The Tribune

FOR A third consecutive year, Sandyport Beaches Resort and Hotel has won a top hotel industry award based on guests’ positive comments online related to great service, friendly staff and an overall happy vacation experience.

Sandyport took a coveted RCI Gold Crown Resort Award - only three resorts in The Bahamas hold the annually-awarded designation.

Director General of Tourism, Joy Jibrilu, said: “This is the only resort I’ve been in where there is a Director of Happiness. When a property has that as a strategic objective and they designate someone to ensure guest happiness what better formula can there be for guest satisfaction?”

Accepting the award on behalf of the staff was General Manager Vernon Moss and Front Desk Manager Cheralda Arnett, who emphasised the importance of friendly and efficient staff, many of whom are mentioned by name in the reviews. “As you can see we have an exceptional property here but it is the staff that make the difference,” she said.

The Director General said it was phenomenal that a small niche resort hotel was able to garner such huge recognition.

“I am delighted to be here to congratulate the staff led by General Manager Vernon Moss and to meet the RCI representative, Shannon Dabney, who is here to recognise the importance of this award. We talk about excellence of service and how important it is, and this resort speaks to that. Sandyport Beaches Resort was assessed by RCI online guest comments on quality of service throughout the resort - check-in, grounds people, housekeeping - and I’m advised that of the thousands of RCI registered hospitality properties, only 15 per cent have achieved this Gold Crown Award honour.”

Ms Dabney, an RCI Account Executive, was also present to offer congratulations.

“Sandyport Beaches Resort is the only Gold Crown Award holder in Nassau; I’m proud and honoured that Sandyport is one of my clients; I can’t speak highly enough about the staff, it is evident that is really what makes the difference in guest’s overall vacation experience.”

The presentation coincided with another top achievement: the influential TripAdvisor site is consistently rating Sandyport Beaches Resort in the top three of 35 listed Nassau hotels. Sandyport Beaches Resort already holds their prestigious Certificate of Excellence which recognises establishments that consistently earn great

TripAdvisor reviews from travellers.