Sandals On The Move

Dec 10, 2013

Sandals La Source Grenada Resort & Spa will open Dec. 12. // © Sandals Resorts International F

Last month, TravelAge West was on-site at a Sandals Resorts International press conference in New York City. At the event, Gordon “Butch” Stewart, chairman of Sandals Resorts International, and Adam Stewart, CEO of the company, talked about the innovative vision they have for Sandals La Source Grenada Resort & Spa, which is opening Dec. 12.

“This is the Sandals of the future,” said Butch Stewart. “We want to do something in Grenada that’s never been done before. We want to be the company that delivers 6-star service at an all-inclusive resort. ”

Sandals La Source Grenada Resort & Spa

The design of Sandals La Source Grenada is exceptional, featuring private infinity plunge pools situated on the fourth- and fifth-floor balconies of the resort’s Italian Village wing. Other luxe details in the rooms include glass-tile plunge pools, indoor and outdoor showers, claw-footed bathtubs and 65-inch televisions.

Sandals La Source Grenada will have 225 rooms, most of which are suites, and eight restaurants. One of the resort restaurants will be Butch’s Chop House, a top-tier steakhouse.

“The boss’s name is on the restaurant, so someone is going to answer for it if it’s not up to our standards,” joked Adam Stewart.

New Islands and New Visions

Over the last year or two, the travel community has been tracking the progress of the highly anticipated over-water suites announced at Sandals Grande St. Lucian Spa & Beach Resort. Unfortunately, construction in St. Lucia has been stalled, but the company is moving forward elsewhere, with the construction of five over-water suites at Sandals Royal Caribbean in Montego Bay, Jamaica. It’s predicted that work will begin on the suites within the next six months.

Sandals Resorts has also entered Barbados for the first time, with the acquisition of two resorts. The former Couples Resort in St. Lawrence opened last month as a Sandals Resort, and a new Beaches Resort is set to be built on the site of the former Almond Beach Resort in St Peter. Both Barbados resorts will undergo extensive renovations, and Sandals Barbados will welcome the first ever Indian cuisine restaurant at a Sandals.

“We were in Great Britain talking with former guests, and they brought up the lack of an Indian restaurant at our resorts,” said Butch Stewart. “It was a topic that kept coming up. Our restaurant at Sandals Barbados won’t be an Indian/Caribbean fusion restaurant — it will be a full-blown Indian restaurant.”

Sandals Barbados will also be improved by the addition of a particular modern amenity: an elevator.

“The standard in the Caribbean was that if you had a three-story building, you didn’t need elevators,” said Butch Stewart. “Not me. If it’s two stories, I want to get in the box that goes up.”

Additional news for Sandals includes the announcement of new swim-up river suites at Sandals Royal Bahamian Spa Resort & Offshore Island, scheduled to debut in February 2014; and the addition of the upscale Key West Luxury Village at Beaches Turks & Caicos Resort Villages & Spa.