General Manager of Sugar Cane Club and Spa Anderson Daniel.
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 Sugar Cane Club and Spa.
The luxurious hotel is located in Maynard’s St Peter has been the recipient of the Traveller’s Choice Award in 2022, is managed by General Manager Anderson ‘Danny’ Daniel.
Daniel who has been the General Manager for just over one year said he is no stranger to the hospitality industry as he has been in the industry for many years initially starting in the incentive travel business.
“I first started out in the incentive travel business and that intrigued me where I decided that I would stay in the hospitality sector as incentive travel is very exciting. I lived in many Caribbean islands including Trinidad and Tobago, St Lucia, Antigua, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis and then I moved back here to Barbados to pursue a different path which is now the hotel sector and subsequently became the General Manager here at Sugar Cane Club,” he said.
Daniel said that since becoming the General Manager May 1st, 2022, he has thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the transformation of the property.
“The first year as General Manager has been exciting because it was something new, so it posed a different challenge. I love challenges [and] I also love people. Becoming the General Manager [was] an opportunity to interact with a lot of different people from all over the world as well as an opportunity to share my expertise, knowledge and experience to this amazing property in order to further enhance and grow Sugar Cane Club into what it is now- a piece of paradise here in Barbados,” he said.
Reflecting on his tenure as General Manager, he said one of his favourite moments was sitting down with the hotel’s repeat guests and hearing the positive experiences they have had with their staff.
“We have guests who have been here 14 to 16 times and when you sit down to interact with them, they tell you that they love coming here because of the staff and then the property as well, as they think it is so unique and different to everything else on the island. Our repeat guests come from all different walks of life, so my interactions with them have been one of my highlights since being here,” he said.
With a smile, Daniel noted his staff are the backbone of Sugar Cane Club and are integral to the hotel’s longevity.
“Without the staff there is no hotel! I believe that our staff are the most important persons here. Once our staff are happy then I am going to have happy guests. I go out of my way to ensure the staff are all happy. I interact with them daily, and I have an open-door policy here where my door is always opened. I believe that anything my staff can do I can also do. So, once they see me in the operations with them whether it is in the bar or housekeeping it allows them to see that I am there in the trenches with them and they have a greater appreciation for working with me as a team,” he said.
The General Manager of Sugar Cane Club and Spa Anderson Danny Daniel said the company decided to join Intimate Hotels of Barbados as they realized that there is strength in numbers.
“Collectively, being a part of it you have a wider reach. Things we could not do on our own together, collectively we can do together with Intimate Hotels. Intimate Hotels has helped us a lot getting our brand out there, getting recognition out there as well via their social media pages and that advertising goes a long way for us as a small hotel,” he said. (Write Right PR Services)
