Legend Garden Condos is managed by husband-and-wife duo Delia D’Ermo and her husband Alex Gibson.
The Intimate Hotels of Barbados group is celebrating 23 years of providing service excellence in the hospitality industry. This membership association of over 40 hotels started in 2000 under the trading name Small Hotels of Barbados Inc. and represents the best of the island’s small hotels, apartments, guest houses and villas.
To celebrate its 23rd anniversary, Intimate Hotels of Barbados is taking its valued public behind the scenes to learn some of its history and meet some members of the group. Today, we introduce Legend Garden Condos.
The property which contains nine self-catered apartments is set on a 350-year-old plantation on three acres of land, and is managed by husband-and-wife duo Delia D’Ermo and her husband Alex Gibson.
Co-owner of Legend Garden Condos, Delia D’Ermo said that the business which she acquired in 1996 landed onto her lap, and she decided to take full advantage of the opportunity bestowed to her.
“It was an abandoned property for 15 years. I started the company, and my husband joined me after one year of renovating it, and in making The Legend a plausible business where persons can come year after year, since we’re always working to renovate and bring in guests,” she said.
But how did the property get its name Legend Garden Condos?
D’Ermo said it was due to the property having a popular restaurant named The Legend, which many persons knew, so to keep the history of the property they decided to keep the name.
“Actually, The Legend Condos came after the property had been abandoned for 15 years. At first, it was only focusing on the restaurant aspect of the business, and they called it The Legend Restaurant. Being an offshoot of that, as the restaurant was incorporated as a part of the business, we continued to run it as The Legend, even after the Restaurant closed. But also, because The Legend is a 350-year-old plantation, it is legendary with all of its beautiful age-old trees, and the building being over 350-years-old. You can look at the building and see the original limestone rock formation in the walls. It’s a living testimony of the way they built the building, hundreds of years ago, which is one of the strongest on the island. So, we kept the name The Legend because it is a 3-acre property which we think is indeed legendary,” she said.
D’Ermo added that managing a business with her husband has been fun as they both are able to use their skill sets to strengthen their business.
“My husband is amazing with guests. I think the way we have survived is that we loved building the business from the ground up. We had nights where we would be up till 2 a.m. handling renovations. We worked really well in the initial stages with setting The Legend up as a business, as there was a lot of work to be done, as it was abandoned for so long. After a while, we just fit into our own roles, him being very much into the physical aspects of the property, on-site management, maintenance, as we do everything on the property. We are an intimate hotel, and so we take care of a lot of the things that need to be done on the property. Alex is legendary with the guests as has the gift of gab and storytelling which all of the guests would agree is legendary. I take care of the bookkeeping, management and the organisational aspects of the company,” she said.
The Co-Owner of Legend Garden Condos, Delia D’Ermo said she decided to join Intimate Hotels of Barbados as it catered to small hotels like The Legend.
“Intimate Hotels of Barbados is our vibe. Like all of the other hotels in the Intimate group, we like to personalize the experience for our guests, and Intimate Hotels allows you to do that, as they bring you within reach of creating an intimate experience for guests. Not only for the hotel itself but for the country. By being an Intimate Hotel property you can not only introduce the guests to your own business but also to exploring Barbados, so they can fall in love with Barbados as much as they fall in love with your property. So, guests become a part of your life and you become a part of their life. Intimate Hotels has been a great experience, as they take care of their own. Within the Intimate Hotels group, business owners share a variety of features—for instance, we, like many other owners, live on the same property with the guests, so we make the guests feel at home from the time they arrive. We sometimes hug our guests as soon as they arrive on the property and check in.
That is what the Intimate Hotels group allows us to do– to create an unforgettable experience for the guests in an intimate way,” she said.
D’Ermo added that Intimate Hotels of Barbados is passionate about ensuring that all of the properties have under their belt all the necessary tools to ensure their guests have a personalized guest experience.
“I think I can speak for all the properties—we, as intimate hotels, want to create a home away from home for our guests, we want to see guests come again and again. All the property owners, the staff, they become a part of our family, and that is what Intimate has encapsulated for properties that were once on their own, and that had a harder time getting themselves out there and known. Intimate Hotels has allowed that part, that group of hotels and apartments to flourish, and to stand out for what they are very strong in doing which is to create a personalized experience for their guests,” she said. (Write Right PR Services)
