- 2 weeks ago
The third-generation hotelier is setting a new standard in luxury hospitality—seamlessly blending sustainability, personalized service, technology and local culture to create unforgettable experiences at her family-owned Grenadian resort.
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00:00hey essence fam it's news and politics editor melissa nowell and i'm here on the beautiful
00:12island of grenada at spice island beach resort and today i have the honor and pleasure of sitting
00:19down with president and managing director of this beautiful resort janelle hopkins today
00:25you'll have the opportunity to hear directly about her journey a little bit more about spice
00:29island beach resort and what i love so much about being here and of course in grenada so now it is
00:36so wonderful to finally have the opportunity to meet you first of all and to now be here
00:45with you especially to chat for our essence audience i wanted to start off by just telling you
00:51that i have wanted to do this interview for two years i appreciate that i two years ago i remember
00:57sending a request but we couldn't make the timing work with the short time i had here in grenada
01:03and of course your schedule yeah but i said you know what nothing before it's time yeah and we
01:07finally made it work yes and i'm honored i'm absolutely honored it's an honor to sit with you
01:13it's an honor to be here at spice island beach resort my first visit to spice island beach resort
01:19okay okay so i'm happy to be here oh welcome welcome to the spice family like we like to say
01:25thank you and it's it's truly an honor to be here i mean and we've kept in touch but to finally meet
01:30you yeah yeah absolutely fantastic so i think the thing that i really would love to start this
01:37conversation off with is really speaking to the family legacy that exists here in the spice family
01:45how integral that is to everything that you do here so talk to us a little bit about that family
01:52legacy so i'm a third generation hotelier so my father grew up in a 10 bedroom hotel with his
01:59siblings and he then went on to open his own hotel um and he with his brothers he walked away from that
02:06and in 1987 he totally bought what we are at the time spice island inn and he named it spice island beach
02:14resort um and then i studied hospitality so it's in my blood yeah and i studied it i always knew i
02:21wanted to do it um and one of the things that you know the funny stories after graduating high school
02:27my dad said to me what do you want to do and i said i want to be like you and he said no that doesn't
02:32work that's not the answer so he had me work at the age of 16 throughout the resort go through all
02:37the departments and learn everything learn everything lower level and at the end of it he said so what do
02:42you want to do and i said i want to do this so i did my uh bachelor's in hospitality in switzerland
02:49i did four years um graduated and i came right back but to speak to the legacy uh he was one of
02:55the pioneers in the day and he was knighted he received honors from many things tourism wise
03:00within the caribbean but his greatest achievement is spice and what he created at the time he when
03:08all-inclusives were known as large buffet style concepts he created and not personal so he took the
03:16all-inclusive concept and he made an ultra at the time modern you know five-star four-star all-inclusive
03:22hotel uh which was something that was never seen before very personal life no buffets one-to-one 64
03:30rooms um so much so that you don't pay any extras for bottled water or you know all premium bar and that's
03:38really where the legacy started with him and then of course myself and my siblings joined him in the
03:44business over the years and unfortunately he passed away four years ago um nearly four years ago but he
03:52planned and i worked with him over the years and in 2015 he named me his successor which i thought was
03:58really key yeah so there was no surprise when he passed away the trade knew the press knew the staff
04:05knew the family knew that he would be if should he not be here i would take over the reins um so obviously
04:12once he passed away i became president and managing director and i've been running the ship for the
04:17last four years but the the key to that word legacy and i think what's most important and a lot of
04:23people say what do you want to do differently what is your intention obviously i it were a foundational
04:29brand and i want to keep it that way modernize it a bit but i think modernize is a very loose word
04:35to be honest he and i are much alike and we and the vision that he had essentially the vision that i
04:42have one it's down to the personal touches in the hotel two it's the fact that at the end of the day
04:48i believe like he believed that everyone wants an understated beach vacation so at the end of the day
04:54that's what i'm delivering an understated elegant beach vacation and it's down to the personal touches
04:59and that's something along with the team and the culture that we have here you can't get anywhere else
05:03so when people say you know how do you intend to carry on the vision i'm i am carrying it on i've
05:08put my a stylish twist a modern twist you know you can call it many things but at the end of the day
05:14i believe in exactly what he believed in and that that is why the legacy is continuing and no matter
05:20what changes i make just like him grenada is my passion and there's something called a sense of place
05:27which i believe so much in and so when you walk into the doors of spice you know where you are you
05:33know you're in grenada you feel it you smell it you meet grenadians um and so no matter what changes
05:40i do it will always be at the the base of everything that we are a true grenadian hotel um and i i like
05:47to say grenadian excellence you know we provide grenadian excellence so that pretty much is where i i
05:53that's how i tie in legacy to what i am doing today basically yeah and you and i thank you so much for
05:59that like beautiful like timeline there yeah and add to your point about personal touches yeah just
06:06being like a little box of like mango chutney and some honey yeah nutmeg just those little things really
06:14and then a personal personalized note no really make a difference and it's something he started and i've
