Gordon Stewart, “Butch” to everyone who knows him, remembers the
day in 1981 when he first came across the rundown hotel on Montego
Bay that would launch the appliance manufacturer into the resort
business.
“I had never seen that beach before,” said Stewart, 61, who grew
up on the north shore of Jamaica. “When I saw it I couldn’t believe
it. We were lucky.”
Stewart redeveloped the property and opened it as Sandals
Montego Bay, the flagship of the Sandals empire that would change
the face of the all-inclusive resort business. Today, Stewart is
one of the most influential men in Caribbean tourism, controlling
17 resorts, Air Jamaica, the Observer newspaper and a dozen other
companies, in addition to the appliance business that gave him his
start. He is now the largest employer in Jamaica, controlling more
than $1 billion in assets. Despite the problems of the industry,
this year he’s opening three hotels, including his second in
Cuba.
On Nov. 4 at the World Travel Congress in Hawaii, ASTA honored
Stewart with its Travel Hall of Fame Award, in recognition of his
contributions in developing and expanding the tourism industry.
(The same award was given to Mario Perillo, chairman of Perillo
Tours.)
“From day one Butch Stewart has appreciated the travel agent,”
said ASTA President and CEO Richard Copland.
To many, Stewart is the personification of Jamaica tourism, a
homegrown product who made the poor island nation into a
first-class destination. And Stewart did it with his own style and
flair.
“He’s absolutely a different breed, cut from a totally different
cloth than anyone else in the world,” said Ron Letterman, president
and CEO of Classic Custom Vacations. “He’s one of the best
intuitive marketers I’ve ever seen.”
Much of Stewart’s story is already part of tourism lore, a
classic story of a self-made entrepreneur who carved out his own
fortune.
He started with the Dutch-owned Curacoa Trading Co., eventually
rising to sales manager. In 1968 he went out on his own, founding
Appliance Traders Ltd., an air-conditioner service and distribution
company.
“When I was 26 I rolled the dice,” said Stewart from London,
where he was attending a travel show. “I felt like I had had enough
exposure to make a start.”
Supplying appliances to government-operated hotel facilities, he
saw an opportunity to do it better and to solve a problem. Stewart
said it was difficult to raise foreign capital for his appliance
business at the time, but he could generate hard cash from foreign
interests through tourism. Finding the Montego Bay property gave
him a start.
Sandals soon became known for a willingness to offer the type of
amenities considered unnecessary by his peers. He was the first to
add such perks as Jacuzzis, swim-up bars and hair dryers in guest
rooms, bringing an upscale, couples-only sensibility to the
all-inclusive concept.
“I still believe the best thing that ever happened to us is that
we knew nothing about the hotel industry,” Stewart said. “We didn’t
know what the rules were.”
Stewart’s oft-repeated customer-first philosophy extends to all
aspects of his properties, which often reflect the owner’s personal
tastes. For example, many of the Sandals rooms now feature
four-poster mahogany beds.
“I’ve always had a bad back,” Stewart said. “And I know what
beds that don’t work well do to a person.”
This type of customer focus rescued Air Jamaica, which he took
over from the government in 1994. While it is once again losing
money, the airline is expanding its routes, and Stewart said that
Air Jamaica, which handles more than half of the air passengers to
Jamaica, isn’t threatened any longer.
To market his companies, Stewart focuses on travel agents.
“Most of our money is put into the agent’s side of things,”
Stewart said. “I keep saying we’ve had this 21-year honeymoon with
the agents, and I think it has paid off.”
ASTA’s Copland noted that the relationship goes both ways. At a
time when travel agents were getting barraged from all directions,
Sandals paid for billboards encouraging its customers to book
through travel agents.
“This is someone who is very human, not just a corporate exec,”
Copland said.
Stewart described himself as “an old fisherman ... sitting on
the veranda with old friends chatting about what I call a lot of
nonsense.” But those who know him use words like “driven” and
“workaholic” to describe his work ethic.
“He’s very much hands-on,” said Mike Norton, vice president of
Caribbean marketing for GOGO Worldwide Vacations. “I’ll hear from
him on weekends, just to talk and see how things are going.”
“I never worked a day in my life,” Stewart said. “If this is
work, give me more.”
Editor’s note: Look for our profile of ASTA’s Travel Agent
of the Year Sho Dozono, on Dec. 16, in the Pacific Northwest
destination section.
