SANDALS and Beaches resorts have won six Readers Choice Awards in the annual vote tabulated by prestigious travel magazine Recommend, which praised the Caribbean hotel chain for continuously raising the bar on luxury at all-inclusive resorts.

The awards, highlighted in the magazine’s December issue, include Best Resort/Hotel Chain for Spa, Best Resort/Hotel Chain for All-Inclusive, Best Resort/Hotel Chain for Honeymoon/Romance, Best Resort/Hotel Chain in the Caribbean, Best All-Inclusive Resort Chain for Travel Agent Support, all won by Sandals; and Best Family-Oriented Resort/Hotel Chain, won by Beaches.

News of the awards had Sandals founder and chairman Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart beaming with pride as he pointed out that this kind of recognition stemmed from continued passion for the product.

“As we approach our 30th anniversary, our number one priority remains… to continue to offer travellers a top luxury product and an unforgettable experience,” Recommend quoted Stewart.

The magazine noted that the chain’s philosophy of constant upgrades has paid off big as Sandals/Beaches have won in all six categories for five years running and have taken home at least one Readers’ Choice Award for the past 11 years.

Recommend highlighted Sandals’ Martha Stewart Weddings programme, which brings celebrity wedding designs to every property in the chain; its Red Lane Spa signature line, which partners with Dermalogica; Beaches’ Sesame Street Programme; Sandals Emerald Bay’s poolside butler service, as well as the merger of the Sandals and Royal Plantation brands as evidence that the resorts are “really luxury properties that happen to operate with all-inclusive pricing, rather than traditional all-inclusives”.

Recommend also reported Stewart as saying that the chain’s commitment to upgrading won’t waver in 2011 as it plans a US$25-million renovation at Sandals Grande Ocho Rios; and the introduction of over-water suites with see-through glass floors at Sandals Grande St Lucian.

The magazine also reported Kevin Froemming, president of Unique Vacations Inc, the wordwide representatives for Sandals and Beaches, as pointing to the importance of travel agents’ support.

Froemming spoke of the Certified Sandals Specialist and Preferred Sandals Agency programmes, as well as the chain’s “mega” familiarisation trips (referred to as FAMs) as strategies utilised by the chain to provide travel agents with knowledge of the product from first-hand experience.

“Our specialist programmes are designed to give agents and agencies a unique position in the marketplace as Sandals and Beaches experts,” Froemming said.

See related story on Jamaica’s success in Caribbean Business Report