AFTER some nine months of closure, Sandals Barbados has opened its doors to high occupancy, an increased number of rooms and almost double its number of employees.

The hotel, which reopened on January 28, previously employed some 340 people. That figure has increased by just over 300 to a total of about 650 employees.

The transformation period for the old Couples hotel was rapid, according to Sandals Chairman Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart. “It was a snap decision to buy the property” he said. “We moved at lightning speed and didn’t have to lay off anybody.”

He applauded the co-operation of the Barbadian Government in assisting in the swift completion of the project. “We thought the co-operation we had in Grenada was as much as you could hope for,” he said. But the Barbados project received co-operation from the Government, agencies and unions that was as good or even better, he said, with the project enjoying not just a fast track but “a supersonic track”.

“In many ways we are a construction company with a resort company,” Stewart said.

After buying the hotel in 2013, Sandals continued to operate it from November 2013 through to March 2014, for the main purpose of assisting Barbados in maintaining its tourist numbers and therefore its airlift.

“We lost a fair bit of money,” Stewart said, but the decision was made to benefit the Barbadian economy.

Situated on Dover Beach on the southern end of the island where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Caribbean Sea, the hotel has brought back into operation more than 60 previously closed rooms, bringing the total room count up to 280 from the previous 210, according to General Manager Josef Zellner.

“It’s probably the most modern and spectacular hotel now that we’ve refurbished this one,” Zellner said.

One week after opening, the hotel was recording 80 per cent occupancy, Zellner said, many of them previous Sandals guests, and many of them previous visitors to the property.

Meanwhile, Sandals will be seeking to increase the number of US and Canadian tourists who visit the island.

Barbados currently receives most of its tourists from Europe, primarily Britain, Stewart said. But he aims to flip those numbers around and bring more North American tourists to the hotel, even while increasing the overall numbers from both markets.

This would be a continuation of the Sandals strategy in St Lucia, which received 70 per cent of its tourists from the European market and 30 per cent from North America. After two years in the island, Sandals changed that ratio to 60 per cent North American and 40 per cent European, Stewart noted.

The end result of the remodelling is a new hotel with a design that sets it apart from others in Barbados, as well as within the Sandals chain.

“It’s unbelievable how this project has turned out,” said Andre McDonald, Sandals project manager. “It’s exceeded everything I thought we’d achieve.” At its peak, the project had 900 people working on the site, McDonald said.

As for residents in the area who were disturbed by the months of dusty construction work, Stewart offered them the opportunity to visit the property and to dine in one of the resort’s several restaurants.

The number of restaurants on the property has been increased from the three prior to refurbishment to 11, and nine bars and lounges today. Many of them are built around a piazza-type environment in what used to be the hotel’s car park.

One of them, in the style of an upscale New York steakhouse, is named Butch’s Chophouse in honour of Stewart.

Across the piazza is another first — the Bombay Club — the resort chain’s first Indian restaurant. Other restaurants include an English-style pub called The Merry Monkey (named after the native green monkeys found on the island), a pizzaria, a French patisserie, two Japanese restaurants — one teppanyaki-style and one sushi, an Italian restaurant specialising in Ligurian cuisine, and several other bars and grills.

Jamaican products are well represented, with Appleton Special as the house rum on the property, though Barbadian and other rums are also available. Jamaican Kirov vodka and Old Tom gin are also available at the bedroom bars, and Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee is served at the restaurants.