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appreciate what Interval did,” he insists. “I needed something to per-
suade my owners and the development company to move forward.”
And move forward he did, taking out everything in the units —
plumbing, electrical, flooring, even sheetrock. “What was left was
essentially four concrete walls,” recalls Sutton.
An average of 80 units are being remade per year, from the walls
out and the floors up, with all new paint, flooring, appliances, fixtures,
and furniture meeting the same standard as those at the Villas at
Simpson Bay. “The units themselves are spectacular,” Sutton says.
Some studios and small spaces will be combined to form two-bed-
room units, which are more desirable, he says, so the resort’s unit
count may be reduced, but the quality much improved.
The last phase, expected to be completed in 2016, is set to
transform the malecón from a shabby strip of run-down storefronts
and boardwalk into what Sutton anticipates will be the best attrac-
tion on the island. The renovation will include extending the beach
by 100 feet (30 meters), rebuilding the boardwalk, and upgrading
the shops. “This will put a new face on the entire resort,” Sutton
remarks. “We want to enhance the malecón, make it attractive for
people who want to take boat trips, and to do that it might take two
phases,” he explains. “It’s very important to upgrade that.”
“We’ve turned the place around, and I’m very proud of that,”
Sutton says. “Comments from Interval International guests and people
who posted on TripAdvisor have been great. We’ve taken an albatross
and turned it into an eagle, or to be more descriptive, an osprey. The
osprey is the eagle of the sea.”
Catherine Lackner, based in Miami, Florida, writes for newspapers,
magazines, and various media, and has been covering the vacation
ownership industry for 10 years.
Changing Times Prompt Points
One of the most important lessons Richard Sutton has learned is
the value of staying nimble in the marketplace. “We saw modern
times demanded a new product,” especially, he says, as trends
swing to owners taking shorter, more frequent breaks.
So Royal Resorts enlisted Interval’s help to transition to a
custom, points-based vacation club called Royal Resorts
Caribbean Collection in St. Maarten and Curaçao. Members can
trade points internally at Collection resorts or externally through
the Interval exchange network. “Interval really helped us set
it up,” Sutton says, “and now we sell primarily points member-
ships. Weeks are the exception and we only sell them to mem-
bers who absolutely demand them.”
RESORTDEVELOPER.COM
vacation industry review
APRIL – JUNE 2015
SIMPSON BAY RESORT
& MARINA