Sandals’ Overdrive Caribbean tour 2018 stormed into Jamaica’s western city Monday night, packing hundreds of resort staff into the Montego Bay Conference Centre, St James for a pulsating, high-energy presentation showing why Sandals has been voted World’s Best All-Inclusive Resort 22 years in a row.

Against a backdrop of colour, high-definition video tales, throbbing music, and personal testimonials, Sandals trotted out, one after the other, scores of Jamaicans who started at the bottom of the resort chain and rose to the top, now selling Sandals to the world.

Leading that illustrious group was Gary Sadler, remembered by Jamaicans as a popular impersonator of politicians who joined Sandals as a play-maker and is now the Miami-based senior vice-president for sales, worldwide, and emcee for the fast-moving show.

As if the night’s entertainment was not already over the top, Sandals Chairman Gordon “Butch” Stewart took to the stage and out-rivalled DJ/dancer Kemar “Ding Dong” Ottey and his Ravers crew to the delight of the 1,000 hotel staff members flashing camera phones for a lasting record.

The one-night presentation afterwards moved on to Barbados, Grenada, and ended in St Lucia Friday night, after a successful series of heart-stopping shows targeting thousands of travel agents and tour operators in many United States and Canadian cities.

The resort chain received ringing endorsement from Director of Tourism Donovan White and Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association (JMEA) President Metry Seaga, who agreed that the Sandals outfit had been an enormous asset to Jamaica and the Caribbean.

“Our performance as an industry would not have been possible without the commitment and effort of our dedicated workforce, including the team at Sandals Resorts International,” said White. “The passion you bring to work is inspiring, and I am moved by your steadfast desire to provide excellent service, which has certainly propelled the success of Jamaica’s tourism. We know that the economic benefits of tourism to Jamaica are unquestioned.

“In fact, each year the sector posts the highest levels of foreign exchange receipts (approx US$3b). From luxurious five-star hotels to the itinerant vendor on the street, the impact of those earnings exalts tourism attractions as national treasures,” he said.

“Sandals Resorts International has been a major player in the industry, not only in Jamaica, but also in the wider Caribbean region. In fact, the resort group contributes an estimated J$3 billion to the local manufacturing industry each year. And they are a major employer in at least seven other countries in the region.

“The importance of brands such as Sandals and Beaches cannot be understated. Here in Jamaica, a significant percentage of all purchases for its hotels are sourced in Jamaica. So whether it’s the Blue Mountain Coffee, or the bottles of Wata, the Appleton Estate Rum or the Red Stripe, there’s a huge investment in the local economy,” White added.

Seaga, who heads the newly merged JMEA, earned prolonged applause when he told the staff: “You work for a company that is filled with rock stars. I feel the passion that you have for all your properties.

“I couldn’t be more proud every time I see the Sandals commercials selling Jamaica and the Caribbean on CNN and other major cable networks,” said Seaga. “Keep doing what you do so well.”

Responding to the accolades, “Butch” Stewart acknowledged: “We are the company that produces the stars. But it is based on training and training, from day one…Behind our success has been the fact that our dedicated staff at Sandals has always worked for company, for country, and for the Caribbean.”

Demonstrating the might of Sandals and Beaches, Adam Stewart, SRI deputy chairman, noted the resort chain comprises 19 resorts with 5,481 rooms across seven islands; pulls in a million customers a year, with a 40 per cent guest return rate underscored by an 84 per cent brand recognition; and pours 8.4 million cups of Blue Mountain Coffee a year.

He announced that ground is to be broken in January 2019 for a 500-room Beaches hotel on 600 acres of land in Barbados, bringing to three the number of resorts in that eastern Caribbean island.

New CEO Gebhard Rainer, who made this name at Hyatt, one of the leading international hotel chains, said during his 40 years in the industry: “We had always looked at Sandals with admiration and a bit of jealousy, asking ourselves ‘what is the secret of that brand?.”

He suggested that Sandals was the only true five-star-luxury included resort in the business, noting that it was selling a dream, rather than mere vacations. Rainer also cautioned staff that, unlike most products, if damaged the dream could not be returned, because you “can’t return and repair a memory”.

Jordan Samuda, director of Sandals’ Procurement Division, disclosed that the resort was moving a whopping 2,400 shipments of supplies a year and doing everything to support local production.

Heidi Clarke, director of the charity arm, Sandals Foundation, reported that after only nine years, its activities had impacted more than 700,000 people across the Caribbean, including over 140,000 children; with a programme value of US$46 million.

Marsha-Ann Donaldson Brown, director of weddings, said wedding parties had grown from 10 to a new norm of 150 people travelling to Sandals resorts, making the romance travel niche a growth area year on year; with the hotel chain achieving a 98 per cent satisfaction rate.

Other speakers included Dr Phillip Brown, director of the Sandals Corporate University; C J Smith, a former play-maker turned senior business development manager; Jardine Vassell, a Beaches Ocho Rios photo shop supervisor who copped this year’s Ultimate Team Member of the Year and the US$20,000 main prize, plus a private jet ride for two to an overseas Sandals destination of her choice; and Kadeen Black, Sandals Montego Bay front desk agent; who took the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association Employee of the Year trophy for 2018.