BAHA MAR
the consumer that I don’t believe has ever been done before. There will be a lot of experiential marketing, which I can’t divulge yet but it will involve event marketing, guerrilla marketing, street marketing – taking the effort out of the traditional space. This can drive social interaction and you need impetus for that.
CI: Is the MICE offering important for Nassau
already, or is it an reas you are going to try to grow and influence with Baha Mar’s facilities? JS: There is a pent-up demand for MICE business in the Caribbean in particular; that’s one reason why Hyatt is playing such a significant role in the project and will be managing the convention centre. They are trying to grow their presence in the region for the meetings market, and this will be their showcase. There is presently a relatively significant meetings market in the Caribbean but for the most part it is still leisure based, and there is a desire to grow that both in the Caribbean and Latin America.
CI: Is there going to be much of a locals market,
do you think? JS: It’s an insignificant market, really. There are lots
of ex-pats and people with second homes on the market who may be regular visitors, but it’s not a highly-populated market like Las Vegas or Atlantic City. Locals will also be prohibited from gambling, so they may utilise F&B but gaming-wise it will not be a relevant market.
CI: How will SK+G’s role change when the
property opens? JS: I don’t think the brand will be on cruise
control for some time. It’s a major destination resort, and you have to look at a three-year ramp- up to get to that cruising altitude. Every major resort destination I have worked on has shown that the first year of working on an operation is sometimes more challenging than the pre-opening. Before you open you are allowed to be idealistic, while being pragmatic, without full knowledge of how the consumer is going to interact with the property. A month or two in you are reoriented to the reality of how people respond to the brand. From a marketing, service, and operational standpoint a lot happens in the first year that is challenging and you need to react quickly. We are preparing for that, and honestly looking at the launch period as 18 months. We’re not viewing it as pre-opening and opening.
CI: If you could convince Reed Exhibitions to
have G2E at Baha Mar, you would be the most popular man in the gaming industry… JS: We’ve talked about this… We had a significant
presence at G2E Asia, and also G2E in Vegas. It may be a bit of a challenge to get everybody to make the decision to go there. Vegas is still the centre of the universe in that respect but… It’s something we can work on!
32 OCTOBER 2014
It’s fair to say there is an aspirational lifestyle feel to Baha Mar’s beautiful early ads
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