34 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN APRIL 2021 vacation bookings, or as part-ownership. Wegerer notes, “Part-owners will be able to purchase two-month or three-month stays. They aren’t timeshares, they can actually own the villa and then come down for a six-week, two, or three month period, and just relax, snorkel or dive.” All current renovations and construction are scheduled to be completed by spring 2022. With everything they have on the horizon, the future is looking bright for Van der Valk Plaza Beach & Dive Resort. This is a welcome change from the past year, as the facility was not immune to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and saw a drastic drop in bookings. “It heavily impacted us,” Wegerer says. “Bonaire survives on tourism. And because of COVID, flights were restricted, so we were actually island bound for that time – we had no air traffic at all to the island from March 2020 to June 2020.” Occupancy typically runs at around 85 percent during normal times, but when COVID-19 hit, the resort’s occupancy dropped down as low as five percent at times. As a result, they had to temporarily cut their staff of 130 back to about 45 percent. “Presently we have 13 percent occupancy,” says Wegerer. “Obviously, it’s not easy. We work in the hospitality industry, which means we love to be connected with people. We love to hug people, we love to shake their hands, we like to joke and laugh and we want to serve our guests. That gives us pleasure, so not having those customers has definitely affected morale.” To help keep spirits high for employees, Wegerer says they have made a point of engaging in team-building activities. He shares, “We have done department outings on the dive boats, keeping social distancing in mind. We go to Klein Bonaire, which is a neighbouring island and we do a few games to try and just have a little bit of fun and keep the morale going.” They have also done staff cooking classes and bar mixology classes, and have allowed members from different departments to cross-train and learn
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