Many awards in hotel's history
COCONUT COURT BEACH HOTEL 25TH ANNIVERSARY FEATURE
Publication: Daily Nation
Paper Section And Page: 30
Paper Date: Tue, Dec 5, 2000
IN ITS 25 years of operation as a property owned by the Blades family, Coconut Court Beach Hotel has won several international awards while being nominated for several others.
A major award in recent years came from a European tour company in 1999 when JMC Tours voted the Barbados property as the best three-star hotel in its worldwide long-haul programme.
Last year, Airtours, regarded as the biggest tour operator in Europe, also voted Coconut Court the best three-star hotel in Barbados. In 1996, the hotel also received the Arch Of Europe Gold Star Award at a ceremony in Spain.
"We aim to provide the best possible service and we are proud of these awards," said Managing Director James Blades.
Coconut Court was also nominated in the Tourism and Hospitality catergory for the Ernst And Young 2000 Entrepreneur OF The Year Award. They were also nominated for a green award by CAST (Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Tourism), the environmental arm of the Caribbean Hotel Association. Among regional hotels, Coconut Court may well be among candidates for a future CAST award in keeping with its new emphasis on environmental and sustainable tourism.
According to Blades, the hotel is fully aware of its duty to protect the environment and to be sustainable and several conservation and awareness programmes are being institutued on the property. In 1997 with the addition of a further 30 rooms, Coconut Court implemented a water saving programme by re-using 50 000 gallons of rain-water stored in tanks.
"We installed two pumps and pumped rain-water to all of the toilets. We also used that rain-water to fill our pools and to water 50 per cent of our gardens."
Blades also disclosed that energy efficient lighting was installed in the 30 new rooms and energy-efficient fixtures and bulbs were also installed throughout the hotel.
Added Blades: "In our kitchens and the bar area, all of our water is controlled by foot pedals. The moment you walk away from the pedal, water stops running. We also have water-saving signage in all of our rooms".