by Joe Pike
Last updated: 12:27 PM ET, Wed July 25, 2018
When Sandals Resorts International eventually opens its hotels in Tobago, there's a pretty good chance the company's popular Over-the-Water Bungalows will be part of the offerings.
In a recent interview with new Sandals CEO Gebhard Rainer, TravelPulse uncovered that nugget of information and other new details surrounding Sandals' Tobago plans.
The plans, which Rainer said are still being finalized, were first announced in October and call for both a Sandals Resorts hotel and a Beaches Resorts property.
As far as the Sandals property goes, Rainer told TravelPulse that Over-the-Water Bungalows is seriously being considered as a room category. Sandals' Over-the-Water Bungalows first debuted in 2016 at Sandals Royal Caribbean in Montego Bay, Jamaica. The company followed that up with the launch of Over-the-Water Bungalows at Sandals Grande St. Lucian.
"With the location we have there, we can create a lot of unique offerings for guests," he said. "We can offer alternative accommodations. There's been a lot of talk about doing away with the traditional hotel accommodations and really adding some creative room options."
And although Rainer didn't share specific information about the "creative room options" for the planned Beaches hotel, he did hint that perhaps the trees on property will be used as some form of accommodation.
He also said the property's space will be used to attract families with unique, experiential offerings.
"There are also all of these large trees where you can do stuff," said Rainer, "and all these wide areas where you can do little things like a bonfire area, or something else where you get that experiential aspect like a pony farm for kids and other activities for every age group."
Another interesting aspect of the project, said Rainer, is that construction on both properties will commence at the same time.
"This will be unique for us in many respects," said Rainer, "but mainly because this is the first time we will be constructing a Beaches and a Sandals at the same time."
This will mark the company's latest Caribbean expansion since it first set up shop in Barbados back in 2015.
"Tobago is going to be very interesting for us because it's new land in a new area for us," said Rainer. "Tobago is really one of those very few, last remaining, almost-virgin islands in the Caribbean."
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