Joyce Destang wasn’t a skilled hotelier. Or an accountant. However three many years in the past, Joyce Destang and her husband gathered up “each penny they’d,” and took an opportunity on a plot of land within the Rodney Bay space. It started with 45 rooms and a dream.
Now, 30 years later, the Bay Gardens resorts portfolio is among the Caribbean’s greatest hospitality success tales, with a rising portfolio, a stellar status and enduring concentrate on the local people.
At this time, the resort is stewarded by Destang’s son, Sanovnik, a former Caribbean Hotelier of the 12 months winner and the present president of the Caribbean Resort and Tourism Affiliation.
The portfolio has grown to incorporate 5 totally different properties, from the basic Bay Gardens to the Bay Gardens Seaside Resort to the Water’s Edge Villas. One other property can be debuting later this 12 months.
Bay Gardens has turn into greater than only a resort model; it’s turn into part of the material of Saint Lucia, a dwelling tourism enterprise that’s on the core of what the sustainability motion is de facto all about.
That’s as a result of, at its core, the St Lucian-owned property is all about the local people. In reality, to have a good time the large birthday, the resort launched the brand new Bay Gardens Group Fund, a charitable initiative centered on empowering youth, sustainability and preserving the island’s cultural heritage. A lot of inns use the “sustainability” buzz phrase. Right here, it’s an actual factor.
“We’re turning thirty—not youngsters or younger adults, however a full-grown enterprise,” Destang informed Caribbean Journal. And we don’t plan on going into our ‘soiled thirties’ quietly! This 12 months will carry a number of firsts for Bay Gardens, and maybe essentially the most anticipated is the opening of Sapphire Sands Villas, which guarantees to carry a brand new wave of luxurious to the BG model—at a degree we’ve not seen earlier than.”
Certainly, we just lately known as Sapphire Sands some of the anticipated openings of 2025, with a residential resort idea that’s one of many hottest developments in journey proper now.
We’ve stayed on the firm’s resorts a number of occasions, and we’ve at all times been impressed not simply by the extent of hospitality however the dedication to authenticity. Certainly, considered one of Destang’s coolest improvements was the “dine-around” all-inclusive idea, which let company staying on the AI plan truly exit and luxuriate in native eating places as a part of their package deal. It was a program that despatched shockwaves thorough the business when it first debuted, however now it’s spawned quite a lot of comparable packages throughout the Caribbean, in a welcome growth for the impression of all-inclusive.
“Essentially the most rewarding a part of this journey hasn’t simply been our growth or improved enterprise efficiency, however fairly the event of our folks and the impression we proceed to have on the neighborhood,” Destang stated.
The resort can be holding a year-long calendar of occasions to “delight and have interaction company” as a part of the birthday celebrations. That can embrace flash gross sales, particular offers and cultural showcases, with the gross sales beginning on teh finish of each month.
It’s an inspiring Saint Lucian story, because the island’s Tourism Minister, Ernest Hilaire, acknowledges.
And it’s an instance of true sustainability — when tourism and hospitality embed themselves in a spot, and plant deep roots.
“When searching for an instance of profitable native possession, one ought to look no additional than the Destang household.” Hilaire stated.
For extra, go to Bay Gardens.
Are you planning a visit to the Bay Gardens? You will discover costs on the firm’s Bay Gardens resort for as little as $183 per night time proper now. The Bay Gardens Seaside resort, set on Reduit Seaside (our favourite resort on the island), has charges at $271 per night time.
