Gay Nagle Myers
When hotels companies weren't renovating and upgrading their properties over the past two Covid years, many also conceived new marketing strategies, invented new business models and set new benchmarks to recover lost revenues and customers.
Bahia Principe Hotels & Resorts, for example, is using the time at one of its resorts to create innovative experiences for its guests that incorporate the environment, local culture and wellness, according to COO Antonio Teijeiro.
The all-inclusive Cayo Levantado Resort is located on the larger part of an island of the same name in Samana Bay, off the Samana peninsula that juts from the northeastern coast of the Dominican Republic. The resort, which opened in 2006 with 268 rooms, has been closed since March 2020, when Covid hit, Teijeiro said.
"Last October, 25 of us spent two days there brainstorming as a team to come up with the plan for the new Cayo Levantado to launch in late 2022," he said.
"We're dismantling and renovating the colonial-style hotel and many of the villas now, but we are keeping our footprint as small as possible. We will probably end up with 225 rooms."
He said that Forbes Travel Guide has been retained to provide recommendations to sustain the resort's luxury status, maintain exceptional service through health and hygiene, social distancing, food presentations and touchless/limited-contact services and protocols.
Antonio Teijeiro
Local architects are providing designs for guest rooms and public spaces that reflect the country's colors, styles and culture.
"We want to position the Cayo project as an important benchmark in the Dominican Republic, which will allow us to initiate our asset-light business model where we manage properties for owners, rather than buying or building our own," Teijeiro said.
"Although we do own Cayo Levantado, the new Cayo will showcase our ability to undertake such a project for prospective owners of other properties and demonstrate Bahia's commitment to improving its offers, adding value to the tourism sector and contributing to the development of the country," he said.
It is one of Bahia's 14 properties in the DR; the company has two more in Jamaica, four in Mexico and seven in Spain.
The island of Cayo Levantado, which has a public beach, has been divided into small areas where travelers can relax, energize, enjoy nature and spa treatments, mediate and do yoga with instructors brought over from the mainland.
Cayo will have a tower built around the trees, ideal for watching yubarta (humpback whales) from January through March and enjoying sunset cocktails made with local ingredients.
"We do invite visitors to come over to Cayo for the day and use the public beach and sample this tiny island that has a rhythm all its own," Teijeiro said.
Day visitors depart at 5 p.m. for the 10-minute ride on the resort's boat back to the mainland.
The 7,000 travel advisors who are members of the Bahia Principe Rewards program have been and will continue to be "an incredibly important component of Cayo Levantado's success," Teijeiro said. "During Covid, we improved the rewards program for them and extended the expiration dates on the booking points they had earning before we closed."