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5/4/2014 
SANDALS LASOURCE GRENADA OFFICIALLY OPENS WITH MUCH FAN...  
A lavish ceremony marked the official opening of Sandals LaSource Grenada Resort & Spa on Monday, April 28, five months after the resort began receiving its first visitors in December 2013. Featuring 225 rooms, including 69 with butler service and several with private plunge pools, the resort is the brand's first on the Spice Isle and also the first of the chain's hotels to feature a new premium steakhouse, Butch's Chophouse. “We are thrilled to celebrate all that we have accomplished in this marvellous destination,” said Gordon 'Butch' Stewart, chairman of Sandals Resorts. “The elevated level of luxury at Sandals LaSource Grenada has set the bar for what is possible to imagine among all hoteliers in the Caribbean. We are confident our work here will become one of the most compelling reasons to visit the Spice Island. During the ceremony the resort received a number of awards from the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences (AAHS), including two Six Star Black Diamond awards for excellence in hospitality, and two Six Star Green Diamond awards for the resort and its Red Lane spa's environmental practices. To lure Sandals Resorts International (SRI) to Grenada, the former Tillman Thomas-led government dangled a hard-to-resist tax package featuring a 25-year holiday on corporate taxes and a cap on property taxes for a similar 25 years, plus a waiver on all import duties, VAT (value added) and Customs services charges on all capital inputs for the next 25 years. In addition, the acclaimed hotel chain received a waiver on import duties for 25 years and a cap on the VAT for 25 years on room occupancy. At the end of the 25 years, there will be a waiver on the VAT on consumer goods, as well as a waiver of import duties on food, alcohol and other drinks over the next 15 years . "We did it because we recognise the enormous benefit that the presence of Sandals can have and will have for Grenada," said then finance minister Nazim Burke. In exchange for the package, Sandals agreed to invest US$100 million in Grenada in three phases starting with US$30 million in the first phase and an agreement to employ 100 workers, while retaining most of the staff compliment of 225 workers who lost their jobs due to the closure of the then 100-room LaSource which Stewart acquired. Fired up by the warm reception of the Grenadians, Stewart has already spent most of the US$100 million. In phase two, Sandals added 65 rooms to the hotel at a spend of US$25 million, bringing the number to 165 rooms by December 2013 and employment of an additional 225 workers in construction. In phase three, an additional 100 rooms were built at a cost of US$46m, to bring the total capacity of the hotel to 225 rooms and staff complement to about 425 persons. Sandals resorts in the islands have typically set the wicket for big increases in employment, airlift to the destinations, the state tax take, unprecedented global promotion of the islands using the formidable Sandals machine as well as, investment and stimulation of the economy in general. At Monday's opening, Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell, who saluted Opposition Leader Tillman Thomas for signing the initial Memorandum of Understanding with Sandals, announced that Grenada was already experiencing a 6 percent increase in Canadian and American visitors, a sizeable jump in airlift and had inked two five-star hotel deals with more on stream. "We are extremely happy and excited about the prospects that this brand has brought to Grenada, Carriacou and Petit Martinique," Mitchell said, mentioning the other two islands of the tri-island nation and pitching it as "a fine example of a safe, luxurious and worry-free destination". Tourism Minister Alexandra Otway-Noel told Stewart, "It's a miracle that you have made happen and all Grenada thanks you for bringing this magnificent brand to our island." Stewart, in his address, described the hotel as "an absolute miracle", noting the smoothness and "lack of fuss" with which the construction had taken place. "Something that should have taken two years was completed in 10 months," he told the large gathering of top Grenadian and regional personalities. "Many highly qualified Grenadians who applied for management positions, opted to take much lesser jobs when they didn't get what they had wanted, just to be a part of the action." He singled out several individuals who had impacted his decision to invest in Grenada, including leading local hotelier and former president of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourist Association Sir Royston Hopkin. SRI CEO Adam Stewart said the creation of Sandals LaSource Grenada had been "an incredible journeyin an incredible country", adding that "every ounce of our creativity went into this project". There was a special moment of pride when, after a mere three months of operations, Sandals LaSource Grenada received the Six-Star Diamond Award from the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences founded by American movie legend Frank Sinatra and whose current president, Joseph Cinque, was on hand to present the award to Stewart. Prime Minister Mitchell and the tourism minister joined Governor General Dame Cecile LaGrenade to cut the ribbon, symbolising the official opening of the resort which started accepting guests in December last year and is currently enjoying 100 percent occupancy. The event closed with a fireworks display, followed by an after-party featuring a performance by America's Got Talent contestant William Close. Source: Ja Observer
 

 


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SANDALS LASOURCE GRENADA OFFICIALLY OPENS WITH MUCH FAN...  
Prime Mnister Mitchell and Minister of Tourism Mrs Otway when your government talks about Businesses wanting to Invest in Grenada ,sir this was a real case of which you and your Government should be ashame of yourself for all the negative statements you and your party made during the last election concerning the previous Government of That Decent Man Mr Tillman Thomas and members of the then Ndc Government and the way forward in which they were taking Grenada in transparency and accountabiliy,and today sir the proof is in the pudding with the opening of this Real Invesment by the Sandals Hotels Company here in Grenada yes A REAL INVESTOR ,and not one of those pie in the sky promises that you and your Government were making daily especially that Five Point investment Plan,and yet we are still awaiting these INVESTORS you and your party keeps talking about and i do believe that the time has come for you and your government to apoligise to Mr Tillman Thomas and members of his last government for the scandalous way in which you and your party ran that dirty and spiteful and the methods and every dirty tricks hat was used to fool our unsuspected voters in a way to gain power on the back of lies and dammed lies to win that last election now you and your government on hand to capatilise and reap the harvest of the Real Investment work that was created by both The Sandals Hotel Company and the then Ndc Government of Tillman Thomas ,Yes Real Investment both in the interest of Grenada and our people.
232By: gabe
5/6/2014 10:35:53 AM