Couples Resorts | 9
because they feel that emotional connection when they’re here. They can get
the sunshine and the beach anywhere, but it’s the connection they feel with the
Jamaican people that brings them back again and again and again.”
Toward that end, about 30 percent of the guests at any given time represent
repeat business, and a special dinner event is presented weekly for returnees.
“The personalities of Jamaica are very lovable and it’s like a little bit of a mag-
net,” Lanigan says. “Once you come and you find it, there’s not much that can
compare to it.”
A facility-wide improvement project is underway and has resulted in the
refurbishment of 60 of a planned 180 rooms, Lanigan says. Work on the re-
maining 120 rooms will commence this summer and will involve, among other
things, installation of new tiles and fixtures in the bathrooms and redoing the
walls, furniture and woodwork in the rooms themselves.
It’s the latest part of a perpetual upgrading process at a 25-year-old property,
she says.
“We’re constantly working on improving,” Lanigan says. “The property is
used a lot, so the wear and tear on the property is continuous, so we continu-
ously try to make sure that it’s still up to standard.”
Further into the future, additional change is anticipated as well.
She says the resort will continue its initiative to incorporate sustainability
into daily operations, an approach which has made it one of a handful of Negril
properties to achieve Earth Check certification – a collection of 337 compli-
ance indicators applied to 41 individual sustainability criteria revolving around
sustainable management, social/economic, cultural heritage and environmental
factors.
Also possible, though not yet certain, is an expansion of the Couples brand
into other areas of the Caribbean.
“We are always looking properties that we can buy, or other properties that
will fit in with our product line,” Lanigan says. “We’re always out there looking
to see if there are opportunities that would expand the company.”
