Finding the ‘commonality’ for CALA investments

CORAL GABLES, Florida — For Andy Ingraham, returning to the ALIS CALA hotel investment conference is like seeing family you haven’t seen in a while.

When asked what has been a highlight during the event, Ingraham, president and CEO of the National Association of Black Hotel Owners, Operators & Developers (NABHOOD), said he’s excited by the positive energy shown by investors in the region.

“I was encouraged by the tremendous amount of interest in the Caribbean and development. A couple of years ago, for the most part, it was slow. I think it’s coming back around,” he said. “We have to really be focused on that, because at the end of the day we have energy costs, usability problems, infrastructure, civil concerns. But I heard something the other day on a panel about working with communities to ensure that you have a real impact.”

Ingraham is also encouraged by the number of people committed to the region’s success. “It’s almost like one big family,” he said. “Everybody wants to work together. It is a competitive environment, but it serves the same thing. There’s so much commonality.”

Ingraham was part of “View from the Boardroom — Round Three” at the ASIS CALA by Northstar event at the Loews Coral Gables Hotel in Florida last week. The panelists were Sanovnik Destang, president of Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association (CHTA) and executive director of Bay Gardens Resort in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia; William Phelan, president of Tropicalia in the Dominican Republic; and Ingraham. Stephanie Ricca, editorial director at CoStar Hotel News, moderated the panel. 

Impacts of cruises in CALA

When asked how the cruise and hotel industries work together in the Caribbean and Latin America, Destang said the competition isn’t necessarily for every travel dollar spent, but for resources in the various destinations.

“Every destination is a bit different. Saint Lucia, being a higher-end destination, you don’t necessarily see that there’s this massive competition. People aren’t in their mind deciding between a $2,000 a night room…  and a cruise,” he said. “If anything, the competition we find is more for the resources, for the beaches.”

Destang said that on days with heavy cruise arrivals, everyone competes for the same space in a destination and for an authentic experience. That means hotels or cruises often need to get creative.

“That speaks to developing, perhaps, alternative beaches and alternative parts of the island so that there’s not so much pressure on the most popular beaches where the hotels are located,” he said. “But there are opportunities as well… One thing that’s very important for those of us in the hotel industry to remember is that when people come to the destination in the Caribbean, they don’t come because of the hotel. They come because of the destination and the attractions.”

If the attractions aren’t viable in the Caribbean, then it’s not as strong a destination for travelers, Destang said. “It’s about finding that balance and that harmony,” he said. “The cruise industry has a lot to do with making sure that they are more sustainable in their practices, in terms of their contribution to the sector, in terms of their output to the economy and also in terms of finding that right balance, as opposed to land-based tourism versus food-based tourism. The two can work in harmony, but there’s still some work for us to do to make that happen.”

Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts and Miami-based Cisneros Real Estate are currently building the Four Seasons Resort and Residences Dominican Republic at Tropicalia, a sustainable luxury destination located on a 60-acre site along the beachfront of Playa Esmeralda in the northeastern Dominican Republic.

Despite the recent popularity of all-inclusive resorts in the region, Tropicalia's Phelan said they haven’t had that discussion with Four Seasons yet on the development. However, what the developer and hotel company are focusing on together is the food and beverage.

“[Potential customers for the resort] are very selective about what they eat. We see from our research and conversations with Four Seasons… they’re shying away from drinking alcohol and they’re become much more health conscious,” Phelan said. “With regards to sustainability, for more than 10 years we invested in a full-circle, FDA-certified organic farm to create and to go hand-in-hand with what we were seeing with the trends -- to create a farm-to-table experience… We see [customers] as being very selective, picky and they are not shying away from paying a premium for that specific experience.”