58 June 2016 - Business View Caribbean
have a casino within a two-hour drive.”
A combined staff of 290 – 110 at the hotel, 180 at
the casino – is employed on the property, which ex-
periences its prime busy season from Thanksgiving to
Easter, Conhoff said. Adjoining months on either side
are “shoulder seasons,” and the summer season runs
from June through August.
The offseason corresponds with peak hurricane time
in the Atlantic and runs from the end of August into
October, before business picks back up again as the
holidays near. Occupancy rates are twice as high in
the peak season as the summer season, Conhoff said,
and 80 percent of the overall business comes from
the United States – with the remainder coming from
Denmark, Italy and Germany.Divi Carina
The U.S. market is particularly strong, he said, because
American travelers don’t need a passport to book a
trip. And upon arrival, there’s a tangible comfort level
for visitors who are still speaking English, using U.S.
currency and under the jurisdiction of the U.S. legal
system.
“It’s a huge benefit, especially for the last-minute trav-
eler who sees a great deal somewhere online and
doesn’t have to worry about getting paperwork togeth-
er before the window closes,” Conhoff said. “It’s a very
tangible thing in terms of comfort. People feel better
here than in a non-U.S. location.”
Aside from the all-inclusive offers and the casino
presence, Divi Carina Bay also makes an effort to be
unique with its fundamental approach to partnering
with local businesses as suppliers and vendors, and
being a good corporate citizen with significant involve-
ment in community events.
The facility hosts the St. Croix Food and Wine Experi-
ence each April to raise funds for the St. Croix Founda-
tion, which distributes the money to organizations like
Toys for Toys, Holiday Hope and the Boys & Girls Club.
Another partnership, with the United Way, generates
cash from an annual chili cook-off.
“We’ve had some of these relationships since we’ve
opened,” Conhoff said. “And we try to do as much as
we possibly can for our local market. If you build rela-
tionships on a long-term basis, it works better than if
you jump around from year to year or project to project.
That’s what has worked best for us.”
The facility is located on the less-trammeled south side
of St. Croix – home to 50,000 full-time residents – and
boasts not only the lone casino in the whole territory,
