Student Name: Phillescia JeanCourse: EntrepreneurshipLecturer: Ms.O’MardSchool: Antigua State CollegeDate Submitted: 03/12/14

Entrepreneurship SBA

Jolly Beach Resort

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgement

Name and description of the venture…………………………………………………………………………………………………....1

Background of entrepreneur……………………………………………………………………………………………………….…………2

Characteristics of entrepreneur……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..3

Origin of the venture……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...4

Industry and market description……………………………………………………………..…………………………………………..5-7

Historical events……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…..8-9

Present state of the venture………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….10

Challenges and opportunities………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..11

Analytical questions……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….12

Conclusion on findings………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………….13-14

Reference

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It is with a great sense of profound gratefulness and humbleness I take this opportunity in acknowledgment of the many benefactors who have helped stirred this school base biology project to completion.

In a special way I would like to thank the selected entrepreneur Mr. Alex Brown, who has provided me with substantial material and her enthusiasm and support towards the project. Despite his ongoing busy schedule he remained devoted.

In all assign tasks, we always seek to have an anchor, thanks to my dearest uncle Thomason Francois for his ever growing love and commitment he executes in my work and the standard that he wants me to keep. His constant support in researching data and guidance towards the project is unmeasurable.

Have it not been for my Entrepreneurship lecturer Ms. O’Mard innovativeness to this deep and informative interview report on my selected venture, Jolly Beach Resort, I would not have had this empowering experience. This assign task has allowed me to prioritize and undergo research and in the process strengthened my knowledge base on the hotel. I am indeed indebted to you Ms. O’Mard.

NAME AND DESCRIPTION OF THE VENTURE

The Jolly Beach Resort & Spa, is a 464 room resort hotel that is presently situated on the south west coast in the Eastern Caribbean country of Antigua. Its actual location is in the St. Mary’s Parish of Bolans lower down from the Jolly Harbour’s company. In the year of 1999, the resort hotel which was known as Club Antigua before was purchased by its current owners and was established as a partnership firm ever since. Jolly Beach is an entirely all-inclusive hotel predominantly in quest of attracting and appealing to the leisure visitors, including incentive groups and therefore is actively involved in the hospitality industry, that is the tertiary and tourism industry. The hotel caters specifically to guests that seek medium to lower high end prices and aims to distinguish itself from its competitors by providing 4 star amenities though the hotel is rated 3 star due to the comparative minuteness of 79% of its rooms. The resort hotel is spread over 38 acres and is bordered by a ½ mile of white sand beach that is washed by the Caribbean Sea and it is the only resort in Antigua to have a cricket pitch on its complex. Ultimately, Jolly Beach Resort & Spa derives the revenues from the sales of products and services in the following categories: Rooms, Food and beverages, Conference and meetings, Water sports, Entertainment, Gift shops and premises, Palms Wellness Centre, and Concession Rentals.

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BACKGROUND OF ENTREPRENEUR

The entrepreneur that was selected was Alex Brown. Before he became a part of the partnership in Jolly Beach, he was actively involved in the education field as an educator and owned his own bus business. Therefore Brown is looked at as a portfolio entrepreneur as he is involved in 2 independent firms at the same time. In addition Alex claimed that he got involved in the firm by luck and by accident. According to Mr. Brown “ I remember I was on the beach one afternoon and this guy came up to me. We started

talking on the beach and he asked me what I did in the evenings, and I’m like nothing. Then he asked me if I’d care to maybe do some work with him. I mean this guy was young and in a piece of shorts and we was just relaxing and I had no idea that he was the owner of a property; and that is when I went and started to work in the business part-time. However, my part-time business was paying me more than my full-time job and I came to a conclusion where I left the education field to become more involved in the firm.”

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CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ENTREPRENEUR

Fun- “If it’s one thing about being an entrepreneur is that it is very stressful. Nevertheless I still try to outlook the stressful part and try to have fun with my workers and also develop a relationship with the employees because I want them to be free to tell me anything.”

Risk- taker- “Being an entrepreneur calls for being a risk-taker as you are not aware whether or not the business will succeed or fail. Therefore it is important that entrepreneurs do their research and learn the market before taking money from investors and also spend their money in hopes of getting back some in return.”

