uk.superbrands.com Superbrands UK Vol. 23 By offering luxury, innovation and choice, Sandals and Beaches Resorts have been at the forefront of the Caribbean all-inclusive travel sector for 40 years. In an industry brimming with new contenders, the combined knowledge and experience of Sandals’ management team and resort staff has maintained its market-leading position Market Along the white-sand shores of Jamaica 40 years ago, a visionary with a passion to share his beautiful home with the world introduced the Luxury Included® holiday. Sandals Resorts sets itself apart by steering away from off-the-shelf all-inclusive package holidays, placing an emphasis on personal choice, and offering customers more for the price of their all-inclusive holiday. Sandals Resorts’ holidays include global gourmet cuisine at up to 16 restaurants per resort, unlimited premium brand alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, gratuities, and on-island airport transfers, as well as complimentary land and water sports such as golf and scuba diving for PADI certified divers. There are 16, soon to be 17, Sandals Resorts created exclusively for ‘two people in love’ located in Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Antigua, the Bahamas, Grenada, Barbados and Curaçao. Its sister brand, Beaches Resorts, comprises three resorts in Jamaica and Turks & Caicos and a fourth location coming to St. Vincent and the Grenadines catering for families, groups and couples. Product Sandals Resorts International has been an innovator in the luxury all-inclusive market for the last four decades, starting with introducing the first swim up pool bars in the Caribbean in 1984 and being the first resort Company in the region to provide hairdryers in guest bedrooms in 1987. The Company launched the Caribbean’s first Over the Water Maldivian-style suites in 2016, with more Over the Water additions at resorts in Jamaica and St Lucia thereafter. More recently in Jamaica, a multi-million-dollar renovation of the Company’s flagship resort, Sandals Montego Bay was completed in 2019. Extensive renovations also took place at Sandals South Coast resort, with the addition of the world’s first-ever Swim-up Rondoval Suites and re-design of the Dutch Village which opened in December 2020. Plans were also announced in 2020 for a brand-new Beaches resort in St Vincent, a new destination for the brand, which is set to be unveiled in 2023. In 2021, Sandals announced plans to open three new resorts in Jamaica – Sandals Dunn’s River, Sandals Royal Dunn’s River and Beaches Runaway Bay. Originally part of the group back in 1991, Sandals Dunn’s River will return to the portfolio in May 2023, following an extensive renovation. New room categories will include Tufa SkyPool Butler Suites with private glass front balcony pools and Coyaba Swim-Up Rondoval Butler Suites with private pools featuring rooftop sundecks with soaking tubs for two. In 2022, Sandals Resorts revealed its St. Lucia investment strategy. Twenty beachfront, two-storey villa rooms and five Rondoval suites will be added to Sandals Halcyon Beach resort, whilst a village of 20 Rondoval suites, seven with rooftop sundecks will debut at Sandals Regency La Toc in 2023. Achievements Sandals Resorts received 16 gongs at the 2021 World Travel Awards including the Caribbean’s Leading Hotel Brand, the Caribbean’s Leading All-Inclusive Family Resort, for Beaches Turks & Caicos Resort Villages & Spa and the World’s Leading All-Inclusive Resort for Sandals Grenada Resort & Spa. In honour of the brand’s 40th anniversary, Sandals Resorts announced several projects including The Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart International School of Hospitality and Tourism. The school will be based in Jamaica and aims to develop the next generation of international tourism and hospitality leaders. Sandals Resorts, together with the Sandals Foundation, is identifying 40 projects that best showcase tourism’s power to transform Caribbean communities and improve lives, as part of the ‘40 for 40’ charity initiative. Plus, the introduction of Sandals’ first-ever podcast, the ‘Sandals PalmCast’ gives listeners the inside scoop on all the latest happenings across the resorts to help celebrate the Company’s 40-year milestone. Sandals Resorts’ philanthropic arm, The Sandals Foundation, celebrated its 13th anniversary in 2022. The organisation aims to unite the region with one common goal: to elevate its people and protect its delicate ecosystem under the pillars of community, education, and the environment. The Sandals Foundation has implemented projects and programmes valued at more than USD $79m which has touched the lives of more than 1.1 million people to date. Sandals Resorts is the only hotel chain in the world to have nine resorts holding Master Certification from EarthCheck, the leading scientific benchmarking certification and advisory group for sustainability in travel and tourism. Four resorts hold Platinum, two hold Gold and one holds Silver EarthCheck Certifications. The Company also recently launched a Biodiesel Conversion Centre project in St Lucia, turning vegetable oil from the resort kitchens into fuel for diving boats. Sandals Resorts was created by Jamaican-born entrepreneur, the late Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart to share the beauty of the Caribbean with the world DID YOU KNOW?
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