Business View Caribbean | Feb 2019

hurricane, left to make sure their kids were in school and safe. But they came back with gusto as soon as we opened in Oct. 2017. “We also wanted to be operational in St. Maarten, because we were the regional leader, the hub airport. A lot of neighboring islands – Saba, St. Eustatius, Nevis, Dominica, Anguilla, BVI and St. Barths – are very dependent on SXM Airport to have the major commercial and corporate jets come in here and transfer tour- ists over to their islands on smaller aircrafts like WINAIR, ST. Barths Commuter, Anguilla Air- ways and Anguilla Air Services. We were lucky to not have much runway damage. We are next to two beautiful beaches and a lagoon, so a lot of sand came onto the runways, but that was cleared up, shortly. Meanwhile, the salt of the sea wreaked havoc on some of the equipment 62 Dollar Rent-A-Car and Thrifty Car Rental are two of the largest car rental companies in the world. Dollar/Thrifty Car Rental (DT) in St. Maarten/St. Martin is located at the Princess Juliana Airport, the French side, and several major hotels on the island, including the Oyster Bay, Simpson Bay, Divi, and Sapphire Beach Resorts. In 2000, its current management team took over a Thrifty Car Rental franchise under the guidance of its Chief Executive Officer, Farina Amjad. Within a matter of a few years, she managed to turn around the company, completely, and increase the fleet from approximately 100 rental cars to nearly 400. In 2007, the firm purchased a local Dollar Rent-A-Car franchise and merged the two operations. Today, DTCR operates the largest car rental inventory on St. Maarten and features a fleet of new vehicles, including: economy, compact, mid-size, full size, and premium cars, as well as jeeps, convertibles, SUV’s, and vans - all at affordable prices. The company has been known for years as the best franchise on the island; its staff of 39 full-time and well trained employees providing very personalized and super efficient service.