Flexible - “I have to flexible because sometimes to get where you want without breaking the law, you have to be creative and find ways around problems you have. Even in work hours and meeting deadlines you have to be able to juggle ideas quickly.”

Perseverance - “If you’re not willing to persevere it’s pretty much hopeless and even when people will think that you’re crazy, you don’t have to stop because literally you have to be able to see the light in the tunnel when nobody else sees it. Therefore you have to be preserving and knowing what you’re doing is going to be fruitful in the end.”

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ORIGIN OF THE VENTURE (WHY WAS IT STARTED?)

- Financial independence – Mr Brown stated that “the ultimate goal of opening this firm was to make money because you can then depend on yourself and not on someone else to pay you. You are your own boss.”

- To provide all inclusive services to guests at cheap prices – “It was decided that we will start this firm in order to provide all inclusive packages at cheap prices because usually when other hotels provide these services they are normally expensive.”

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INDUSTRY AND MARKET DESCRIPTION

Jolly Beach is involved in the hospitality industry which incorporates the tourism and tertiary industry. Under the hospitality sector the resort hotel provides accommodation, taxes, activities, and food and beverage. The food and beverage basically boosts the guest general experience by offering exceptional customer service and delicious meals, the accommodation section seeks to provide luxury so that guests may feel valued and may inform others about their experience, the activities makes the stay at the resort a memorable one and the taxes gives guests the opportunity to save their money.

The firm seeks to offer an enjoyable “jolly” all inclusive vacation to all leisure visitors and valued focused all-inclusive vacationers. Therefore the firm does not have a specific demographic segment as its products and services are offered to any and every one. From a consumer market segmentation perspective, 4 main categories were created: By yourself, Families, Group and Couples.

Benefit Segmentation Table:

Segment Name By Yourself Couples Families GroupsMain AdvantageWanted

Soothing experience

Time to relax, desire alone time away from the children

Need to create a memorable moment

Need to create a memorable moment

Demographic Strengths

Young singles Young, middle-aged, or older couples

Families Wide variety of persons of all ages

Personality Traits

Highly sociable Concentrating on love and being active

Seeking to have fun

Focusing on work or socialization

Behavioral Traits

Outgoing and enjoy being in a crowd

Seeking a stress-free experience without worrying about children, focusing on revitalizing their marriages

Want to make kids happy

Normally busy and always in and out of the hotel

Jolly Beach utilizes several methods of marketing including advertisements and public relations. Advertisement is the hotel’s great source of marketing via the use of tradeshows, mass media, word of mouth, and using travel agencies to ensure that consumers are being made aware of what the hotel has to offer. Additionally, the hotel offers 50% off on rooms’ rate.

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The products and services that the company offers are:

ROOMS

TYPE NUMBER OF ROOMS DESCRIPTION

Supersaver Ocean view 83 Intimate rooms similar in size to a large cruise ship cabin, one double bed with a shower and a balcony or patio. – Best suited for singles.

Standard Ocean View 284 Larger than the supersaver room. 170 rooms have king size beds, 100 rooms have twin beds and 14 rooms have triple beds. Each room has a shower and a balcony. – Best suited for singles or couples.

Queen Superior Ocean View 58 All rooms with two queen beds, shower and bath, balcony and patio. – Best suited for couples, three to four friends and families.

Junior Suite Ocean View 16 All junior suites have a separate living area with king size beds with a shower and

balcony. – Best suited for couples.

Cottage Suites 2 1 with 2 separate suites

Category Type

Other Facilities and Services Restaurants (5) Lydia’s, Ustav, Hemispheres, Bocciolo, Coconut Grill, and Afternoon TeaBars (5) Caribbean, International, Grill, Indian, ItalianPools (2)Cricket CenterCyber RoomGames RoomPalms Wellness Centre (Spa, Salon, Gym)4 tennis courtsWater Sports CentreNightly EntertainmentDaily Activities

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In the marketing industry that Jolly Beach follows, there are many hotels offering the same products and services, but some of them are:

- Veranda in Saint Phillip- Cocobay Resort in Bolans- Hermitage Bay in Bolans

Below is a competitive profile matrix summarizing the ratings of the competitors and Jolly Beach( taken from Trip Advisor). The ratings are as follows:

1. Terrible2. Poor3. Average4. Very Good5. Excellent

Ratings Jolly Beach Hermitage Bay Verandah Resort Cocobay ResortLocation 4 5 4 5Sleep quality 3 4 4 4Rooms 3 4 4 4Service 3 5 4 4Value 3 4 4 4Cleanliness 3 5 4 4

Total 19 27 24 25

As noticed, the Jolly Beach hotel is far behind the consumer expectations as it was illustrated in their ratings and the highest competition is experienced by Hermitage Bay which got an overall rating of 27. Therefore this suggests that the resort hotel may have been obtaining low profits or if none at all.

