BAHA MAR


of money that was looking for a home outside of mainland China, and the government and bank were looking for investments in places like the Caribbean. The same goes for the construction company, they were casting their net wider. The project became fully funded, and Sarkis found new hotel partners; it’s been almost three years that we have been full-bore on developing the brand, and it is due to open early in 2015.


CI: In branding terms, what was your vision for Baha Mar’s identity? JS: We have had the benefit of a couple of


iterations in the brand’s development so it’s allowed us the opportunity to really hone the message and


carefully consider the brand premise. I mentioned earlier that historically and from a heritage perspective that this area of the Bahamas was known as the Bahamian Riviera; the location and the setting from a geographic and a natural beauty perspective is second to none. The water is magnificent, a blue you have never seen before; the beaches are pristine, the environment is beautiful. We thought there was something to that, and to the authenticity of the place and its past. Not that we are looking to the past to simply re-create it – we are looking to the past to an extent to herald it, and to take attributes of the experience in the 50s and 60s, the storied past of the Bahamian Riviera, and bring it to life. We thought we could liken the Baha Mar brand to be among the


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