Q & A with Paul Verhaak, Head of the SuperClubs Marketing & Sales Division for Europe

Q.- What’s your main responsibility at the helm of this division and in the different European markets?

A.- Our headquarters for Europe and Asia are in London, and in the continent of Europe we have offices in the Netherlands that look after the Netherlands countries; we have an office in Munich that looks after Germany, Austria and Switzerland. We have an office in Majorca, with Herminio Galvez, that looks after Spain, Portugal and Italy, and we have an office in Japan’s Tokyo. So, these offices report directly to my office in London, and what we do is sell and promote our resorts in those markets.

Source markets, like the United Kingdom, we sell it to tour operators and to meetings and incentives groups for Jamaica, Cuba, the Bahamas and all the areas where we have resorts.

Q.- Are you also in charge of emerging markets like Ukraine, Romania, Poland and Russia? Are they also part of your responsibilities?

A.- Yes. We’ve been working the Russian market already for six to seven years, slowly but surely creating awareness of Jamaica, creating awareness of SuperClubs, and we’ve been successful in obtaining Russian tourists to stay in our resorts.

Q.- What about the Chinese market?

A.- We started working with China five years ago and since then we’ve been back to China regularly, again to create awareness of the destinations where we have resorts and we also support the JTB (Jamaica Tourist Board) and the Ministry of Tourism of Jamaica in their efforts in those markets.

Q.- What’s the difference in approach that you have for all of your brands in the different markets you work on?

A.- For Russia we work the deluxe resorts under the Grand Lido brand, but the Russians also have a preference for our Hedonism brand. As to the Japanese is all the Grand Lido because they like the spa treatments and the rooms run under that brand.

Q.- What’s the average number of days that Russian tourists stay in your resorts, compared to other visitors?

A.- The Russians would probably stay anything between four and seven days, even longer, but the Japanese only stay three nights. The Chinese also stay for short periods of time because they stay two days at the resorts and then they like to venture out of those resorts to see culture, the natural history and other attractions outside of the resorts.

Q.- What about the Spanish travelers? How long do they stay on a regular basis?

A.- We’re doing very well with the Spanish tour operators and, of course, there are some Spanish hotel chains that we have in Jamaica, but we get a good share of the Spanish business and they stay about seven to fourteen nights because they come on charter flights. The Spaniards go for the Grand Lido or the Breezes brands, four-star brands.

Q.- And the UK market? What about it?

A.- UK visitors primarily go for money brands, in three- or four-star resorts, all-inclusive. As you know, the UK is the biggest market that we have in Europe for Jamaica, but we also do business with them in Hedonism, Grand Lido and Breezes resorts. They stay approximately for fourteen nights.

Q.- That’s an amazing figure, isn’t it?

A.- Yes, because the charter companies that fly to Jamaica have either seven- or fourteen-night rotations, so these people stay fourteen nights.

Q.- And the rates?

A.- Since this is a long-haul destination, the rates that we have are far more attractive than the rates we have in the United States. It’s an expensive holiday for people to go to Jamaica, so that’s why we make the rates as attractive as possible.

Q.- But it’s interestingly cheaper for Spanish guests to book a hotel in the UK.

A.- The point is that the rates that we have in Europe have actually come down this year because of the rate of exchange between the euro and U.S. dollar, so we’ve adjusted our rates to have the Spaniards come to our resorts.

Q.- What does the Portuguese market mean to SuperClubs?

A.- We have two flights to Jamaica in the summertime from Portugal. We have very strong relationships with Portuguese tour operators like Abreu and they’re very supportive for our Breezes brand. Portugal, of course, is very important for our hotels in Latin America, especially in Brazil. So, we do a lot of business with the Portuguese and we’re very happy with them.

Q.- How many European tourists stayed in SuperClubs resorts last year? Give me a ballpark figure.

A.- I really don’t know. But if you look at the statistics released by JTB you’ll see that our markets are increasing in importance.

Q.- Who are the top European customers for your Hedonism-brand resorts?

A.- The Hedonism resorts cater to singles and couples alike, male and female, we don’t care. Anybody who comes to our Hedonism resorts is definitely going to have a good time. We sell Hedonism resorts through some big tour operators, but the Spanish, Italian and Portuguese markets are very important to the Hedonism brand.

Q.- Is there anything else you’d like to add to wrap up this interview?

A.- We’d like to let you know that we’re very happy with your publication and with your websites, where we advertise a lot. We’re very happy with the investment we’ve made in your publication and websites.