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HISTORICAL EVENTS IN THE START AND EXISTENCE OF THE BUSINESS

The 464-room Jolly Beach Resort Hotel was purchased by the present owners in 1999. The hotel was opened in 1968 a 78-room Holiday Inn. In 1979 it was expanded by 384 rooms and was operated as a three start all-inclusive property with 464 rooms.

Prior to the 1999 acquisition it operated as Club Antigua, which specialized in targeting visitors in the low price range charters from the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, and Europe. These guests came primarily on.

The hotel operated briefly in 2000 from January to June as Jolly Beach Resort, which was the successor to Club Antigua. In that same year of 2000, Simone Roeder, the first guest arrived to the resort hotel on December 19th. Additionally, Jolly Beach is the first resort hotel that is solely owned by all Antiguans.

In August 2000 the hotel was closed for a major renovation, which cost US15 million and involved providing air conditioning, telephones, televisions, and radios for all rooms building a 500,000-gallon fantasy pool and generally upgrading and renovating all rooms and facilities.

From January 2000 to December 31, 2001, the resort operated in a difficult economic environment and incurred substantial losses. In December 2001 a business plan was designed and approved to turn around the Jolly Beach Resort. The execution of the business plan in 2002 through 2006 produced an average annual compounded rate of growth, in revenues, of 22% over this 5 year period. Gross Operating Profit improved steadily over this period and in 2006, the resort was profitable for the second

consecutive year. It must be noted that 2005 was the first time in its history that the property had a positive net income.

In 2007 and 2008 the hotel showed a decline in revenues reflecting increased competition in Antigua and adverse economic conditions in the hotel’s primary markets. Consequently net losses were incurred in both years.

Additionally, Jolly Beach stresses the fact of their saying “Do as much or as little as you like to make your stay with us the perfect all-inclusive and room-only vacation experience.” To make their guests stay as comfortable and welcoming as possible, they seek to provide a wide variety of activities every year. Initially, in terms of sports, the hotel developed its own Jolly Beach Olympics as well instructors who will teach guests as to how to play cricket, rounders, and some more of Antiguan favourites. Fortunately, the children are not forgotten as the hotel has its own Jolly Clubs, Teenz Club (13-16) and Kidz Club (3-12), with day and evening activities created just for them. The hotel then moves it way to the relaxation and music category by having dance classes for guests seeking to learn calypso and reggae moves, and also yoga to attain balance and relaxation. In the evenings, performances from Caribbean steel pan bands, local dance companies are done, and bon fire featuring limbo and fire show are done.

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Furthermore, the special occasions come into play where the beach hosts a week of entertainment and events to celebrate the music and spectacular costumes of Carnival in Antigua during July and August. During independence, the employees and employers share the culture by attiring themselves in the lovely national dress showing off the true colors from October 27 through November 1. Ho, Ho, Ho, the time to be merry arrives! Santa reaches via boat on the snow white beach at Christmas when it’s that time of year to be ‘JOLLY ’ with the family and the hotel has fun-filled activities from December 22 through December 31. Live bands, boogying, fireworks and the customary “dive into the Fantasy Pool” occur in the New Year with a big splash on December 31st.

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PRESENT STATE OF THE VENTURE

The firm is in a rebuilding state at the moment. Rebuilding suggests that the firm is trying and seeking to find creative and innovative methods of encouraging more guests in order to elevate their profits back to the way it was and to escape from the current economic situation. In terms of the structure of the building, a vast amount of improvement is required due to the aging of the property. In situations where there is a lot of rain or when a hurricane may occur, the building is at a disadvantage as the roofs possess leaks which would not be a comfortable and “jolly” environment for the consumers to reside in.

