The smell of coconut rum and beat of the live calypso music were hypnotizing as I made my way through the open-air halls of the Grand Lucayan, Bahamas during a recent visit. The 519-room hotel sits alongside one of Grand Bahama Island’s powder-white beaches. Here groups can enjoy any of the resort’s free activities offered daily including yoga and mixology courses, or lay in one of their oversize poolside hammocks and enjoy a good book.
For meetings, the resort offers 90,000 sf of both indoor and outside venues ideal for large groups. Their Grand Lawn is perfect for 1,500 pax starlit soirees where group members can dance to the rhythm of the hotel’s Junkanoo parade, every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night.
The resort has two championship golf courses—The Reef Club and Lucayan Country Club—which is the oldest course in the Bahamas and was designed by renowned architect Dick Wilson. Both courses can also be used for events, offering more than 13,000 total yards between the two.
As if there weren’t enough to do back at the hotel, a 15-minute trip to Lucayan National Park makes for a day of lounging and exploring the pristine beach where the sexy (and recently single) Johnny Depp and his crew of swashbuckling buccaneers filmed Pirates of the Caribbean’s second and third movies. Be on the lookout for hidden booty.
Benjamin Davis, Grand Lucayan’s GM, talked to us a little bit about what makes the resort and surrounding area ideal for group business. He summed it up pretty accurately by saying, “I don’t think anyone should ever be bored if they’re here for three or four nights.”
Prevue: What are the resort’s top selling points for U.S. meeting planners?
Benjamin Davis: We are a beachfront resort, which is pretty much our top selling point. On top of being on the beach we have a large amount of indoor and outdoor function space, and we can take groups of up to 400 to 500 rooms. We also have sufficient a la carte restaurants for them to dine at on different days of the week, two golf courses where groups can host events, a spa, and the ability to host events on the sand like organizing Beach Olympics for a group.
Externally there are attractions that are available for those who want to see a different side of the island. There’s deep sea fishing and scuba and swimming with the dolphins. It’s a complete package that could easily interest a group so they don’t have to stay on-property the entire time they’re here. It gives them a different flavor of the island. Oh, and we also have a casino so I think we have a fair amount of stuff for a person to do to get a feel for the area.
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