Sandals already benefiting Vincentians says Sandals Executive Chair

Executive Chairman of Sandals Resorts International and Beaches Resorts, Adam Stewart says the resort they are building at Buccament will bring huge benefits to the Vincentian people.

“Sandals focuses heavily on the micro and small, local entrepreneurs from the tours, supply side, taxi drivers, and the entertainers…” Stewart told SEARCHLIGHT last week Thursday, June 29, during a visit to the $100 million plus facility.

Stewart was that day making his 17th visit to the island where he and a team of Sandals upper management were visiting the construction site for an update.

He said that same day, Sandals had also deployed a team to the Grenadines to explore, from a tourism point of view, as they continue to put the finer details of the resort together.

Stewart noted that the construction phase of the project is already benefiting the country as hundreds of Vincentians are employed there, while noting also that Sandals has already hired about 430 locals in their business operations overseas.

“We have deployed in different islands, Vincentians working with the Sandals team. So we are proud of that and also to have the team members getting experience long ahead of the opening of Sandals SVG. This will fare well for the reputation of the country and for the reputation of Sandal Resorts.”

He said that Vincentians who are working with Sandals overseas will have the opportunity to stay where they are, and while some will take this opportunity, others have already said they would like to return home to work in Buccament when the resort opens.

Stewart said the workers who have been trained by Sandals overseas have received instructions from some of the world’s best tutors in the industry in both practical and theory, while they have also gained very valuable experience working in the various resorts.

“So it will be amazing for them to open their hotel with that experience,” Stewart commented.

The Sandals chairman said that when completed, the physical layout of the Buccament Resort is going to set a new benchmark for facilities of this nature, not only in St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) but in the rest of the region.

He revealed that the process to get this resort done was long in coming as he first visited the country in the 1990s with his father, Butch Stewart, and back in 2015, he and now Minister of Finance, Camillo Gonsalves, started looking for different spots to build a resort.

“I think it’s amazing. This is going to be one of the most extraordinary hotels ever developed in the Caribbean.

“The features between the westward facing beach, the construction, and the fit and finish, the design spec of what we are delivering here, from the spa to the multitude of restaurants and amenities…”. He noted further that the project is a “very expensive” one and is now substantially more than what they had committed to.

“Sandals leads the all-inclusive segment. The all-inclusive segment is one of the fastest growing segment and we are a super brand, one of the top 500 brand in the world, and the only super brand ever to be born out of the Caribbean,” Stewart said with pride.

“We have an unaided and unprecedented brand recognition in excess of 80 percent in North America and a little less, low eighties, in the UK and the Canadian market.

“… Overall, what we are most proud of is being able to come into a beautiful destination. SVG is a country we fell in love with…”.

The Sandals Resort being constructed in Buccament is expected to open in 2024.

Among those visiting the site last Thursday were Gary Saddler, Executive Vice President of Sales and Industry Relations for Unique Vacations (manages airlift to the destinations Sandals represent); Finance Minister, Camillo Gonsalves; Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Gerhard Rainer; Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Jordan Samuda; Chief Operating Officer (COO), Shawn Da costa; Managing Director St Lucia, Grenada and SVG, Winston Anderson; and Group Director of Technical Services, Eugene Stall.