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MAJOR PRESENT AND FUTURE CHALLENGES AND EMERGING OPPORTUNITIES

Present:

- High maintenance cost- the property is old and simple cosmetic maintenance which are adequate for newer properties are insufficient to make significant changes to the general appearance of the property; the immediate capital for mass refurbishment is not available at the moment

- The rooms are dated and generally fall below guests expectations

- Reputation of the firm- negative comments were posted online by Trip advisor ad on the online travel companies

- Not able to buy everything local that is supplies and other materials as prices are ridiculous therefore there is a change in course which causes the company to import required materials

- No internet access in the rooms

Future:

- Competition from new properties

- Emerging markets such as Asia, the Pacific, etc with lower costs and price structures

Opportunities:

- The Palms Wellness Centre, spa, gym, and beauty salon offers four treatment rooms; full salon and gym will greatly assist in adding value to a vacation at the resort.

- Increased profitability through cost saving initiatives such as decreased energy consumption and rigid operation procedures

- Improving service standards through better training and recruitment

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ANALYTICAL QUESTIONS USED

1) What would you say are the top 3 skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur?“Risk Taker”“Market Research”“Good Location- Most 3 important things in creating a venture is Location, Location, Location”

2) What 3 pieces of advice would you give to college students who want to be become entrepreneurs?

“Ensure that your business has copyright”“Do the research”“Never use your own money”

3) What sacrifices have you had to make to be a successful entrepreneur?Family and FriendsSports

4) In one word characterize your life as an entrepreneur?Crazy/ Certified Lunatic

5) What kind of culture exists in your organization?There is a huge diversity in the firm. There are employees from different villages in the firm and different countries (Dominica, Guyana, and Jamaica) and they carry their cultures with them. Therefore the company uses these cultures from everyone and recognizes their strengths in order to ensure the success of the firm.

6) How did you decide on the location for the business?“The crystal waters with the white sand and the mile long beach spells out the name hotel.”

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CONCLUSION

To be honest, at first my findings did not make me feel as if I should have a positive attitude towards creating my own venture because:

1) I would not be able to cope with all the negative comments bashed at my company and also cope with the fact that the guests were not actually satisfied.

2) After being through more than 2 years in an insecurely financial situation, I would have come to a point where I would have already given up

3) It’s too stressful because if the firm is not obtaining enough capital then that means that employees cannot be paid which would further result in disagreements and conflicts

4) I would be too coward too start after seeing all the competitors

Nevertheless, though I developed a negative attitude towards creating my own venture that does not mean that I won’t or can’t give it a shot. I still felt inspired that I can establish my own firm because Alex Brown taught me that:

1) Nothing in life comes easy

2) You have to accept your failures in order to learn from them because he does not hide the faults of the hotel. He is aware that the condition of the hotel is not 100% and that the hotel may fall below guests expectations, he is not afraid to say that the company is going through rough times right now. What I learnt from him is that no matter what obstacles or challenges you may encounter in your entrepreneurial lifestyle, you must never give up because that moment you choose to give up is that moment when something surprising might occur. Mr. Brown along with the other managers is seeking to make a change and bring Jolly Beach to the next level which makes them goal oriented and persevering entrepreneurs.

133) You need to be “crazy” to be an entrepreneur or “certified lunatic” as he claimed. Honestly

speaking that was my favorite learning experience in this assessment. Many people might wonder how being crazy as an entrepreneur helps you in any way. But I clearly understood what Mr. Brown was suggesting, entrepreneurs are crazy because it only takes an individual who is not normal to go through so many travails and still be able to compose something out of nothing- you may call it creative or perseverance but he identifies this personality as crazy. Another point that he mentioned was that in order to be able to cope with all types of employees is not easy as they can be very annoying and troublesome at times. It does not take anyone to be able to achieve this goal of “craziness” as many entrepreneurs cannot deal with agitating employees and immediately get rid of them if they push their luck.

Ultimately, I can fairly say that indeed I have been inspired by this entrepreneur and even though I may have developed a negative attitude towards entrepreneurship, I can proudly say that my level of inspiration has definitely outweighed my fright towards creating my own firm.

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REFERENCE

(A. Brown, personal communication, November 7, 2014)