Travel Agent recently had the privilege of sitting down with Sandy Lane’s new general manager, Robert Logan, and chatted about the Barbados resort’s recent multimillion-dollar upgrades, as well as Logan’s new gig.
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The porte cochere at Sandy Lane on Barbados |
Logan took over in September and comes to Sandy Lane with more than 20 years of international management experience at some of the world’s leading luxury hotels and resorts.
Most recently, he served for four years as general manager of Raffles Hotel, Singapore, where he oversaw a staff of 600. Logan told us that experience gave him the confidence he needed to oversee a luxury Caribbean resort giant like Sandy Lane.
“There are 112 rooms at Sandy Lane and 107 at Raffles. The UK is the first market for both hotels and both hotels have great history, so I really like that there are tremendous similarities between the two, something that certainly made it more comfortable for me when I decided to take this position,” he told us.
And the fact that the U.S. is Sandy Lane’s second market is also a major advantage for the property, since it still has great potential for upside in that market. However, Logan also noted that his main focus will be taking care of the repeat clients, most of whom are Europeans, since the property’s “home away from home” mentality is its foundation, he says.
Speaking of foundations, Sandy Lane seems as though it is always enhancing its look, whether it’s upgrading rooms, expanding restaurants, adding new spa products or—in the case of the property’s recent transformation—all three.
Sandy Lane closed for about a month and reopened in October, welcoming guests into rooms with new linens and furniture and 52-inch TVs; new spa amenities, including a new sauna and a new line of products; and the expansion of the property’s Bajan Blue Restaurant. Among other new features, Bajan Blue is now home to a new lobster tank, red wine cellar and new lounge area.
“During such tough economic times, you don’t really see many owners pouring more money into a resort, but the fact that our owners are [doing just that], really shows the resort’s commitment to its guests,” Logan told us.
And that commitment is the reason why the property receives so many repeat customers and, like a perfect circle, those repeat customers are the exact reason why Sandy Lane may not have to worry as much as other Caribbean resorts during the U.S economy’s ongoing struggles.
“We don’t know what is going to happen next year. No one does,” Logan says. “But for the short term, we haven’t experienced any kind of loss [in business]. And for the long term, we think our repeat business will be the main reason why we will continue to do well and why we don’t need to worry.”