jan-2018

56 57 tomatch our facilities withwhat others have.First of all,the hotels next to us are bigger and some of the others are off the beach,whilewe are right in the middle of the best beach.Of course,everybody is a competitor,but we are very focused in our marketing which ensures that we always run verygood occupan- cy.We have over 45 percent repeat business; people keep coming backyear after year.That makes a big difference. “Grenada as a destination is still largelyunknown, andwhen it gets known I think it’s going to be very busy.There is fishing,water sports,beach,sailing,the forest if youwant to go hiking-a large variety for peo- ple to engage in.When it comes to history,thewhole island ismade up of old British,French,Colonial archi- tecture.People love to visit the old forts.Our Resort is only sixmiles from the capital cityof St.George’s,and tenminutes from theMaurice Bishop International Airport.We are close to banks,the supermarket,the citycenter,so there’s a lot to do.Anyonewho visits the island talks about thewarmth and friendliness of the people.That’s amajor part of Grenada’s attraction.” BVM: Do you have any infrastructure upgrades or ‘green’initiatives on the agenda? Cherman: “We just finished amajor refurbishing of the entire resort inOctober 2017.We did all the bedrooms,all the public areas.Everything is newand we’re getting verypositive comments about it.We offer WiFi throughout the Resort at no charge.For business guests,we also have a small conference roomavail- ablewith all the necessary technology. “On the sustainability front,we upgraded our air conditioning units,andwe’ve gone completely solar COYABA BEACH RESORT with the hot water system.Now, we’re looking at electricity to see if it would be cost effective to put in a solar electrical system. I knowit would save usmoney, but wewant tomake surewe can payback the investment in a reasonable amount of time. Besides that,we’re hoping in the next two to three years to do a further expansion–maybe add another 30 to 40 rooms.But we need to ensure the international economic situation is stable.It will be a newbuilding between