Small hotels warned on Monday that an “invasion” of Sargassum seaweed is suffocating their business, jeopardising their core repeat guest trade and casting doubt on future bookings.
The chairman of the Intimate Hotels of Barbados (IHB), Shireene Mathlin-Tulloch, described the onslaught of Sargassum as “the biggest issue” currently facing the industry, especially on the south coast.
“Our biggest issue right now is Sargassum. That is the killer at the hotels this season. People are struggling where you would have wanted to have your repeat business. We depend on people coming this year to come back next year,” Mathlin-Tulloch told Barbados TODAY.
“A lot of the Intimate Hotels are on the south coast and the ones which are on the beach are affected. It threatens your repeat business because somebody who comes this summer would be less likely to want to come back next summer at the same time if they know that they had a problem this year.”
She continued: “You want all of your guests to become repeat guests. That’s what you want. But when your beach is clogged with seaweed and you can’t get it cleared enough, and plus the smell, that becomes a challenge. I would say that at this point in time, that is our biggest challenge.”
Mathlin-Tulloch highlighted the direct toll of Sargassum on their operations.
“The guests sometimes have to pay to go to other beaches that don’t have Sargassum. It’s not easy if you come for a beach holiday and there is Sargassum on the beach — and this time of the year, we have a lot of families because it is the summer. When you are having to pay to take your families somewhere else, to a beach that doesn’t have seaweed, that’s the challenge.”
The hotelier acknowledged that the government is making every effort to keep the beaches clear, but said it remains a huge task.
“They have been quite responsive as far as they can be. That’s the truth,” she said. “They have a good relationship with the team, but they have to start cleaning from the east to come around, because if you clean us and you don’t clean the east coast, that same weed is coming right around. And because it’s been so much, they spend a lot of time on the east coast this time. So, it’s been really difficult.”
However, Mathlin-Tulloch pointed out that this year’s CARIFESTA and Crop Over festivals are expected to provide a much-needed boost in business for August.
“Some of the hotels are doing quite well,” she reported. “They have picked up quite a number of CARIFESTA bookings. So, August is the period that they are looking forward to, because you have Crop Over and then you have CARIFESTA right after; but we haven’t got any forecast information for September as yet.”
She explained that many bookings at this time of year tend to be last-minute. Mathlin-Tulloch also announced new strategies to counter any potential loss of business due to Sargassum and other challenges.
“Intimate Hotels is working on being bookable on its website – intimatehotelsofbarbados – where you will be able to book the Intimate properties on that website, as opposed to going individually to hotels to try to book. We are working on making the properties more visible and easier to book. And that is perhaps, with technology… and we are all over social media now. So, that is also helping.”
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb
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