An outbreak of COVID-19, angry customers and a public fight with the local government.
For a chain of resorts that promises a “worry-free vacation,” Sandals Resorts seems to be concerned about them.
Earlier this week, the Barbados Ministry of Health removed Sandals Barbados Resort and Spa from the list as an official “quarantine hotel” – one of the few places where newcomers to the island can stay while awaiting the results of two PCR tests negatives needed to move freely. The island. In a statement, the ministry cited several “verified complaints” of breaches of the COVID-19 protocol at the 280-room all inclusive resort, and warned that it would take “similar actions” against any other property that did not comply with the island’s rules and regulations. It also announced the arrest of three tourists suspected of violating quarantine rules.
Hours later, the Jamaica-based hotel chain responded with a statement of its own, claiming it had been caught off guard by the government’s announcement. The resort claimed that it refuted all allegations of protocol violations in writing and requested a meeting with the health ministry, and was “surprised” to learn of the cancellation of the list in the local press.
“We hope that the Minister of Tourism, the Minister of Health and the Medical Director, who have not yet been to our hotel to see the protocols in operation, can prioritize a visit to do so,” said the resort in an abnormally bitter statement to Barbados Today.
In a statement to The Daily Beast, a Sandals spokesman said his resorts in Barbados had an “exemplary record in the industry” and said the charges against them had not been substantiated. (The health ministry did not respond to several requests for comment, but issued a press release apologizing for insinuating that the tourists who dodged the quarantine were in some way connected to Sandals. They were not.)
It was not the first time that the hotel chain had fought with local government officials. Two weeks earlier, the ministry of health in Grenada, a Caribbean island with 111,000 inhabitants, announced an outbreak of 26 cases originating from the Sandals Resort there. In a few days, the number of active cases reached 44, doubling the total number of cases on the island since the pandemic began. The ministry considered the situation a “health emergency” and quickly decreed a maximum limit of 10 people in all meetings, as well as a ban on meals in closed spaces and, in the following days, a curfew at 10 pm.
Although Sandals initially promised to collaborate with local health officials, it has since turned against government officials. In an open letter published by various local outlets, Sandals Grenada general manager Peter Fraser classified the reports linking the outbreak to his resort as “completely unfounded” and expressed his “great disappointment” with government officials for not correcting them. .
Days later, Sandals Group Vice President Adam Stewart announced the closure of the Granada resort until February 3, blaming the decision not on the outbreak, but on the government’s own indecision.
“As the government is starting to change and is not sure how it will move forward with its own protocols and tourist entry requirements, we should expect them to finalize a plan so that we can have a professional conversation about how it will affect our customers, our operation and our team, ”said Stewart.
In a statement to The Daily Beast, the Sandals spokesman said the initial reports of an outbreak at Sandals were “proven to be inaccurate”. The spokesman cited a second round of PCR tests that resulted in no positive cases among his 432 employees and said that several of the initial test results were false positives. The Grenada Ministry of Public Health did not return several requests for comment.
The feeling among the locals seemed to be in favor of the network. Columnist of The new today accused the government of making Sandals a “sacrificial lamb” in its maneuver to reopen tourism and accused them of “the press[ing] a panic button while an investigation is pending and has not yet been completed. ”Left-wing Democratic National Congress members claimed that the government allowed Sandals to bypass security protocols and called for the immediate resignation of the two ministers directly involved.
Customers, however, directed their anger directly at the network. In the days when the outbreak occurred, negative criticism began to rain in the towns of Bermuda and Granada, with guests accusing resorts of selling rooms to which they did not deliver. An angry customer wrote on TripAdvisor that she paid $ 4,000 for a 4-night stay by the pool, only to be demoted to a “small, dimly lit room”, with no air conditioning and no warning. “I am totally in favor of keeping people safe, but be honest about the service you offer and do not accept money for something you cannot provide. This is below the quality of a 1 star motel room for the price of 5 stars. “
A man, who asked to be identified only as Jim, told The Daily Beast that he booked a room at the Grenada resort on December 14, but received no notice of the outbreak announced the day before. Instead, he received a frantic email two days later, telling him to contact the resort “immediately”. He said the hotel told him it would not accept any new visitors, and the best they could offer him was a credit to another location or a 50 percent refund. (The hotel changed its tone after Jim posted a particularly hard-hitting review on TripAdvisor.)
A Sandals guest named Mike, who also asked to be referred by his first name only, said he initially booked his honeymoon at the Granada resort, but moved to Barbados when the Granada property was closed. Upon arriving at the airport, he said public health officials told him that he and his wife had been tested incorrectly and would have to be quarantined at the hotel property until they could do further tests. When they arrived at Sandals, however, the resort staff said they would be confined not only to the hotel property, but to their room – much smaller accommodation, with no view of the sea or the pool. After spending less than 24 hours in complete isolation, Mike and his wife decided to pack up and leave.
Most frustrating in the whole experience, Mike said, was conflicting information from the resort and the government.
“We didn’t know, did we believe in the government people or did we believe in Sandals?” he said. “I understand, they have rules that they must follow, [but] my wife and I were like, ‘This is not worth the money we spent to be here.’ “
In a statement, a Sandals spokesman said the company is proud to have the highest rate of guest return in the industry and noted that over 90% of Sandals Barbados and Sandals Grenada guests share positive reviews on TripAdvisor.
Jim, reflecting further, admitted that it was “probably a really stupid idea in the first place to imagine that I could really escape”. He said he and his wife, who works in the medical field, plan to reschedule their vacation after being vaccinated. But he wasn’t going to schedule this with Sandals.
“I think it was an absolutely ridiculous way to deal with it,” he said in a telephone interview. “It would have been very easy to offer and process a refund in advance. I would not have felt adversely about them. Now I am quite convinced that I will never book another trip with them. “