Like everything else in life, there is always a feeling of uncertainty if not apprehension when there are changes, but the new owner of Cap Juluca, Adam Aron, who was in Anguilla several days ago, put up his index finger and said: “My word is my bond.” He was at the time speaking in an interview with The Anguillian about various points in his plans to guarantee the welfare and benefits of employees, maintain and promote the resort and preserve it in a way that the Government and people who own the Crown Land on which it sits would like to see it, although with some expansion. “We shall not change the character of Cap Juluca,” he affirmed.

Mr. Aron at Maundays Bay Beach with section of Cap Juluca in background

“It is true that I am the third owner of Cap Juluca but I think that there is something of a higher calling than just being the owner, and that is recognising that Cap Juluca is the crown jewel of the tourism industry in Anguilla,” he stated. “I know that ten years ago Cap Juluca was a glorious place and I certainly hope that two years from now Cap Juluca will be a glorious place. I also hope that 30 years from now, 50 years from now and 100 years from now Cap Juluca is going to be a glorious place. Two years from now I am going to be here; 30 years from now I will be 83 years old; may be I will be here, maybe I won’t be here; 50 years from now I will be dead; 100 years from now everybody reading this newspaper unfortunately will be dead; but what I hope people will say a year from now, two years from now, five years from now, 30 years from now, 50 years from now, is that Adam Aron was a great owner of Cap Juluca; he was a great steward of this asset, that he cared about the property and made it a lot better.

“In making it a lot better I want to do so for three groups of people. First, you have to start with the guests because, after all, they are the ones who pay for all this with the decision that they make to choose their vacation in Anguilla instead of some other place and to stay at Cap Juluca. I also feel a great sense of responsibility to our employees. They give their hearts and souls to Cap Juluca every day, every month and every year. Many of our employees have been here for 5, 10, 15 and 20 years and they deserve to work at a world-class place. The third group, I think about honestly and sincerely, are all the people of Anguilla because it is their home and I spent a lot of time here. This is my ninth trip and my 46th day in Anguilla since December 23rd and I have been coming here for ten years. Anguilla is home and Cap Juluca is one of the greatest parts of Anguilla and I want all the people of Anguilla to be very proud of Cap Juluca which makes the island a very special place and gives Anguilla a world-wide reputation of being a superb place.”

20% Profits For Anguilla

Mr. Aron said the Government, representing the people of Anguilla, would receive 20 percent of the profits of Cap Juluca. He hoped that those profits would become “an engine for the island” to provide the services for the population that could only be done by the Government through the revenue collected. “Hopefully we will really do a good job at Cap Juluca, making it a very successful business,” he stated.

Mr. Aron, who is currently Chairman and CEO of World Leisure Partners Inc. of Miami, and whose main partner in Cap Juluca is Italian Manfredi Le Febune, Chairman of Silversea Cruises, based in Monaco, continued: “I would not be here today if it were not for the way that I was treated by the Government of Anguilla. The readers of The Anguillian should know that the Chief Minister, the Executive Council, Permanent Secretaries and other Civil Servants and Department Heads I interacted with have been so smart and so fair, honourable and charming in their dealings with me over the last four months that it did not hurt too much when they twisted my arms and legs for the Government’s share of the company….for the people of Anguilla. I have to say thank you…because the way they conducted themselves was what kept me enthusiastic about chasing the dream of acquiring Cap Juluca.”

One of the villas at Cap Juluca

Reflecting on his 30 years in the travel industry, his personal life and qualities, Mr. Aron went on: “Not a lot of people in Anguilla know who I am; but if you knew me for the last 30 years, like a lot of people in business throughout the United States know me…, my word is my bond. If I make a commitment to someone, I keep that commitment; and so I am very careful about what commitments I make because when I make them, you write them down: they will happen…When you care about people and you have experience, success and a tract record of innovation, creativity and ideas, and you also have a record of following through with ideas, not just loose talk, and turning those ideas into prompt action, [it must all be reason for belief]. If you take all that together in one piece and you add to it keeping your word and keeping your commitments and promises, I would like to think that is the description that Anguillians should have about the new ownership of Cap Juluca.”

Employee Benefits

Mr. Aron said he held meetings with the 400-odd employees at the resort about various matters of importance to them and the ownership. He disclosed that in taking the resort forward “a lot of thought will be given to what is the best package of pay and benefits that makes our employees happy to come to work at Cap Juluca.” He realised “that pay benefits are very important because our employees have families to support and everybody else can also use more income.”

He believed that employees should get a pay rise every year. “If there was some horrible thing as a hurricane, that knocked down half of the island and Cap Juluca, and all of a sudden no guests were showing up [that may make a difference] but in a normal environment, we should be giving raises to our employees every single year,” he stated. “In addition to that I am very sensitive to the benefits that our employees receive. I discussed it with them and that is something that I will be giving a lot of thought to.”

