Seeking to allay fears that jobs not threatened by ‘slow season’

Durrant Pate/ Contributor

Fresh from “laying off” some 200 workers at its resort in Barbados, Jamaica-based regional all-inclusive hotel chain, Sandals Resort International (SRI) has opted this time around to have staff on rotation rather than retrenched at its three properties in St Lucia.

This is because the September to October period is usually a slow one, during which several hotels are experiencing lower than usual occupancy with seven expecting to close temporarily. Our Today reported last week that SRI last month laid off 200 workers before the slow season.

Managing Director of Sandals Eastern Caribbean, Winston Anderson admitted that anxieties are running high among its workers in St Lucia, telling the St. Lucia Times: “I would say first of all that it would be human nature to be anxious about what they see happening elsewhere and to say there wasn’t, yes there were. However, we try to understand the situation from the perspective that this is not unique to Saint Lucia but across the Caribbean.” 

He emphasized that during this period, occupancy tends to be low and one of the factors is the tropical hurricane season and people being uncertain of what is happening and “there are many other factors that impact people deciding to travel.”

Rotate rather than downsize

Continuing Watson pointed out: “Our approach is that yes we always look at downsizing during this time but we prefer to have our staff on rotation because we want our staff to always be able to put food on the table. Therefore, our strategy has always been to rotate. So instead of you working a full week, we will do a couple days less and you are still able to earn a living and we continue to market.” 

Pointing out that St Lucia and the staff there remain very dear to SRI, he explained: “Our journey started here in 1993 and we now have three amazing properties. A number of our senior leaders come out of St Lucia and it speaks to the quality, the warmth, the friendliness and that passion in St Lucia.” 

He remarked that the quality of the visitor experience, the service they receive and the people of St Lucia contribute to the success Sandals has enjoyed there, acknowledging the powerful influence of social media and personal interactions in favour of the resorts.

“So every single interaction I always say to our team and to everyone in fact, that every visitor, everyone out there is a marketing agent. Every interaction with a guest is going to create an experience to allow them to not only come back but encourage other people to come and I think that this is the best way to combat this period,” Anderson went on to say.

Sources say the layoffs in Barbados are a result of the current off-peak season, which will pick up as the winter tourist season, which starts in December kicks in. The workers laid off are mostly seasonal employees but Barbados’ Minister of Labour, Colin Jordan is seeking to downplay the significance of the layoffs by Sandals Barbados.