by Brian Major
Last updated: 1:15 PM ET, Mon October 4, 2021
All-inclusive resort firm Sandals Resorts International (SRI) is celebrating its 40th anniversary with a series of programs that salute the company's Jamaican roots and the legacy of its late founder, Gordon "Butch" Stewart.
The new programs also focus on initiatives to support Caribbean people and communities and on-property services and features that evoke SRI's legacy of hospitality. "This year marks an incredible milestone for Sandals Resorts," said Adam Stewart, SRI's executive chairman.
"It's especially meaningful as we take this moment to honor what my father created and carry on his revered legacy across the Caribbean," said Stewart.
Leading SRI's initiatives is the establishment of the Gordon "Butch" Stewart International School of Hospitality and Tourism at The University of the West Indies in conjunction with Florida International University's Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management.
Based at the University of the West Indies' Miona campus in Montego Bay, Jamaica, the program will offer fully accredited undergraduate coursework designed to "develop the next generation of international tourism and hospitality leadership," said SRI officials.
The new institution will complement SRI's Sandals Corporate University, established to provide Caribbean-based Sandals staff members with opportunities to improve and develop occupational skills and earn undergraduate and post-graduate degrees. "When we invest in Caribbean people, we invest in the future of the region," Stewart said.
In the same vein, Stewart said SRI's Sandals Foundation will identify 40 projects that support the growth and development of local farmers, artists and community organizations and create hospitality and training plans. The initiatives will "best showcase the link between tourism and its power to transform lives," he said.
Under the Sandals Foundation initiative, company officials and staff will engage in programs including ecological conservation work at Jamaica's Blue and John Crow Mountains, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and programs to improve local farmers' capacity to produce sustainable food.
At SRI's resorts, the company is ramping up the 40th-anniversary nostalgia with side-by-side 1981/2021 cocktail menus and new poolside service featuring Caribbean-inspired snack and cocktail menus. SRI's bars and restaurants will debut eight curated, hand-crafted cocktails featuring distinctive flavor blends, premium liquors and hand-picked herbs from local farms.
SRI is also launching a 1981-inspired collection of vintage t-shirt and a retail collection featuring 10 designs that pay homage to Sandals' founding era. Items in the group will be available for purchase beginning in November at the resorts' Beach House shops.
Travel advisors and Caribbean vacationers can also keep up with SRI developments via the company's first-ever podcast. The upcoming Sandals PalmCast will give listeners the "inside scoop" on news and developments across SRI's properties with 13- to 20-minute episodes featuring expert insights, resort overviews and special interviews
SRI's average repeat guest rate is near 50 percent, said officials, indicating SRI visitors are eager to learn more about the company's resorts throughout the Caribbean.
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