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So Close, But a World Away
November 10, 2009
By Kinley Levack
Despite its blue skies, glittering waters, and warm, sunshine-filled days, the Caribbean has had a stormy business year or so. According to a PKF Hospitality Research report in August, the region saw average hotel profit decline by 16 percent in 2008, and the trend is expected to last through 2009. Visitation to the region was down 4 percent.
But it is not all gloom and doom in the Caribbean. Properties have created deals to entice planners, and renovations and new constructions are underway throughout the region. In fact, incentive travel planners can find more deals there than in many previous years, and the Caribbean’s ease of access makes it the perfect locale for three- to five-day programs.
“I’ve been getting great rates and great programs,” says Catherine Council, president of C.A. Council Meetings and Events, based in Piscataway, NJ. Council held a program at the Raffles Canouan resort in the Grenadines earlier this year and has two groups heading to the Caribbean in 2010—one to Jamaica in April and one to Aruba in May. Council says she was initially trying to market Hawaii to her groups, in order to support domestic destinations, but found that “getting to the Caribbean is easy and economical.”
Additional airlift is making arrival and departure logistics easier than ever. US Airways will begin weekly nonstop service from Boston’s Logan International Airport to St. Thomas’ Cyril E. King Airport in December. American Airlines will increase from seven weekly flights to 10 on its Miami-St. Croix route; it will also add service to St. Thomas. Delta Air Lines has announced it will ramp up service to both St. Thomas and St. Croix, including daily nonstop service to the latter from
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, daily service to St. Thomas from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, and more flights to St. Thomas from Atlanta. The additional service by both American Airlines and Delta Air Lines will begin in December. JetBlue launched service between JFK and St. Lucia in October, while American Airlines has also increased service to the island.
Island Paradises Keep Blooming
Throughout the Caribbean, new luxury properties are opening, which gives planners who routinely book groups there fresh options for potentially jaded qualifiers.
Planners may want to look at Curacao, the island near Aruba, 35 miles off the coast of Venezuela. Well known for its spectacular diving spots and long a popular destination for Latin Americans and Europeans, Curacao is still relatively unknown to Americans and offers a distinct experience.
Diego Concha, general manager of the Hyatt Regency Curacao Golf Resort, Spa, and Marina, has spent many years working in the Caribbean, but says, “When I came to Curacao, it was an entirely different experience. It has a very clear identity.” He notes the heavy European influence with African and Latin American cultural elements.
The 350-room Hyatt Regency Curacao is scheduled to open in January with more than 9,000 square feet of indoor meeting space and more than 10,000 square feet of outdoor space. The property will feature a Pete Dye-designed golf course, a 4,500-square-foot spa, multiple pools, and two restaurants: the specialty-seafood establishment Shor, and Medi, which will feature Mediterranean dishes. And all guest rooms will feature balconies and water views.
Another high-profile project that’s new to the Caribbean’s slate of luxe hotspots is the W Vieques. The first W Retreat & Spa in North America, the property opens this month on the serene island off the coast of Puerto Rico. All 157 guest rooms boast private patios and balconies, open-air bathrooms, W Hotels’ signature beds, Bliss personal products, and state-of-the-art entertainment systems.
The retreat offers 3,500 square feet of meeting and event space, two pools, and four dining options. Chef Alain Ducasse’s “miX on the beach” is the signature restaurant, which serves Latin Caribbean and French fare for breakfast and dinner. The 6,000-square-foot Spa Chakra, complete with sea and garden views, rounds out the guest experience.
This past January, the Iberostar Resort opened the last of its three hotels in Jamaica. Iberostar Rose Hall Beach & Spa Resort, Iberostar Rose Hall Suites, and Iberostar Rose Hall Grand Hotel offer 978 total guest rooms.
On Grand Bahama Island, Our Lucaya Beach & Golf Resort has been rebranded as two distinctive resort properties, the 740-room Radisson Our Lucaya Resort, Grand Bahama Island and the family-oriented, 478-room Our Lucaya Reef Village. The properties will share golf, spa, fitness, dining, meeting, and water sports facilities.
Sandy Lane on Barbados, a 112-room luxury resort, completed a multimillion-dollar renovation last year that included the guest rooms and the 47,000-square-foot spa. The property also completely revamped its culinary offerings.
New group space is available at Puerto Rico’s Wyndham Rio Mar resort, where the Aqualuna Restaurant is becoming a reception room. The ocean-view space includes an 880-square-foot foyer and 1,200-square-foot seating area. Rio Mar has added a fire pit overlooking the beach, as well. Its 600-room hotel offers more than 48,000 square feet of meeting space. Also in Puerto Rico, the St. Regis Bahia Beach is scheduled to open in October 2010, with 139 guest rooms and 6,000 square feet of group space.
And don’t forget Richard Branson’s plans for Moskito Island, near his Necker Island retreat. Although there are few details, Branson’s plans for an eco-resort on the island should be ideal for incentive travel planners catering to very high-end groups.
Council of C.A. Council Meetings and Events says that although some of her groups that used to book five-star resorts have begun booking four- or three-and-a-half-star properties because of the recession, they have bumped up program elements such as dinners and activities. For her group traveling to Jamaica next year, she is coordinating a cooking demonstration that involves local residents so attendees can have an authentic Jamaican food experience. For Council, whether a property is called a resort or not is far less important than the total package created for the attendee. “It’s not about the resort—that’s just a word,” she says. “It’s about the experience.”
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