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How Caribbean hotels are luring skeptical visitors back

As the high winds and storm surges of Hurricane Florence make landfall in North Carolina, Caribbean hotels still are recovering from the epic storms of 2017.

Hundreds of hotels across the islands reopened throughout the year, with renovations ongoing. On some of the hardest-stricken areas such as St. Maarten and the Virgin Islands, only half the properties are accepting bookings, tourism officials say. But resorts continue to schedule openings for late this year or early next.

Their challenge, of course, is to convince tourists and meeting planners that the islands are open for business and that they don’t need to travel to Hawaii or Ibiza for a great beach.  

The view from Hotel El Convento in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico: After last year’s hurricanes, the island is increasing room inventory by 25%.
The view from Hotel El Convento in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico: After last year’s hurricanes, the island is increasing room inventory by 25%.

“People didn’t believe we were functioning,” says Nils Stolzlechner, general manager of the Wyndham Grand Rio Mar Puerto Rico Golf & Beach Resort, 25 miles east of San Juan. “Our challenge was to prove it.” The resort installed a webcam to convince prospective guests that the resort was ready to go on March 1.

General managers and marketing directors are employing a mix of paid advertising, social media and public relations to keep frequent guests, timeshare owners, tour operators and media planners abreast of progress and to tout their shiny new beach bars, cafes and spas. Some have launched promotions such as room-night giveaways and special events.

Although many are offering promotional rates, some GMs note that the low inventory of rooms has enabled them to maintain RevPAR levels. For some, housing contractors and relief workers provided revenue during a normally fallow time. Stolzlechner says one group earlier this year told the resort it planned to cancel its February convention, an eight-day meeting with about 300 guests. The hotel flew two of the organizers from Kentucky. “They were impressed and helped us get others to attend the conference.”

He says the hotel has hosted groups of 15 to 20 meeting planners “to show that we’re ready, and we’ll do it again.”

Puerto Rico, one of the hardest-hit islands, is still recovering. About 90% of the 147 hotels endorsed by the island’s tourism agencies are open. Many have accepted bookings even as they’ve continued to make repairs. Others were preparing to reopen in the fourth quarter.

Convincing skeptical travelers is a challenge for the U.S. Virgin Islands, where about half of the territory’s 5,000 rooms had reopened as of August, according to Commissioner of Tourism Beverly Nicholson-Doty. The remaining properties are expected to reopen throughout 2019, she says. The biggest challenges: working through insurance settlements and subsequent reconstruction, including accessing materials and labor.

The 90-room Emerald Beach Resort housed relief workers and contractors in the months after Irma and Maria devastated St. Thomas. The resort reopened for public bookings in February.

With the lack of rooms on the island, filling rooms isn’t difficult, GM Joel Kling says.  Still, Emerald Beach is offering promotional rates — 40% off, with room nights as low as US$175. “We’ve wanted to capture customers that planned to go to Puerto Rico, or that wanted a (on-U.S.) Caribbean island but didn’t have a passport,” Kling says.

On the small island of Saint Barthélemy in the French West Indies, the exclusive 34-room resort of Eden Rock–St. Barths (part of the Oetker Collection, with published daily rates above US$2,500) has taken a year to rebuild and plans to reopen December 22, GM Fabrice Moizan says.

Amid the reconstruction, which involved coordinating architects, engineers and designers, Moizan spent time connecting with travel agents and guests — half of the resort’s visitors are regulars.

That included a monthly email, calls with travel agents every few months, and postings on Instagram and Facebook. Eden Rock launched a video asking friends to complete the thought via social media, “A season without St. Barths is like…” For example, was it “a night without stars” or “Paris without the Eiffel Tower”? Moizan says the resort is largely booked through the holiday season and into early next year.

The island of St. Maarten also was shattered. Of the 5,000 rooms available across the island before the storm, fewer than 2,000 were bookable as of August, according to a spokesman for the St. Maarten Tourist Board. More than 40 different guest houses, villas and large-scale hotels were open.

Sonesta St. Maarten Resorts was preparing to reopen its 129-suite adults-only Ocean Point Resort on November 15, while its family-friendly, 416-room Maho Beach Resort Casino & Spa is gearing for a February 1 debut.

Eliska Hesova, Sonesta St. Maarten Resorts’ director of revenue and business development, says the hotels are publicizing the reopenings through email blasts, social media, press releases and updates for tour operators.

“It’s important to regain confidence and to offer pricing that will be in line with other competing islands that were less or not affected,” Hesova says. “Guests may feel hesitant coming into St. Maarten after such devastation, especially booking a resort that is still under reconstruction.”

The hotels are offering 40% to 45% off early bookings and promotions such as free upgrades and a five-night trip giveaway. Sonesta also is offering special rates for travel agents. 

The 210-unit Divi Little Bay Beach Resort had a soft open in May and planned to be fully open by October, according to director of marketing Beverley David.

The resort has run promotions and special events, including a photo shoot with the New England Patriots’ cheerleaders. The five-time Super Bowl champion photographed the cheerleaders for its 2019 calendar on several locations, “which showcased St. Maarten,” David says. “It helped the island, which needs all the help it can get.”

A rendering of Cap Eden Rock's Remy Bar
A rendering of Cap Eden Rock’s Remy Bar
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