JUMBY BAY ISLAND, ANTIGUA— The five-star, 39-room Jumby Bay Resort, located here on a 300-acre island off the coast of Antigua, shut down in mid-August to complete a $6 million property refurbishment and operational upgrade. The renovations are being spearheaded by Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, which expects to double the occupancy levels and improve rates at the resort, once these improvements are finished in December, and the rest are completed next year. When Rosewood— which began managing the resort in April 2002 through an agreement with the Jumby Bay Owners Association— assessed the property, it felt the 1980s-era property needed some refreshing. According to Mike Paneri, Rosewood’s vp/design and construction, “When Rosewood came on board… we determined Jumby Bay needed new life. We wanted to bring it back to its previous luster,” said Paneri. “We were really the impetus [behind the renovations]. We looked at it as an opportunity to take it to a new level.” What’s more is that Jumby Bay’s renovations were not necessarily spurred by competition, new development or renovations in the Antigua and Barbuda marketplace, where there is a mix of segment levels, said David Fernandez, director/tourism, Antigua and Barbuda Department of Tourism in New York City. According to Fernandez, while there are a few noteworthy happenings in the marketplace, he believes Rosewood persuaded Jumby Bay’s owners to move forward with a renovation program, just as Paneri explained. “There is one development in particular that is going up, the Carlyle Bay Resort. They are going ‘gung-ho’ now on construction,” said Fernandez. “And on another new resort, Emerald Cove, the developers are moving forward with their plans. The rest of the development happening there are add-ons— adding additional rooms, etc.” Paneri said Rosewood devised a “five-point” improvement plan not necessarily designed to answer these developments in the marketplace, but to recapture the fancy of the affluent clientele the resort attracts from the U.S., Europe and the U.K. The plan will encompass “some physical renovations and some operational upgrades and training,” he said. Will there be major staff changes? No, said Paneri. “The staff is phenomenal, but training on new features of the resort will be helpful.” However, Rosewood did appoint a new managing director, Peter Bowling. In his new post, Bowling will supervise both the property’s refurbishment and operational relaunch. Paneri noted Bowling’s appointment was a nice coup, as Bowling served as Jumby Bay’s F&B director for four years back in the 1980s. His knowledge of this property will help refocus the F&B component and reshape the property into the vision Rosewood has laid out, said Paneri. He further noted that enhancements to the resort’s food offerings are expected to restore the high-level dining reputation Jumby Bay earned in its early years. Meanwhile, the first phase of physical renovations will include a complete redesign of guestroom interiors. Additionally, a complete guest bath overhaul is on tap. “Most of the guestrooms are in decent shape, but what we’re doing is a soft goods upgrade in every room. And we will focus first on the 29 guestrooms along the beachfront. Then we will be putting a big effort into the bathrooms,” said Paneri. The end result will be a new bath design that includes a set of louvered doors leading to a private outdoor garden and bathing area, replete with a clawfoot soaking tub and rain shower. “It will be a sexy outdoor space, and it’ll set the resort apart from other properties there,” noted Paneri. The indoor portion of the baths will feature another large shower area, a toilet and bidet. The front-desk and back-office areas will be reconfigured, and the managing director’s office will be moved into the front-desk area to provide better accessibility for guests and staff. Retail shops will also be enlarged and relocated. Other improvements include updating the beach