He further said: “I want every employee to know that, starting with the owner and working our way down to the management of the resort, we have nothing but the greatest respect for them. There is a lot of dignity that comes with being an employee at Cap Juluca and we honour and revere their service as Julucans. We are going to work hard on making sure that all the employees feel that they are being treated fairly; think that we have smart, able and dedicated managers in place whom they can trust and respect and this is a very important priority for me.

“We want them to speak freely, to tell us what they love, what they hate, what changes they want, what they would like to remain the same. We want them to know that we will include them in the discussions about the future of Cap Juluca.”

He spoke about ensuring better working conditions for employees. “I discussed with all the department heads that when I look at some of the things we have on the property for our employees, I am not very impressed,” he reported. “The employee entrance is pretty well down; the employee cafeteria is too small; there are no employee lockers; the transport of employees across the resort calls for a lot of walking on hot days; and the employee parking is scattered and haphazard.” He also spoke about the need for new uniform unfits which is to be addressed.

Mr. Aron said he would like every employee to stay at Cap Juluca once they continued to do a good job. “I have given the Government a pledge that we will keep the workforce at its current size or even larger. There will be no layoffs of any kind…In fact it is almost the opposite. I am looking at improving those services that we provide our guests and as we do so we may have to add to our employees,” he commented.

Plans For New Villas & Renovation

On the question of expanding the 98-room property, the new owner told The Anguillian that he and his partners would be adding new villas to the property, but “we are going to make sure that growth is measured and contained and that we subscribe to the Government’s philosophy of low volume, high luxury tourism. We will not change the character of Cap Juluca. We are going to increase the number of villas. That will almost certainly happen but we will keep it in a way that ensures the exclusivity, luxury and the high levels of personalised service exactly as it is now.”

Mr. Aron continued: “We have a big, long beach at Cove Bay. There is nothing on that beach. If we add some villas on Cove Bay Beach, for example, that’s not going to change what happens at Maundays Bay Beach at all because there is a lot more room that no current Cap Juluca guest actually uses today… If you look at the very end of Maundays Bay Beach you will see that the villas actually stop but the beach keeps going. Just to the naked eye it looks like we can add three or four villas there…and when you look at it you wonder why [the former owners and developers] stopped at villa 19, why they didn’t go three or four more because it would have made sense for them to finish all the way to the end of the beach. So we are looking at ideas like that.

“What we are going to do will be the same architecture and the same design. Whatever we do is going to still feel like Cap Juluca. The villas will be just as far apart as they are now. We are not talking about building a second row of villas. It is not like we are going to have an oceanfront row and a row behind. To the extent that we add a few villas, we will do so, but I think we will do it in a way that preserves the current character of Cap Juluca.”

In the meantime, Mr. Aron estimated that his company would be spending up to US$80 million to refurbish Cap Juluca probably over a three-year period. “We are going to put some significant investment physically into the property,” he said. “The villas are beautiful on the outside but if you are inside you can see that they are 20 years old and need a facelift. If you are at George’s Restaurant, it is a nice fun and casual beach restaurant, but if you look around with a sharp eye, you will see that it is starting to show its age and wear and tear and needs to be refreshed and made new. The same is true of the main house and of Pimms and Kemia Restaurants. We have a lot of ideas as to how we can improve Cap Juluca and make sure that it has a world-class level of quality in its physical nature.

“We are going to put a major investment into the landscaping of Cap Juluca to make sure that it is beautifully lush and colourful like it was ten years ago…We are going into the villas and will put in new floors, new windows, new doors, new bathrooms, new beds, new furniture, rugs, art and lamps. A long time ago it was special that there would be no electronics in the rooms, but that was 20 years ago and today’s international traveling hotel guest really wants 50 channels of television, the internet, a DVD player, stereo radios and CDs and a hook-up for their ipods. We are going to put all those electronics into the rooms.

“One third of our guest rooms are really big and beautiful; one third of the rooms are okay and one third of the rooms are pretty small so we will really go into our rooms that are small and enlarge them and make them as nice as the best one third of the rooms in the hotel. We may probably go into that middle third that are okay. They are not bad but are not great and we will make them a little bit bigger too so that all the rooms at Cap Juluca will be as great as the best third of our rooms today.”

Mr. Aron stated that he was aware that he would be required to seek the Planning Departrment’s advice and permission to do the work, all of which he pointed out was among the ideas for Cap Juluca. “We still have some discussions to hold with the various ministries and departments to make sure that what we will be doing is proper and fits the Government’s vision for Anguilla,” he observed. He said the renovation work would be undertaken during the slow period between May and November and in September and October when the property was actually closed.

He added that another big idea was to improve the service being offered to guests. He said that the employees were already super friendly, but the new improvements would be what the resort would programme the employees to provide for the guests. He spoke about providing complimentary delicacies and refreshment for guests throughout the day at the main house lobby, the rooms and at the beach.

In repeating his undertakings to the Government and people of Anguilla, the employees and guests at Cap Juluca, and his commitment to preserve the character of the resort despite his moderate expansion plans, Mr. Aron re-emphasised: “My word is my bond!”

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