Life’s a beach at Sandal resorts unless there’s a COVID-19 breach. Then, the fun stops.
The all-inclusive vacation getaway chain is in hot water at properties on the tiny Caribbean islands of Barbados, Grenada and Saint Lucia.
In Barbados, the resort on Dover Beach is in a faceoff with the government over “verified breaches” of COVID protocol, Barbados Today reported. On Tuesday, the country’s Ministry of Health and Wellness will delist the Sandals Barbados Resort and Spa as a designated quarantine hotel.
The hullabaloo is about three tourists who broke quarantine — two removed their quarantine wristbands and another falsified documents. They’re being held by authorities.
The chain came out swinging, denying the breaches and accusing health officials of “heavy-handed action” in the middle of talks with the ministry, the outlet reported. And the resort insists the tourists — two are from the UK — aren’t “in any way associated with its guests.”
“We are aware of some unproven allegations which, for example, included that there were protocol breaches by tourists staying at Sandals Barbados. These allegations were quickly proven incorrect and have since been corrected by the Barbados Minister of Tourism,” a Sandals spokesperson told The Post in a statement.
Meanwhile, in Grenada and Saint Lucia, health officials have tied COVID-19 outbreaks to Sandals properties.
The Sandals Grenada is closed until Feb. 3 after several cases traced back to the resort played a role in triggering a partial lockdown of the island in mid-December. The government put restrictions in place after 26 cases nationwide popped up in one day.
In their statement, Sandals told The Post that the issue was down to false positives: “Initial reports claiming a number of positive cases originating at Sandals Grenada have been proven inaccurate. These initial reports were made prior to the necessary second round of more accurate PCR testing and without any investigation or contact tracing measures. All 432 team members at Sandals Grenada were proven negative for COVID-19 through a more thorough round of PCR testing. This includes staff who allegedly tested positive. Additionally, of the guests who tested positive, both PCR and antigen tests conducted have confirmed negative for any current or prior COVID-19 infection. With these results in mind, it is clear that initial tests conducted produced a number of false positive results.”
In October, Sandals Saint Lucia dismissed allegations of a coronavirus outbreak just days after reopening.
“Nothing could be further from the truth, and we effusively deny these baseless rumors,” the resort in a statement at the time.