A sparkling jewel on the fine sandy beach of Baie Longue, the Belmond "La Samanna" hotel, still ranked among the ten best luxury establishments in the Caribbean, reopened its doors to customers on December 10. What happiness!
As soon as we pass the imposing portal, we find an immaculate place: the vegetation is lush, the flowers bursting with color, the white façades contrast with the blue sky and the reception hall offers a magnificent panorama of Baie Longue.
The Belmond group considered for a few months not to reopen the hotel because the amount of work required was greater than the amount paid by the insurance; it would have been regrettable that the only high-end hotel on the island closed its doors after 48 years of existence ...
If the buildings had suffered little during cyclone Irma, all the vegetation was completely swept away, so it would have been necessary to replant everything; Eléonore Astier-Petin, the new director of the establishment who has been in post for 3 months, reports that the biggest damage was caused by the inactivity of the hotel for more than a year, which led to further deterioration of the equipment and interiors.
For the time being, the director explains that the hotel controls the occupancy rate by keeping it at 35%, so it is a gentle reopening before fully starting the season between mid-January and mid-February, time needed to settle in new employees and finalize minor work still required in the rooms.
Regarding the employees, 80% of the workforce is new, the former employees were all invited to return but on seasonal contracts of 9 months, many did not return to their jobs and instead accepted a plan compensation.
Ms. Astier-Petin was previously in South Asia where she spent her last 5 years dedicated to opening luxury hotels. She therefore took up the challenge of reopening Samanna according to the demanding standards of the Belmond group.
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