Elegant Hotels Opens New Barbados Hotel, Appoints New COO

BARBADOS— With six Caribbean properties, Elegant Hotels is planning on a major expansion of its luxury boutique hotel portfolio, beginning with the opening of its seventh hotel Dec. 20— The House— and the appointment of a new COO to oversee the brand. With a $100 million investment slated for the company’s growth over the next five years, Elegant Hotels plans to grow to 30 high-end properties. The company’s new COO Gildas Renaux was appointed to oversee the daily operations of the Caribbean properties, and “turn the hotels into five-star deluxe boutique hotels,” he said. Previously, Renaux worked for Sol Melia in Morocco, and was general manager at Las Casitas in Puerto Rico, the first ever five-diamond rated hotel on the island. “For the last six years, I’ve been working mainly with Leading Hotels of the World properties, only five-star boutique hotels,” he said, noting he plans to draw on his experience to upgrade the status of the Elegant Hotels portfolio. Currently Renaux is overseeing the renovations of several of the brand’s properties, as well as the opening of The House at Tamarind Cove. Situated next to the company’s existing 162-room Tamarind Cove property, the House is designed to be a “non-hotel.” There is no front desk, no reception area, and employees are coined ‘ambassadors’— all wear the same uniform, have business cards, and are trained to do “anything the guest wants.” Each guest staying at the House is picked up at the airport in a limousine, is offered cocktails, and is chauffeured over a wooden bridge and Lilly pad-filled pond to the hotel’s large, impressive front door. “That’s the first ‘wow’ effect,” said Renaux. When the car approaches the entrance, a butler opens the front door, rings a bell, and “the whole hotel comes out to greet the guest,” he added. The property features a ‘butler brigade,’ with one butler for every five rooms and a posh restaurant and room-service menu that includes caviar and smoked salmon. With 47 luxury rooms, the brand is considering renovating the property next year to enlarge guestrooms and reduce the property’s size to 37 rooms. Upgrading the brand’s restaurants is big part of Elegant Hotels’ development plans as well, said the new COO. Within the past two months, about 80% of the company’s restaurants have appointed new head chefs, including the addition of London’s famed Daphne’s restaurant at Tamarind Cove, which opens this month. “We’re making significant upgrades in food and beverage,” said Renaux. “It’s part of the success of a property. It’s an important part of the guest experience, like the furniture and the amenities.” He added that as COO, he plans to bring the brand “back to the basics: total recognition of guests, and trying to pamper them as much as possible. We want them to not be guests anymore, but feel like they’re coming to stay at someone’s house— a friend’s.” In addition to the opening of the House, Elegant Hotels also re-opened the Colony Club in Barbados, which had been closed for renovation for two months. The property upgraded its garden/pools area, added to new open-air restaurants, and refurbished some guestrooms. Renaux noted that the company plans to close the Colony again after the season to add new suites, upgrade its spa, and refurbish the remaining guestrooms. Renovations are expected to be complete by next summer.