Last week, I was really excited to attend and participate in an incredible ceremony at Sandals Grande Ocho Rios, where I handed out the first ever Ultimate Team Member of the Year Award to Patricia Bucknor-Cox, Arts and Crafts Assistant at Beaches Boscobel. This award recognizes the person who—out of 10,000 hard-working, talented and dedicated Sandals, Beaches, Royal Plantation and Grand Pineapple Beach Resorts employees across the Caribbean—really possesses all of the qualities and characteristics of our ideal team members. And that’s an unbelievable achievement!
 

I am absolutely convinced that it is because of our group’s hospitality, spirit and commitment to excellence that our resorts continue to win the industry’s most prestigious awards year after year. That’s why we like to take every opportunity possible to pay tribute to these outstanding individuals. Over the past several months, we’ve recognized twenty of our most deserving employees as winners of their resorts’ Prestige Team Member Awards. Proudly, these exceptional individuals were the nominees for our First Annual “Ultimate Team Member of the Year” Award.
 

Patricia Bucknor-Cox represents everything that makes the Sandals and Beaches family so well-known and so well respected by our guests, by our industry peers and by travel agents like you. She really fills us with pride. Once again, I’d like to take this opportunity to offer my congratulations to Patricia Bucknor-Cox, the Sandals Ultimate Team Member of the Year!
 

Everyone loves “Auntie Pat”! It was an honor for me to present her with the Sandals Ultimate Team Member of the Year Award.
 

Standing tall with twenty of the most amazing people you’ll ever meet—our Prestige Team Award recipients from our resorts in Jamaica, Antigua, St. Lucia, the Bahamas and Turks & Caicos.

Here’s Patricia proudly showing a little love to her trophy!
 

At Sandals we’re never fully satisfied until we’ve gotten every detail just right—and even then we keep trying to make perfection that much more perfect. That’s why we just spent over $1 million to upgrade the already phenomenal beach at the Sandals Royal Bahamian Spa & Offshore Island.

Despite the fact that this resort was well known as one of the most (if not the most) luxurious destinations in the Bahamas, with its amazing suites, unprecedented Rolls Royce transfers, British-inspired Butler service and gorgeous offshore island, we still wanted to find ways to make this five-star resort even better. So, we transformed what was already a magnificent strip of coastline into a spectacular cove beach, providing your clients with more room to wiggle their toes in the sand, stretch out and bask in the sun, or take a romantic stroll down the beach.
 

I can’t tell you how gratifying it is for me, and for everyone in the Sandals and Beaches family, to take on projects like this and to constantly refine and improve every single aspect across every corner of each of our resorts. It’s all about looking for new ways to raise the bar on our product and we do it again and again just for you! When it comes to knowing the Caribbean and its best beaches, nobody does it better than Sandals!

Take a look at this shot of the old beach when it was still in the middle of its renovations—definitely a work in progress!

Check out what the Sandals Royal Bahamian beach looks like now after its million-dollar makeover. Talk about a huge success story!

Click here to see the full transformation in action. Don’t you just love before and after pictures?

 I have some really amazing news to report, there’s a brand new way for visitors to experience the Caribbean—through the stand-alone, Sandals-affiliated tour company called Island Routes! Starting in June in Jamaica, and rolling out across St. Lucia, Antigua, Turks & Caicos and the Bahamas over the next several months, Island Routes will be throwing open the doors to the most thrilling excursions, exhilarating encounters and gorgeous scenery that these islands have to offer. I’ve set up Island Routes as a business model designed to offer only the absolute best, off-property excursions you can find anywhere in the Caribbean. Each and every tour has been personally handpicked, using consumer safety and customer satisfaction as our main criteria.

As part of our rollout, we just debuted Island Routes at JAPEX—the Jamaica Product Exchange—where over 500 delegates were able to see a sneak preview of our incredible tour options.

This project means a lot to me. I love the outdoors, I always have. That’s why, anytime I am not working, I am likely to be found on a boat, fishing, or in my Land Rover, exploring the unspoiled land of the Caribbean. So, over the years, I’ve discovered, firsthand, countless hidden locations, best-kept-secret spots and fun adventures that only people from these islands get to know about. And Island Routes lets me share these one-of-a-kind places and experiences with visitors to the Caribbean. 

Now your clients can get out there and really dive into some of the most unique and unforgettable tropical experiences imaginable. From deep-sea fishing on our own custom-designed boats to paintball games in Ocho Rios and from biking in the Blue Mountains to canopy-riding along treetops, we’ve gone totally out of our way to choose the absolute best-quality tours available. That’s why I can guarantee you that only the best-of-the-best is offered by Island Routes.

In fact, recently, I’ve even headed out and done some extra research myself! It’s a hard job, but someone has to make sure that the fun quotient is off the charts. Keep checking in here for all the latest details and tidbits about all the incredible happenings at Island Routes!

I spent an entire day up in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica scouting out sites and adventures for Island Routes. Here I am, one hand on the Land Rover pointing out one of the many hillside streams that flow down from the mountaintops.

