by Brian Major
Last updated: 5:30 PM ET, Mon May 20, 2024
Sandals Hotels and Resorts’ newly opened Sandals Saint
Vincent and the Grenadines property is a showcase in every sense of the word. The
50-acre all-inclusive resort is located on the destination’s main island of St.
Vincent, nestled deep among high, lush green mountain peaks on three sides.
The property’s stunning natural beauty showcases numerous enhanced
amenities, facilities and services, exemplifying the company’s “Sandals 2.0” initiative
to elevate the brand’s standards to the highest level among all-inclusive
resorts.
At an exclusive six-day “Star Awards” celebration and
awards event for the company’s highest-producing travel advisors held at the property
this past week, Adam Stewart, Sandals’ executive chairman, outlined the brand’s
transformation, reflected in the new resort’s deluxe accommodations and upgraded
amenities and services.
The Sandals chairman told an audience of 361 travel advisors
that the launch of a Sandals resort in a destination that opened its first major airport only seven years ago represents
“Fifty acres of the path less traveled.”
“It’s not for every [hotel company]” Stewart said. “Not for
the two-star product, not for the three-star product. But for us, we’re making [Saint
Vincent] accessible.”
The 32-island archipelago’s lesser-visited position among
Caribbean destinations includes relatively few direct flights from U.S. cities,
making Saint Vincent “a tourism destination that is difficult to develop at
this level,” admitted the Sandals chairman.
Yet the island chain’s relatively untouched character and
its resplendent natural beauty, tied to a volcanic origin, gives Saint Vincent
and the Grenadines, whose smaller islands including Mustique are favored by wealthy
jet-setters, the novelty and authenticity experience-seeking travelers seek.
In fact, the resort’s completion is already generating the
so-called “Sandals effect” - quick airline service increases in destinations
where the operator launches a new resort.
Sandals Saint Vincent’s 50-acre property overlooks a calm-water cove. (Photo by Brian Major).
Stewart noted American Airlines recently launched additional flights from to Saint Vincent’s
Argyle International Airport (SVD) and will offer direct flights to Saint
Vincent from Charlotte and New York beginning in December 2024.
Added Stewart, “We’ve done several land acquisitions in the
Caribbean in the last six months alone in destinations that I promise you no
one [else] is [traveling] to. Destinations where we will build the airlift, on
islands that are going to blow your mind.”
Executing the Plan
The plan to develop a property in the archipelago began
years earlier, Stewart said. “Fifty acres on a volcanic island,” he remarked, describing
the site he first visited. “With water coming down straight from the mountains,
looking due west into the sunset.”
Into this environment Sandals has completed a property scaled
to its surroundings, with an eye toward complementing the landscape. The surrounding
mountains frame two four-story buildings in updated Neo-baroque style running
adjacent to an elongated pool deck. Beyond these extend a curving lane of small
single-story cottage villas.
“Any of our competitors would have put 1,000 rooms on this
property,” Stewart said. “Sandals 2.0 would never take [that] up.”
He continued, “[The brand] is going to continue to be
elevated. We’re going to pay attention to the small details. “No up-charges for
anything. Still no wristbands. The highest quality liquor in all of the bars. Butler
services,” he said.
“It’s the gastronomy, it is the entertainment, it is the
locations we are going to build these resorts in,” said Stewart, “and it is the
quality level that delivers the proposition of value.”
Culinary Upgrade
Sandals is seeking no less than an elevation of the
culinary experience across all of its properties, beginning in Saint Vincent. Stewart
said. “We’re looking across the 243 restaurants in our chain to determine
‘what’s next?’”
To that end, the resort’s featured eateries include Buccan,
which offers family-style, a la carte dinner featuring local cuisine. Guests sample
delicacies drawn from local recipes featuring indigenous ingredients and spices.
The shared dining style is intended to encourage discussion, enhancing the
experience.
In all, the resort offers guests 11 dining options including
Gatsu Gatsu, an Izakaya and handroll bar; Butch’s Island Chophouse, a steak and
seafood eatery; The Jerk Shack, for ala carte lunchtime fare featuring authentic
Jamaican specialties; Scrimshaw, a seafood specialty restaurant; and Sora, featuring
Italian fare.
Sandals Saint Vincent is ringed by mountain peaks. (Photo by Brian Major).
Accommodations Excellence
Sandals’ highest-level accommodations are its Vincy Overwater
two-story villas, which are presently nearing the final stages of construction,
Stewart said. The 1,248 square foot accommodations offer beachfront views at
the front, rear rainforest views and interior ocean views from a dedicated
daybed and second floor deck.
Top-level beachfront, two-bedroom Butler Villa Suites come
equipped with private pools, and outdoor soaking tubs and measure 1,631 square
feet. A full menu of butler services extends to guests’ arrival, as vacationers
in these accommodations receive water taxi service from Argyle International
Airport to a private dock on the resort’s private cove.
“The guests in the top suites of this hotel arrive [from Argyle
Airport) via luxury boat that brings you down the coast,” Stewart said.
“Why? Because that’s how we [traveled] when we [first] came
here. We sat on the boat having a [local] beer. The mountains come out of the
ocean. We thought, ‘Our guests should be able do this.’ And there should be no
charge. It’s not a tour. It’s just how we do it.”
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