HotelChatter

Tags: Hotel Weddings / Sandals Resorts / Martha Stewart / Caribbean Resorts / → All Tags

Get Married The Martha Stewart Way at Sandals Resorts

If you’re a home décor fanatic, and big fan of Martha Stewart, you’d think you’d want to throw yourself hook, line, and sinker into wedding preparations. But based on this new promotion from Sandals Resorts and Martha Stewart, it looks like there are plenty of nesting types whose passion for napkins and placeholders does not extend to destination weddings. (Hey, we don’t blame them. If we were on a tropical island with a rum punch just a snap of our fingers away, we wouldn’t want to be worrying about coordinating bouquets and boutonnieres either.)

The new Sandals Weddings by Martha Stewart “experiences” take the concept of an all-inclusive resort and a wedding reception package, and runs with it all the way to the crystal-clear shore. From January 1st, brides and grooms will be able to book one of six Sandals Weddings by Martha Stewart themes at 18 different Luxury Included Sandals Resorts and Beaches Resorts across the Caribbean.

more ›

Tags: Hotel Woes / Sandals Resorts / Caribbean Resorts / Hotel News / → All Tags

Meltdown Cuts 650 Jobs in Sandals Resorts

Bad news in the sunny Caribbean. Since we're not booking enough vacations down there, the Sandals Resorts are letting around 650 hotel staff go from their resorts in the Bahamas, Jamaica and St. Lucia.

That figure makes around 7% of the resort's workforce, so things aren't as bad for Sandals as they are at Wyndham where 12% of people will be out of a job. That probably doesn't make it any easier for the housekeeping staff or waiters in the Caribbean who won't have a paycheck next month.

Around 80% of vacationers in the region are American and the (optimistic-sounding) guess is that arrivals in the Bahamas, for example, will fall 8% for the year. Is it going to get worse? We're no economic experts; in the meantime the silver lining is there'll probably be some great deals going to entice more people to the area.

Tags: Sandals Resorts / Budget Hotels / Caribbean Hotels / Warm Weather Getaways / → All Tags

Sandals Introduces Budget Brand--The Grand Pineapple Beach Resorts

Travel Weekly reports that Sandals, Michael Scott's favorite Caribbean getaway, has introduced a new budget brand called Grand Pineapple Beach Resorts.

Two existing resorts will be reflagged with the new brand. The 180-room Grand Pineapple Beach Resort on Antigua's northeast coast will become the Grand Pineapple Beach Antigua, and the 65-room Negril Gardens in Jamaica will become the Grand Pineapple Beach Negril.

The brand will be open to both families, couples and singles. It will be all-inclusive and cover accommodations, meals, snacks, unlimited drinks, watersports and entertainment. The rates will be about 35 to 55 percent cheaper than the other brands. This is because the resorts will be more straightforward and are simpler and cheaper to operate, according to a Sandals rep.

Sandals already has three other brands in its portfolio including the namesake Sandals, the Beaches and the Royal Plantation Collection.

Here's a complete Sandals breakdown:

· Sandals: Sandals-branded and couples-only resorts are found in Jamaica, Antigua, St. Lucia and the Bahamas.

· Beaches: Beaches are family-oriented resorts found in Jamaica and Turks & Caicos.

· Royal Plantation Collection: This high-end luxury brand is found on Ochos Rios, Jamaica and Fowl Cay, Bahamas. Both resorts have options for private villas.

Tags: Caribbean Resorts / Television Travel / The Office / Sandals Resorts / → All Tags

Which Sandals Jamaica Did Michael Scott Choose?

Where: North Kent Ave, St James, Jamaica

If you watched The Office last night, you know that Michael Scott was planning on taking Carol any girl he could on an all inclusive trip to Sandals Jamaica. While Michael did not specify which resort he bought in to, we are going to guess it was Sandals Montego Bay, where according to the resort website:

A fun loving staff can help make every couple as lazy as the sun and as free as the sea - and the only rule to follow is to do whatever you please. As often as you want.

Wherever the office boss chose to say he can take full advantage of the amenities and scenery at all seven Sandals Jamaica resorts through the "Stay at 1, Play at 7" program.

Domo arigato, Mr. Mike Scoto.