Submitted by Due Diligence
In the August 23, 2014, edition of Barbados Today there was an article titled It’s the Mix. In the article, Gordon Butch Stewart, extols the benefits that local restaurants. bars and other businesses will receive from the guests of Sandals Barbados. “I want people to come here and get more than they expected when they are spending their money… People will leave this hotel, probably a hundred a day for attractions outside of the hotel. It happens everywhere. We have a company that is called Island Routes that sells the attraction out there. So our job is to bring the visitors to Barbados and then get them out so they can taste the country, taste the flavour, the different food and [interact with] the different people. I can guarantee you that when this hotel opens, you go down the road [in] the bars and the restaurants [and] you will see Sandals people in there”.
After being virtually invisible for over a year from the Canadian (Toronto at least) newspaper Travel Section, Barbados’ name has reappeared. Not a BTA ad – it is the first ad (I have seen) for Sandals Barbados, a half page in the August 23, 2014 Globe Travel section of The Globe and Mail.
As another BU commenter said, Sandals guests are going to Sandals. DD is sceptical about Butch’s pitch. The amount of business the Sandals’ guests will do with other hospitality and tourism service providers will be very limited.
There are 11 restaurants at Sandals Barbados where their meals are included; how many of the Sandals guests will be dining at nearby restaurants, When premium drinks are served at Sandals all day and all night; how many will be going to the neighbourhood bars? When unlimited land and water sports, including scuba diving* are included, how many Sandals guests will be venturing off the property to visit other attractions.
Butch said “People will leave this hotel, probably a hundred a day for attractions outside of the hotel”. Sandals Barbados room stock will be 280 rooms with approximate occupancy two to a room equal 560 guests. If 100 leave, there are 460 who do not leave.
There is no doubt that Butch’s marketing might will ensure that he has the airlift needed by Sandals – he probably has 560 seats per week allocated to Sandals by the airlines. But will the seats allocated to Sandals be additional seats, or will they simply be blocked off from others? Air Canada, Westjet, AA and others are unlikely to put on extra flights or use larger aircraft because Butch needs 100 seats a day to service Sandals Barbados (which would have been used for guests of Couples). So if Sandals is simply eating into existing airlift, that will simply reduce the number of seats available to potential guests of the other hotels.
DD wonders if the MOF, MOT, BTA, BTMI et al have thought this through. For those who are Butch Believers, DD suggests they read WILD COOT: What is the gain? To quote WILD COOT, “The jury is out with respect to the net benefits to be attributed to the Sandals arrangement – maybe in 2037 our grandchildren will benefit.”
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.