There’s nothing quite like the sight of mists rolling in over Jamaica’s famous Blue Mountain peak. You’re so high up, you’re literally in the clouds.

Yes, even intrepid adventure-seekers occasionally have to deal with flat tires! Luckily we got it fixed and were on our way in no time at all.

Sometimes you just have to jump on the ATV and go off-road if you want to find the very best spots. The fact that it’s a real rush doesn’t hurt either.

All this excitement can get pretty tiring. That’s when it’s time to stop, take a seat on a mountainous Jamaican roadside and just drink in the beauty of nature. There are so many picturesque stops, which one will we choose next?

Here I am at JAPEX with Dominique Peterkin, the General Manager of Island Routes, and Tony Ebanks, the Operations Manager of Island Routes. You can tell from the big smiles that we’re really proud and excited about what lies ahead!

I can’t tell you how excited I am about the plans we have in store for Sandals Grande St. Lucian. After trying for quite a while, we were finally able to acquire the gorgeous plot of land directly adjacent to the resort, right on the shores of magnificent Rodney Bay. We intend to make this lot into the Greek Village at Sandals Grande St. Lucian—slated to open in 2011.

With proposed features, such as sumptuous Swim-Up River Suites; palatial Rondoval Suites; and our 22 totally breathtaking (and unprecedented for the Caribbean) Over the Water Suites, 1300 square-feet, elevated accommodations which will extend right out over the aquamarine sea; plus countless other one-of-a-kind luxuries and innovations, the Greek Village would represent the greatest and most elaborate expansion in our entire 28-year history!

We’re not wasting any time either. We just cleared the land and we’re getting ready to break ground. It’s going to be really electrifying to see this awesome village built from the ground up. I’m so thrilled about this project, in fact, that I actually took time away from all the buzz and preparations leading up to the Grand Opening of the Italian Village at Beaches Turks and Caicos this week and flew down to St. Lucia to go over the construction layouts and examine the site. I can only tell you that it is going to be absolutely over-the-top. So stay tuned and I’ll keep you updated as the buildings start to go up and the Greek Village begins to take shape. As always with Sandals and Beaches, great things lie ahead!

Here I am with Mark Harding, Senior Regional Project Manager for the Eastern Caribbean, and one of my right-hand men, Wayne Cummings, Director of Business Processes and Administration, as we look over the building plans. You can see the red roofs and rondoval cones of Sandals Grande St. Lucian in the background.

Wayne Cummings and I go over architectural designs, as sailboats sit at anchor in Rodney Bay.

We have a lot to discuss, as I check out some of the incredible features of the proposed Greek Village with Mark Harding and Director of Projects, Eleanor Miller.

Wayne Cummings and I listen in as Mark Harding tells us about yet another unbelievable aspect of the building plans.

Check out this rendering of the Greek Village Over the Water Suites. Now you can start to see what all the fuss is about. These are going to be really spectacular!

 Check out this image of what the fabulous Greek Village will look like when it's finished!

I’ve always said that one of the reasons why Sandals and Beaches vacations are so incredible is the quality of our service. Our Caribbean staff is so warm and friendly and they really go the extra mile, always trying to take special care of all our guests.
That’s why we like to take the opportunity each year, with our Prestige Awards, to give a round of applause to the staff that does such a tremendous job at each of the resorts.
At one of this year’s Prestige Awards Ceremony, we honored those folks that make a difference at Sandals Montego Bay. You could really get a sense of our staff members’ true island hospitality from the smiling faces of all our award winners—like Manager of the Year, Beverly Robinson; General Manager’s Award recipient, Damion Falconer; and Team Member of the Year, Sharlene Morris.

Congratulations to all the 2009 Prestige Award winners from all of our resorts!

And there’s even more excitement soon to come, because this year, for the first time, we’re debuting an Ultimate Team Member of the Year Award, which we’ll announce at a ceremony this May. So check back here for details and to find out which of our resort Team Members of the Year has been chosen as Sandals and Beaches best of the best!

Here I am presenting the Sandals Montego Bay Manager of the Year Award to Grounds Manager Beverly Robinson, who is in charge of making sure that the gardens at the resort stay so green, lush and filled with brilliant flowers.

Big smiles all around from Sandals Montego Bay General Manager, Phillip Cardnell; Manager of the Year, Beverly Robinson; and me!

Check out three very happy faces, as I present Damion Falconer with the Sandals Montego Bay’s GM Award, while General Manager, Phillip Cardnell looks on with pride.

2009 Team Member of the Year, Sandals Montego Bay’s Linen Room Controller, Sharlene Morris, is really loving the look of her award, as GM, Phillip Cardnell, Executive Housekeeper, Juliet Manderson, and I share in the joy of her big moment!

Here’s a bonus pic of Sandals Royal Caribbean's 2009 Manager of the Year winner, Evening Duty Manager, Oakely Cunningham, as he accepts his award from General Manager, Iain McCormack, on March 27th. Another great moment!