Caribbean Luxury
Winner of the 2014 World Travel Award as St. Lucia’s Leading Hotel, The Landings combines the beauty of a luxury beachfront resort with spacious, Caribbean-inspired designer suites and a tropical sanctuary perfect for those who want to experience the finer things in life.
The Landings in St. Lucia was born in the ocean. Unable to find a flat enough area for 142 villa suites, The Landings took a chunk of the beautiful island from the sea and reclaimed it; creating the perfect reflection of true luxury. Originating from a slice of Rodney Bay, the hotel is surrounded by water and boasts the largest square footage of rooms on the island.
Hard to believe all of this when you consider that it wasn’t even supposed to be a hotel in the first place.
“In the beginning it was never planned as a hotel,†said Angela Torille, the Senior Marketing Manager at The Landings. “It was planned as people buying into the development and having it for their use when they came to the island.â€
Originally meant to be a set of holiday villas and condos, the developer seized the opportunity to turn it into a hotel after realizing that the property had everything that a luxury hotel should have. After speaking with the initial owners – who themselves wanted another option to do something else with it since they weren’t going to be on the island full-time, an agreement was made and the hotel first opened its doors in December of 2007.
GUEST IS KING
Eight years on, and The Landings is now widely regarded as an opulent setting ideal for the upscale and affluent traveler. With upscale amenities and location, the guest experience remains the primary focus of the hotel team.
“The guest is King,†said Torille. “Our rates are within the luxury market and we aim to provide the guest with luxury services. Our focus is providing a five-star luxury service in a Caribbean setting.â€
Independently managed, The Landings sits on 11 acres and is a villa/suite setting that offers 142 one, two and three bedroom suites. But what truly sets the resort apart is the private marina – the only one on the island of its kind.
“The concept of the hotel was that every single suite would have a view of the water,†said Torille. “So the hotel created its own private marina to ensure that every single suite has a view of the water. So the suites in other hotels may have been garden view rooms, for us, its marina view rooms.â€
BUTLER SERVICE
With three categories of rooms ranging from marina view and ocean view to the beach front villa suites, where you can quite literally walk out of your suite and immediately immerse yourself in 800 feet of white sand overlooking Rodney Bay and historic Pigeon Island National Park, the Landings breathtaking scenes compliment its no-expense spared commitment to providing exceptional service.
“Part of creating that luxury service led us to introducing our butler service,†said Torille. “You can call your butler at any time – whether it’s just for a good book to read, whether you forgot your favorite drink in the room or in-room dining, whatever it is, your butler is there to accommodate.â€
Whereas other resorts pride themselves on their on-property restaurant amenity, The Landings dining experience allows you to truly feel at home while you bask in the breathtaking beauty and serenity of St. Lucia.
“Our suites are designed fully-contained. We have full kitchens, not kitchenettes,†said Torille. “We offer in-suite dining – a chef actually comes to cook that meal in the room for you. You can choose to learn, to brush up on your cooking skills or you can choose to relax in your extra large balcony or patio.â€
SEAMLESS STAFF
The 187 staff on board at The Landings caters to your every need. At approximately 1.6 staff members for every room, the hotel takes full-service to a whole new meaning. Whether it is during the day or night, you’re taken care of.
“Every evening we offer a turn-down service, where we come in and freshen-up the room and replenish your water supply,†said Torille. “We realize that one of the things people forget the most is to have the water ready. You always get thirsty at night but your water is never next to the bed, so housekeeping takes the initiative and puts your water by the bed.â€
The seamless operation of the staff is an extension of the great corporate culture that lies within The Landings. On an island that was predominately based on agriculture and the cultivation of bananas, it has now turned a new leaf, as tourism has gone from being a secondary industry to now being a mainstay of the economy.
LEADING HOTEL
For a second year running, The Landings took home the World Travel Award for St. Lucia’s Leading Hotel. Honoring the staff and their exceptional dedication to the quality of service they provide, Torille acknowledges that while it is something to be celebrated and enjoyed, it also means that expectations have been raised.
“We were elated when we realized we won it,†she said. “We understand what the award is and what it defines – the quality of service and how we have to bring that up. We use it a lot in our marketing initiatives and it has increased the stature of the resort. It has given us an opportunity to evaluate the product and bring up the quality of the product as well.â€
Beating out other resorts such as Sandals and Sugar Beach has placed The Landings in elite company. But part of being named the leading hotel on the island for two years in a row means learning from your competition and bettering yourself in the process.
“One of the things that we do constantly here is we go to the hotels and see what they offer and see what services they do have that would be a benefit to our resort and we try to implement things that the guests see and enjoy about these resorts,†said Torille.
THE FUTURE
From new methods to improve sustainability and the environment to expanding the real estate aspect of the property, The Landings plans for the future are to continually strive and improve on what it means to travel and experience luxury and to even change its very definition.
“Every time somebody thinks of luxury hotels in St. Lucia, we would be number one for that,†said Torille. “We do not necessarily want to go much bigger; we’re looking at going into specializing more into the quality of service and developing a superior quality product that can become the number one resort in the Caribbean.â€