight Caribbean destinations. Following his acceptance of the prestigious award, Sandals Barbados’ General Manager Ferry Zievenger told Barbados TODAY that the honour was simply the fruits of hard work from a dedicated team.

“We are three and a half years in Barbados and we were able to win the Caribbean’s Leading Resort award for 2018. This is an incredible honour, and this really is testimony to the entire team in Barbados. We are so proud of this and without the team, it would be impossible. It speaks to the dedication, sweat blood and tears and to win such a prize is just incredible. So, we are really more than happy with what we have accomplished tonight,” said Zievenger.

The fact that the Barbados resort is the new kid on the block for the world-class hotel chain is evidence of the staff’s commitment to customer service Zievenger said, adding that it made the victory all the sweeter on a night when the Sandals group of hotels captured a lion’s share of the awards. He contended that the combination of the Sandals’ brand and Barbados’ world class tourism product is a recipe for greatness.

“We have an incredible combination going on. Barbados as a destination is fantastic. Then, you add Sandals as a brand name and bring the people into the mix, [this] results in the creation of magic. Our visitors to Barbados love the people and like we say, you can put a hotel anywhere but is the people who take care of the visitors and that is exactly what our focus is and will continue to be,” explained the Resort’s General Manager.

The award was the only one for Barbados on a night that saw Jamaican hotels and services topping many of the categories. Turks and Caicos, Bahamas and Tobago were also big winners. However, Zievenger told Barbados TODAY that the award such as the one his hotel achieved would help to bring even more international recognition to Barbados.

“It’s really an honour that all of Barbados can share in because Sandals will showcase that Sandals Barbados has won an incredible award and of course, anytime you mention Sandals you will hear Barbados. It will become a marketing campaign for us and for destination Barbados. Of course, we also have Sandals Royal Barbados which has been opened only nine months and we are doing great. So, I expect that next year Sandals Royal Barbados would come into the mix,” he noted. (CM)