Craft traders laud hotel mogul for enabling them to school children
Published:Wednesday | January 6, 2021 | 12:22 AMJanet Silvera/Senior Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Jamaican craft merchants have credited Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart’s intervention in their lives, with the success their children have had in accessing university education.
“Sandals was the first hotel to welcome craft traders on their property to ply their wares, and while there, we are treated as part of the Sandals family,” Melody Haughton, president of the Harbour Street Craft and Cultural Village, told The Gleaner yesterday.
She said the money they made from the guests at Sandals was enough to help them to furnish their children with a good education. The merchants – hundreds of them attached to the village – have announced plans to open a condolence book today in honour of the man described as “larger than life”.
Stewart, who perfected luxury-included within the all-inclusive concept, died in the United States on Monday.
PICTURE THIS: Remembering Gordon 'Butch' Stewart
Haughton said their gratitude stems from the fact that Stewart’s compassion saw no boundaries. While other hotels charged them for access, Sandals would not ask for a penny.
“Butch Stewart himself made it clear to his staff and management that the craft traders must not be charged to sell their wares on his properties. And if he saw we weren’t being treated properly, he himself would attend to us and rectify the matter,” added Haughton, who noted that they were given special rates for lunch at the properties they sold at and use of the staff lunchroom.
“And most of our children who have been successful in the society today, we have to salute Gordon Butch Stewart and the Sandals family for making it a reality. We were able to send them to university after selling our craft items to his guests.”
Stewart’s first resort – Sandals Montego Bay – is 30 years old, and since inception, the merchants have been welcomed with open arms.
The craft merchant president said she wanted to shed light on the positive influence the icon had on microbusiness operators in the country.
Stewart, she said, each year encouraged the children who passed their grade-six exit exams with a programme called ‘First Lunch Money’.
Some 254 merchants or 600 occupants ply their wares in the craft village and are a small sample of the number of tributes that have come for Stewart who they say fought hard for the poor, and his fight was impelled if those he was rooting for had ambition.
Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett described Stewart as a true icon and innovator, “perhaps the greatest marketer tourism has ever seen” and “the greatest tourism entrepreneur of our time”.
While Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies, Mona, Sir Hilary Beckles, said ‘Butch’, like Bob and Bolt, was brash, brave and brilliant, with a cascading commitment to nation building and regional renaissance.
“He integrated and domesticated his Caribbean like no entrepreneurial other and demanded ownership everywhere the ‘sandals sea’ swept upon our shores,” the professor said.
And Caribbean Hotel and Tourist Association CEO Vanessa Ledesma said the industry will forever be indebted to Stewart for his passion for excellence and legendary Caribbean hospitality.
“His vision has bestowed to the global industry a Caribbean organisation (CHTA) that adheres to the highest standards of excellence, celebrates and promotes the region’s uniqueness, and invests in the development of our people and communities,” she said.
Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) President Clifton Reader said Stewart was highly respected as the conceptualiser of the most innovative and creative tourism products which endeared his iconic Sandals and Beaches hotels to millions of visitors globally.
“As a former president of the JHTA and an ‘elder head’ of the association over four decades, Butch Stewart helped to mould the organisation, guiding and mentoring our members and his employees. He was the consummate marketer and salesman whose attention to detail and insistence on perfection ensured that what was promised, was always delivered, beyond expectation,” he said.