Hotels
Coyaba Beach Resort
ust down the coastline from Spice Island lies the Coyaba Beach Resort. This 4-star, 80 room facility shares beautiful Grand Anse Beach with Spice Island, and so offers an equally spectacular view. And like Spice Island, it is owned and run by an on-site managing director, Andre Cherman. Grenadian-born Cherman came up in the hotel industry through the Holiday Inn organization, starting as a management trainee but rising to the point that, in 1986, he was able to open his own hotel, Coyaba Beach Resort. Not that he did so alone, for from its onset, Coyaba Beach has been a family affair. While Andre handles operations, his brother Richard handles sales and marketing, and another brother, Tony, keeps the financials in order. “My mom was involved during the early years,” Andre adds. “She assisted with staffing and food in the formative year but has since retired.” Coyaba Beach has been a success from the start, averaging an ultra-high 80 percent occupancy rate since it opened, and profitability in 20 of 22 years in business. The only down years, Andre Cherman explains, were those that included 9/11 and Hurricane Ivan. The hotel’s guest profile is generally professionals in their mid-50s, with some 60 percent of the business coming from the UK. As such, the Chermans tailor their offering to British tastes, even offering cricket teams that guests can join. There’s a concentration on landscaping. “We have paid a lot of attention to that,” says Andre. “The British love their flowers.” Customers also love the helpful and attentive attitude of the staff, which Andre develops through continuous training and personal supervision, to
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Photo by Tony McQuilkin ...Andre Cherman MD of Coyaba Beach Resort provide a casual and comfortable ambiance. “Very relaxed, very friendly staff are very important,” he notes. “We conduct training, whether internally or by bringing somebody from outside in customer care. We do that every single year to try to upgrade the service in all departments.” Coyaba Beach offers a full range of amenities, including golf, tennis, a spa and a dive center, and a nightly Enchanted Sunset Celebration. The hotel also helps its guests appreciate the local culture by exclusively employing Mandoo, known as the i