Spanish hotel chains wage a fierce battle against Sandals, SuperClubs

[George]

ARTHUR FROMMER

Spanish hotel chains wage a fierce battle against Sandals, SuperClubs and Club Med.

When most Americans make the decision to book an all-inclusive resort in the Caribbean, they generally turn to one of three chains of hotels -- Sandals, SuperClubs and Club Med -- which account for most of the marketing and advertising of one-price-for-everything vacations. The same savvy travelers have only a dim awareness of such competitive all-inclusive chains as Barcelro, Iberostar, Occidental-Allegro, Sol Melia and Riu, owned by Spanish or Dominican interests. And yet many observers, including myself, will argue that the Latino companies in many (not all) instances are offering superior amenities at a lower price.

I'm not referring to the top properties belonging to Sandals, SuperClubs and Club Med -- the ones advertised as premium-deluxe brands offered at a stiff price -- but rather to the standard, and sometimes timeworn, hotels of the better-known names. On a recent visit to the brand-new, big and beautifully all-inclusive Riu hotel outside Ocho Rios, Jamaica, an associate of mine was impressed by the brightness and freshness of the facilities and the activities offered by this latest 846-room jewel in the Spanish chain's world-girdling empire. Right alongside was a rather drab, dune-colored Sandals hotel charging $300 a night, per person, for all-inclusive arrangements (room, three meals and unlimited drinks daily) at a time when the brand-new Riu was charging only $188 for similar amenities.

Additional reports based on earlier trips seem to confirm that while prices at the "Big Three" have been steadily rising in recent years, their offerings have occasionally not kept pace with the newer, more elaborate facilities of the upstart all-inclusives. The latter are companies originating in Spain (and, like Riu, especially on Spain's Mediterranean holiday island of Majorca) in the 1950s and 1960s. Starting in the 1980s and 1990s, the same chains began planting flags in dozens of beach resort areas in the Americas, concentrated mostly in such Spanish-speaking destinations as Mexico, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica and Panama. More recently they have begun expanding beyond that cultural comfort zone to destinations such as Jamaica, Aruba and the Bahamas.

For those Americans like myself who love the tropics, this simply means that we must now consider and weigh all the opportunities when we plan our next Caribbean vacation, and give some heed to the new all-inclusives. The available groups of hotels are no longer three in number, but eight. And the new entrants don't even include such smaller players as Viva Hotels, NH Hoteles, Catalonia and Bahia Palace.

A smart traveler considers all the possibilities, and not just the ones that are heavily advertised.