(1888PressRelease)
December 15, 2007 - Montego Bay, Jamaica – In a surprising turn of events Gordon “Butch” Stewart (Chairman of Sandals Resorts International) announced the elimination of the energy surcharge slated to be charged to guests while on property beginning January 1, 2008. On December 10th, 2007 Sandals announced that due to escalating energy costs, it had become necessary to pass some of the extra costs to their guests. Leading Sandals agents across the U.S. including agents from TotallyTrips.com, a top ten worldwide Sandals agency, immediately expressed concern of surprising guests with an up to eight dollar a night surcharge. Sandals’ intention was to levy this surcharge retroactively regardless of whether the client had already booked or not. Concerns were largely targeted at the potential “blindsiding” of clients who were not forewarned of a surcharge before booking.
“No one disputes the very real challenge of meeting escalating energy costs” stated Sandals Chairman Gordon “Butch” Stewart, “but we respect and highly value the opinion of our travel partners who are on the consumer front lines. We always want to do what is in their best interest and therefore after much discussion with them, we feel that now is not the time to enact this new policy.”
Jason True, President of TotallyTrips.com, applauded Sandals and Mr. Stewart in their willingness to listen to and understand the concerns of the front line agents. “Energy costs are having an increasingly harsh impact on the travel industry”, commented Jason. “Everyone is trying to figure out how to stay in business while faced by surmounting fuel and energy costs and a lagging economic forecast. Our job as a front line agent is to protect the interest of the consumer while working with the vendors to deliver the best available product. Sandals has always worked with the agent to accomplish that common goal.”
Sandals Resorts has been recognized as innovators in energy conservation. All Sandals and Beaches resorts are Green Globe certified by the Caribbean Alliance of Sustainable Tourism and continue to garner international accolades including having several resorts honored with the Green Hotel of the Year Award at the annual American Express Caribbean Environmental awards. Most recently, Sandals Resorts was also recognized by Conde’ Nast Traveler in the magazine’s first World Savers Awards.
http://www.totallytrips.com/sandals.html ###
