You’re at the Mandarin Oriental in the Grenadines. Or the Amanyara in Turks and Caicos. You’re enjoying an elegant dinner as you pause to think about the chair you’re sitting on and the table you’re eating on.
How did all of this stuff get here? What about the furniture in your room or the tiles beneath your feet? Or the grill that just cooked your snapper?
It’s one of the most essential components to making a Caribbean hotel actually happen: logistics — navigating the complex world of transnational shipping and importing. And most people don’t quite realize the challenge and effort required to do so, particularly when it comes to hotels in the Caribbean.
“Besides basic construction materials like cement and blocks, most everything else at a Caribbean hotel has to be imported,” Steve Keats, vice president and partner at Kestrel Global Logistics, which is the leader for logistics at many top hotels around the Caribbean including the aforementioned Mandarin and Amanyara, tells Caribbean Journal.
For lumber and plywood, you probably have to source it from either the United States, Southeast Asia or Brazil, Keats said.
Rebar and steel? Somewhere from either the Dominican Republic, China, India, the USA or Turkey.
What about furniture and flooring? You’ll be sourcing from China, Italy or Malaysia.
Then there are things like linens, which come from the US, China, Turkey or Egypt – or the kitchens and restaurant equipment: think America, China or Europe.
When the hotel actually opens its doors, much of the food will also be coming from abroad. That’s just the nature of the business, no matter how much local sourcing you aim to achieve, particularly for larger hotels. That will mean regular importing from Florida, the UK and Europe, just to name a few, Keats tells CJ.
The world of global logistics is about managing the mix of “chaos and culture,” he says.
“‘If it’s not one thing… it’s another,’” was a quotation from a character on Saturday Night Live,” Keats says. “We have to deal with cultures that are very diverse and rigid systems with plenty of red tape. Terminals around the world get backed up and cargo and containers can get stuck in hubs abroad and within the region; such as Panama, Colombia, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic.”
The key, Keats says, is to be accessible and have contingency plans as the “logistics chessboard unfolds.”
“We give updates that can be planned for deviations during a disruption, good news or bad news —it’s news you can use.”
So where else has Kestrel helped make hotels happen?
“Sandals and Beaches resorts throughout the region, most recently with [the new Sandals Saint Vincent,’” he says. Others include boutique hotels such as the Mandarin and Glossy Bay in the Grenadines. We are now involved in the early stages for shipping furniture for the Hampton-Hilton at Haven site St Thomas. We are expanding with new hotel development in Guyana.”
All told, Kestrel has engaged with more than 40 top resorts around the Caribbean.
Thinking about where all of the components of a hotel can actually deepen the vacation experience, Keats says.
“I would hope guests have a new awareness of what it takes and to pay attention to where things come from to make their trip an even more enjoyable one.”
Because making your Caribbean vacation happen is very much a global endeavor.
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