A COVID-19 outbreak, pissed off customers and a public row with the local government.
For a resort chain that promises “a worry-free vacation,” Sandals Resorts seems plagued by it.
Earlier this week, the Barbados Department of Health removed the Sandals Barbados Resort and Spa from the list as an official ‘quarantine hotel’ – one of the few locations where newcomers to the island can stay while awaiting the results of two negative PCR tests that necessary to move freely around the island. In a statement, the ministry cited several “ verified complaints ” of violations of the COVID-19 protocol at the 280-room, all-inclusive resort, and warned it would take “ similar actions ” against any other property that doesn’t adhered to the rules of the island. and regulations. It also announced the arrest of three tourists suspected of violating quarantine regulations.
Hours later, the Jamaica-based hotel chain fired back with a statement of its own, claiming it had been blinded by the government’s announcement. The resort claimed to have rebutted all allegations of protocol violations in writing and requested a meeting with the Department of Health, and was “surprised” to learn of the de-listing in the local press.
“We hope that the Secretary of Tourism, the Secretary of Health and the Chief Medical Officer, who have not yet been to our hotel to see the protocols in effect, can prioritize a visit to do so,” said the resort. in an unusually caustic statement Barbados today.
In a statement to The Daily Beast, a Sandals spokesperson said the resorts in Barbados have an “exemplary track record in the industry” and claimed the allegations against them had not been proven. (The Department of Health did not respond to multiple requests for comment, but did issue a press release apologizing for insinuating that the quarantine-evading tourists were in any way connected to Sandals. They weren’t.)
It was not the first time that the hotel chain sparred with local government officials. Two weeks earlier, the Ministry of Health in Grenada, a Caribbean island of 111,000 people, announced an outbreak of 26 cases from the Sandals Resort there. Within days, the number of active cases reached 44, doubling the island’s total number of cases since the start of the pandemic. The ministry considered the situation a “health emergency” and quickly imposed a maximum of 10 people for all meetings, as well as a ban on eating indoors and, in the days that followed, a 10 pm curfew.
Although Sandals initially pledged to work with local health authorities, it has since come out to government officials. In an open letter published by several local outlets, Sandals Grenada CEO Peter Fraser called reports linking the outbreak to his resort “completely unfounded” and expressed his “great disappointment” to government officials for not correcting them .
Days later, Sandals Group deputy chairman Adam Stewart announced the closure of the Grenada resort until February 3, blaming the decision not on the outbreak but on the government’s indecision.
“As the government is starting to shift and are unsure how they will proceed with their own protocols and tourist requirements, we have to wait for them to finalize a plan so we can have a professional conversation about the implications for our customers, our operation and our staff, ”said Stewart.
In a statement to The Daily Beast, the Sandals spokesman claimed that initial reports of an outbreak at Sandals had “proved false.” The spokesperson cited a second round of PCR testing that resulted in zero positive cases among the 432 employees, and claimed that some of the initial test results were false positives. Grenada’s Ministry of Health has not returned multiple requests for comment.
Sentiment among the local population turned out to be in favor of the chain. A columnist for The new today accused the government of making Sandals a ‘sacrificial lamb’ in its trick to reopen tourism, and accused them of ‘press[ing] a panic button while an investigation is running and has not yet been completed. Members of the country’s left-wing National Democratic Congress claimed the government had allowed Sandals to circumvent security protocols and called for the immediate resignation of the two directly involved ministers.
However, customers directed their anger directly at the chain. In the days around the outbreak, negative reviews began to pour in for the Bermuda and Grenada locations, with guests accusing the resorts of selling rooms they hadn’t provided. An angry customer wrote on TripAdvisor that she paid $ 4,000 for a 4-night stay in a water park, only to be downgraded to a “small, dimly lit room” with no air conditioning and no warning. “I’m all about keeping people safe, but be honest about the service you provide and don’t take money for something you can’t provide. This is below the quality of a 1 star motel room for the price of 5 stars. “
A man, who only wanted to be identified as Jim, told The Daily Beast that he had booked a room at the Grenada resort on December 14, but had not been notified of the outbreak the day before. Instead, he received a frantic email two days later telling him to contact the resort ‘immediately’. He said the hotel had told him it would no longer accept new visitors, and the best they could offer him was relocation credit or a 50 percent refund. (The hotel changed its tone after Jim posted a particularly sharp TripAdvisor review.)
A Sandals guest named Mike, who also asked to be called by first name only, said he initially booked his honeymoon at the Grenada resort, but moved to Barbados when the Grenada estate closed. On arrival at the airport, he said public health officials told him he and his wife had taken the wrong test and would have to go into quarantine on the hotel grounds until they could get new tests. However, when he arrived at Sandals, the resort staff informed them that they would be staying not only in the hotel, but also in their room – a much smaller property with no ocean or pool views. After spending less than 24 hours in complete isolation, Mike and his wife decided to pack their bags and leave.
Most frustrating about the whole experience, Mike said, was the conflicting information from the resort and the government.
“We didn’t know, do we believe the government people or do we believe Sandals?” he said. “I get it, they have rules to follow, [but] my wife and I were like, ‘This isn’t worth the money we spent to be here.’ ”
In a statement, a Sandals spokesperson said the company is proud to have the highest number of repeat guests in the industry, and noted that more than 90 percent of Sandals Barbados and Sandals Grenada guests share positive reviews on TripAdvisor.
Jim, on reflection, admitted that “it was probably a really stupid idea in the first place to imagine I could really get away”. He said he and his wife, who work in the medical field, planned to reschedule their vacation after they were vaccinated. But he wouldn’t book it with Sandals.
“I think it was an absolutely ridiculous way to deal with this,” he said in a telephone interview. “It would have been really easy to offer and process a refund up front. I wouldn’t have felt negative about them. Now I am firmly convinced that I will never book a trip with them again. “