The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE Tribune Business Reporter nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net SANDALS Royal Bahamian is looking at a 10 per cent increase in bookings, says general manager Patrick Drake. After investing almost $21 million into the restoration of the Manor building, Mr Drake said demand for that particular part of the hotel was "very strong" Mr Drake said: "The sales are going very well. March 1 is when we open up the Manor building but we have strong demand for rooms. The response in the marketplace is looking very strong, the bookings are coming in for that block in particular. We really want to stimulate sales because people realise we are bringing something new into the marketplace. "The Manor building has 145 rooms and within the first three weeks of opening we will have it totally sold. We have very strong numbers going right through spring and into the summer. We're very exited about what's taking place." Mr Drake noted that $20.5 million had been invested into the renovation of the Manor building. He said: "What was initially about $12 million went up to $15 million and now we are leveling off at about $20.5 million. Once we saw the project really start to shape we just seized the opportunity to do some upgrades to it. We added more walk out rooms so when a guest is on his balcony he can just walk from his patio, walk straight down form the beach to the pool. "The other two sections (The Windsor and the Royal Village) are looking very strong. What we have been doing is soft furnishing as we have gone along, even in the restaurant and public spaces. We have been doing quite a bit of upgrades on our Sandals Cay. Mr Drake said resort bookings were about 10 per cent ahead over the same period last year and that the resort's group business was "coming back strong." "Group business is coming back every strong," he said. "There is no day in the next two months that we don't have a group in house. Last year this time that was unheard of. We just had a group from Hewlett Packard, a massive group of almost 200 visitors. The day they came in another group of 160 left so it's really shaping up very nicely." He added: "Our winter has really helped. We have had a very mild winter. We really haven't lost many days to bad whether. What we see now is a little bit of a pick up in our UK business and our two and three week stays to offset some of those short stays. "We continue to pick up a bit with the efforts of Copa so we get a few Brazilians coming up to, it's growing. All around we are trying to squeeze every market we can. Canada continues to really outperform everybody. The UK is going through their trials but we have such a tremendously loyal set of return guests out of the UK they do nothing but come to Royal Bahamian."