As the world around us paused, and Barbados came to a screeching halt in March, we at BarbadosBarbados have been busy rescheduling our existing reservations and issuing refunds to those who are unable to reschedule. There is just one owner who is being extremely difficult and inflexible and has refused to refund one of our new clients who was due to arrive just as the island closed its borders. We are doing everything we can to find a compromise.
Barbados has handled the COVID-19 pandemic extremely well and the island is gradually reopening. To date we have had only 92 cases, 7 deaths and only 2 infected persons remain in isolation as of today. We have not diagnosed a single new case in over two weeks and only 11 in the past six weeks. About 2% of our population have been tested. However, with the arrival of a repatriation flight from the United States yesterday, four of the 110 passengers on board that flight tested positive and all are now in isolation. That said, it is clear that there has been limited if any community spread in the past month.
At present, the airport remains closed to commercial flights until the end of June. However, the private aircraft FBOs remain open to flights subject to approval. Our property management partners have been working alongside industry partners, the Ministry of Health & Wellness, the Ministry of Tourism and the Barbados Tourism Product Authority to establish protocols for the reopening of Tourism Accommodation in Barbados, discussing the protocols that will be in place on reopening to commercial aircraft, which we hope will be some time in July.
Our owners and property management partners are working on incentives aimed at making the booking process less restrictive and more flexible. Relaxed cancellation policies are in place as well as reduced “balance due by†dates. Our property management partners are also carefully planning and implementing new protocols aimed at maintaining staff and client safety moving forward, to include a two day turnaround at many of the holiday homes so they can be cleaned and then disinfected prior to the next arrival.
Our borders may be closed but BarbadosBarbados is still open. We are actively receiving and completing booking requests for the latter half of 2020 and throughout 2021.
Give us a call or drop an email if you have any questions or requests.
We look forward to welcoming you back when you are ready but for now, from our home to yours, stay safe and well.
Carolyn & Billy O’Dell
Updated June 11th 2020