Business View Caribbean - June 2016 59
but also the only all-inclusive resort on the island lo-
cated 1,100 miles off the Florida coast.
“It’s a completely different market,” said Conhoff,
whose 200-room hotel includes 20 villas and is bro-
ken down into standard, deluxe and premium accom-
modations.
It’s the largest hotel on St. Croix and has the largest
available corporate meeting space, too. “If you are a
client who’s not looking for an all-inclusive, then you’re
not looking for us,” he said. “But in this day and age,
the all-inclusive is even more popular than it’s been
before. It gives the customer a one-time deal, you
know exactly what you’re paying at the end of the trip.”
The approach blends particularly well with a recent
trend that’s seen travelers preferring to bundle ele-
ments of their vacations together, rather than assem-
bling them piecemeal. Ninety percent of the overall
business is of the all-inclusive variety, Conhoff said,
with the only exceptions being guests who’d been visi-
tors before the all-inclusive policy was implemented,
and corporate groups.
Not to mention, it reduces the incidence of fiscal strain
upon departure.
“Everyone tries to book everything as a package –
room, hotel and airfare – and the all-inclusive lends
itself to that,” he said. “Once you’re checked in, you
don’t have to worry about anything. Everything’s taken
care of. You can budget a vacation and put a couple
hundred on top for small things you want to get, so you
know what everything costs and you don’t get sticker
shock when you get back home.”
