Karisma Hotels and Resorts has announced the launch of a new “travelers club” called ABEO. 

The revamped club has five tiers of benefits, the company said. 

ABEO is the combination of Karisma’s existing Exotic Travelers Club and Prestige Travelers Club into one community. 

“Karisma hotels and Resorts created ABEO to continue delivering an unsurpassed experience to our many loyal Karisma travelers,” said Bill Linehan, president of Premier Worldwide Marketing, the exclusive worldwide representatives for Karisma Hotels & Resorts. “The new ABEO Travelers Club provides its members with unrivaled advantages and cost savings as they continue to vacation at its collection of breathtaking resorts.”

Inclusions range from member butler service to private round-trip airport transfers to priority access to premium room categories, among others. 

ABEO has five tiers, including Sapphire, Ruby, Emerald, Diamond and Diamond Elite. 

Karisma has been on an expansion push in the Caribbean of late, most recently with the launch of the new Margaritaville Island Reserve Riviera Cancun on the Caribbean coast of Mexico. 

Next year, the company plans to add two more Margaritaville resorts in Cap Cana and the Riviera Maya, along with a new Nickelodeon-branded hotel in the Riviera Maya. 

— CJ

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Sandals Resorts International has officially reopened its Sandals Royal Plantation boutique resort in Jamaica, Caribbean Journal has learned. 

The ultra-luxe all-inclusive began welcoming guests last week. 

The relaunch marks the 11th resort that Sandals has reopened since the onset of the pandemic. 

“The recent reopening of Sandals Royal Plantation is a testament to our team members’ hard work and dedication to get back to doing what they love to do best, which is making our guests happy,” Gordon “Butch” Stewart, Chairman & Founder of Sandals Resorts International, told Caribbean Journal. “We’ve even coined a little saying that we’re all ‘Back to Happy’ in celebration. Not only are we happy to be back, but our guests are also very happy to be back with us. With its boutique feel, privacy and rich history, Sandals Royal Plantation will continue to exceed our guests’ expectations for years to come.”

It’s also the fifth resort in Jamaica the company has relaunched, joining the recently-reopened Sandals South Coast; Sandals Negril; Sandals Royal Caribbean and Sandals Montego Bay. 

Royal Plantation is Sandals’ smallest resorts, with just 74 ocean-view suites on a bluff in Ocho Rios. 

The adults-only property is home to the brand’s only Champagne and caviar bar, along with other inclusions like golf at the nearby Sandals Golf and Country Club and PADI-certified diving. 

All of Sandals’ properties in the Caribbean have reopened under the company’s new “Platinum Protocols of Cleanliness,” which range from enhanced cleaning measures in guest rooms to temperature checks to online check-in. 

Sandals’ next Jamaica resort to reopen will be the Sandals Ochi, which welcomes back guests on Nov. 1. 

“Being in business for close to forty years, we have witnessed many types of world events — from natural disasters to economic downturns,” Stewart told Caribbean Journal. “Although no one could have ever imagined the impact that COVID-19 would have around the world, we made a commitment to ourselves, to our team members, and to our valued guests that Sandals Resorts would emerge stronger and better than ever before. We are so pleased to make good on that promise and to have been one of the first Caribbean resort companies to open its doors and usher in the future.”

For more, visit Sandals Royal Plantation. 

– CJ

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While Curaçao has been open to Canada and other “low-risk” source markets for several months, the Dutch Caribbean island has announced a planned November reopening to travelers from three U.S. states: New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. 

All visitors from those states must present proof of a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken within 72 hours of travel. 

U.S. flights to Curaçao will resume Nov. 7, with United relaunching weekly service from Newark. 

“After consulting with the scientific community and an esteemed panel of doctors both in The Netherlands and on the island, we made the decision to slowly reopen Curaçao’s tourism industry to the US,” says Paul Pennicook, CEO of the Curaçao Tourist Board. “A multitude of factors were taken into account including current cases, airlift and impact on the local economy, among others.”

In December, JetBlue will be operating two flights each week from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.

“We will continue to closely monitor developments throughout the rest of the US,” Pennicook said. “As we’ve enjoyed double digit growth from the US market over the last couple of years and the US accounts for a significant portion of Curaçao’s tourism arrivals, we look forward to the opening of other gateway cities as soon as conditions allow so that Americans can continue to experience this extraordinary destination.”

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The most iconic place to stay in Barbados is set for a grand reopening, Caribbean Journal has learned. 

The island’s legendary Sandy Lane luxury resort will be welcoming back guests on Nov. 1, 2020, the property confirmed this week.

The reopening comes after what the property called “extensive restorations” to all 115 bedrooms, suites and penthouses (along with the hotel’s Villa), “to ensure the they are in pristine condition ready for your arrival,” according to the resort. 

The hotel, which opened on Barbados’ Platinum Coast in 1962, has long hosted luminaries from around the world. 

It’s home to amenities ranging from three leading golf courses, headlined by the Green Monkey, to the signature Spa at Sandy Lane. 

Barbados has been open for tourism since mid-summer. 

The island recently updated its travel protocols, headlined by the requirement for proof of a negative PCR test within 72 hours of travel. (You can find them here)

For more, visit Sandy Lane.

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