Business View Caribbean - July 2015 73
was recognized as the winner of the 2014 Caribbean Hotel & Resort In-
vestment Summit (CHRIS) Rising Star Award by the International Society
of Hospitality Consultants (ISHC). “We’re pretty much the premier locally-
owned hotel on the island,” admits Sanovnik, proudly.
But the Bay Gardens group is not content to sit on its laurels. The proper-
ties are constantly being upgraded. Recently, the company spent millions
of dollars updating the Inn’s rooms, bathrooms, lobby and furnishings.
The Hotel added video conferencing facilities - the first on St. Lucia. At
the Resort, the spa was upgraded, and a new beach bar – Seagrapes -
was opened. In addition, by this coming August, a brand new water park,
Splash Island Water Park Saint Lucia, the first open water park in the Ca-
ribbean, will be complete.
The water park was conceptualized and will be operated by Sanonvik’s
wife Julianna Ward-Destang, a Bay Gardens Director who, like Sanovnik,
is a Chartered Accountant by profession. “It will put us in a different cat-
egory, altogether,” says Sanovnik, “because there’s no resort in the Carib-
