Economics Analysis of Sandals La TOC Golf Resort and SPA

¶ … resort our group chose is named "Sandals St. Lucia La Toc."

Market structure of the main hotels and amenities - What sort of competition is there within the resort?

Hotels of all different categories? Or mainly 3 * hotels causing quite a lot of competition at this level? Is it mainly international hotel chains or privately owned hotels? What effect would you expect this competition to have on prices in the resort?

The Sandals La TOC Golf Resort & Spa - Luxury All Inclusive is set on the beach and possesses hundreds of acres of the beautiful Caribbean sand. It is also not too far from the George F.L. Charles Airport, sitting as it does on the northwest tip of St. Lucia. It has been rated highly (between four to five stars -- by many content tourists.

The resort offers a 9-hole golf course, 9 restaurants, three pools, unlimited land and water sports -- including scuba diving -- and the Red Lane Spa. It also offers various room types including two-story suites with private pools and patios.

The highlights of this resort include the following:

Couples-only beachfront property

9-hole golf course on-site

Numerous dining options including a beachfront grill, Caribbean, French, and Japanese

Three swimming pools, including the island's largest pool

Fitness centre with treadmills, weights, aerobic and aqua-fit classes (U.S. News. Travel. Sandals La Toc Golf Resort & Spa)

These qualities have been stated in order to compare it to its compeiton

There are ten other highly rated hotels in the St. Lucia area. Three of these re the following:

Jade Mountain -- The Jade Mountain has a terrific view, situated as it is on a mountain summit and having beautiful pools with a technology-free and harmonious environment that is in sync with the Caribbean scenery. It has spa, leisure and sports facilities as well as 2 beaches amongst various other competitive attractions (U.S. Travel. Jade Mountain. / )

Cap Maison -- Cap Maison is on a private ocean-front bluff overlooking the Caribbean Sea. It is created in Spanish Caribbean style with a five-star service emphasizing comfort and elegance. It offers luxurious accommodations with pools, private terraces, and all the amenities that the other hotels offer which include surging, golf, restaurant, and bars (U.S. Travel. Cap Maison. / )

Ladera -- a panoramic spot that offers activities that range from scuba diving and horseback riding to Rainforest hikes and market tours. (U.S. News. Travel. Ladera.)

These three hotels -- all rated five stars -- are but three of ten hotels that are similarly highly rated. Each are privately owned hotels that apparently expect a consistently wealthy clientele. To cater to this clientele, they go all out in researching the qualities of their market and in devising programs that will suit the needs and desires of their specific market. Mostly, they offer similar programs, and this too is where competition becomes somewhat tricky since, to attract clientele, one needs to stand out. The only one that does stand out is the Jade Mountain that caters itself for a client who is ready to relinquish technology.

Given that this competition focuses on a relatively small area, that the Caribbean is one of the most popular sought-after tourist sites, that it is glutted with tourists, and that these 5-star hotels have driven themselves to the utmost to research and satisfy their consumer desires, it is difficult to know how else a hotel such as the Sandals La Toc Golf Resort & Spa can stand out. The only way it can do so is in regards to prices. Since prices are exorbitant as they are, we can expect a new hotel in the region that wishes to attract customers to lower its prices - but then it would have to reduce its offerings and quality of its hotel in order to gain a profit. The supply and the demand causes rise in prices that correspond with rise in attractiveness of programs as the different hotels strive to compete with each other in attracting consumers. So on one end of the spectrum there is a rise in price to meet the requirements of the moneyed customer. On the other end, prices may be expected to drop in the need to find a niche.

To what extent does the government intervene in the development and running of the resort? Does the central/local government provide amenities such as swimming pools and sports facilities, walk-ways, public beaches? Is the tourist office state funded? Resort advertising? Explain the level of government intervention in the resort, this will vary according to the country in which the resort it is located and the political system..

Each and every one of the amenities of the resort is exclusively privately funded as are the amenities of each of its competitors.

Nonetheless, the government is actively involved to a certain extent in funding tourism in the Caribbean since tourism has an advantageous impact on the economy, ecosystem, and culture. The resort advertising is largely private although some of its government sponsored.

The tourist office site is state funded.

The government, too, following a period of decline and competition with Cuba implemented a program where it stepped in evaluating the quality of its resorts. This became known as the Quality Tourism for the Caribbean (QTC) initiative, with the Green Globe and Blue Flag programs. These programs implemented a quality assurance system for hotels in the areas of health, hygiene and conservation in that they trained Caribbean-based resorts in these areas. They also evaluated and offered information to these hotels on health and hygiene practices.

Another program was the European Union (EU) Blue Flag beach certification scheme which graded beaches according to the quality of their services and beach maintenance.

The government too tries to set competitive standards for resorts with Blue and Green flag demarcations so that hotels model and try to outflank one another in pursuit of the accreditation.