06:20kept on the tradition and i will continue to sign all the rivals and all the cards but we also want to
06:27move it forward a bit and start to leverage technology to use that so that we can connect
06:32and find out information about our guests before they even get here and you can use it to find out
06:37more about them how to enhance their stays on property on the island so no matter what we do and no matter
06:42what i do to use technology i would still always go right back to the fact that for me a personalized
06:48note or personalized card where you've seen someone take the time to write it means the absolute world and
06:54that's what this vacation a spice vacation starts with yeah so let's talk a little bit about yeah
07:01technology and the way that you have put your stamp of course as you said you and your father are very
07:08much so alike so you're continuing that but what are some of the ways you've put your stamp on things
07:13and put more technology into it brand we're starting with create with contacting our guests before they
07:21arrive obviously we're starting within the departments to connect all the departments and
07:26it's something obviously that we never had before so when i say leveraging technology i like to say spice
07:32of the work in progress so we're still a work in progress but the fact is that we have to find that
07:37happy medium where you don't lose that personalized touch but throughout all the departments when they get
07:42here to the resort we have all of the information before they arrive we sit with them when they arrive
07:49and even though we have the ipads and even though we have the barcodes for the menus and the barcodes
07:55in the room so we've taken away the guest directories and we have little barcodes where you can access all
08:00the guest information but we've still kept the pen and pad because people people still like to write
08:06and we still kept some printed directories because we are open to everyone our guests come from all walks
08:12of life all ages so it's just finding that blend and balance of using both and still finding a way where
08:19your repeat clientele who we have on average 45 throughout the year they're still comfortable here
08:26and your new guest who you're the more modern traveler you can still give them what they're looking for
08:32and you know that really goes back to my vision um in terms of my vision moving forward for spice
08:39in that i don't want to just be another luxury caribbean vacation i want it to be an extraordinary
08:46experience i want it to be in a unique location which it is um and with a distinct value proposition which
08:55is basically uh unique memorable very uh distinct in terms of it's shaped by local culture culture which i just
09:05spoke about shaped by grenadian culture so i like to term it as we are becoming that uh definitive
09:1221st century caribbean retreat um and i always end with shaped by local culture i love that you said
09:20caribbean retreat yeah yeah it's a nice escape i'd like to call it a retreat it's an escape from the
09:25world which is what grenada and spice offers and grenada as an island still offers what a lot of
09:31islands don't anymore the fact that it's so truly authentic that you feel like you are actually on
09:37an island no matter where you go and the people make they feel the deal so i mean you know that
09:43definitely that's why i'm always here
09:47um to the point where like when i land sometimes they're like
09:51here again welcome home you need a grenadian passport
09:54i'm told they're working on it so we shall see we shall see so we so you gave me a little bit
10:01about how you're balancing tradition and innovation um and i loved you know that while you expand with
10:08technology you still are making sure that there are those personalized touches talk to me a little bit
10:14about how guests are able to experience of course with the staff they experience local grenadian
10:21hospitality and people but just what are some of the other touches throughout the spice family
10:25experience that we do i mean it starts off with like you mentioned the arrival gift you have
10:30spices yes of course um many of them have macaroons but my mandate is it should be cinnamon nutmeg or a
10:38local flavor grenadian chocolate we've now started doing um muscle rub made locally we have avocado
10:45sunscreen made locally we have sea moth made locally so for me you can have macaroons or chocolates
10:52anywhere in the world but it has to be specific to spice and what we're really pushing now is even to
10:57get our own scent we've contacted someone locally she i've chosen it um she's given us the bottle so
11:05every arrival now will also have your own scent that's made specifically for spice with
11:10made locally and with grenadian sense etc and to me that's how you start it it's a wow factor the
11:17arrival amenity when you get into the room the team makes up what the resort is and the culture they
11:24very much feel like they are a part of spice and a part of the family and you know the fact that my
11:30father passed away there was a shift in leadership all of my management is still here the majority of the
11:37staff are still here if it wasn't for covid and they have they're on that train with me which makes
11:42a big difference so you have people come in here for lunch and you see the same faces you have repeat
11:47guests come in and you see the same faces the menus yes we do fine dining menus but you have to use your
11:54callaloo uh we don't have strawberries and blueberries on the menu you have to taste grenada you and i like to
12:00say i said to the chef the other day you need to give me oil down deconstructed so yes we all
12:06have oil down we know how to have it we go out and we enjoy it how can i give it to my guests every
12:11day in a deconstructed or oil down 5.0 you'd like to say so that they can experience that every day
12:18so to taste grenada and in terms of activities we do a lot of blend we don't do cocktails anymore i
12:25stopped doing the typical guest cocktail party so on a thursday we have activities it's called spice
12:31fit day okay so we do yoga we do jogging we do sunset walks or morning walks where the managers
12:38some of the staff join the guests so we actually start from here we have a trainer we have music in
12:44the car park we work out we warm up and then we go all the way to quarantine point we stretch we take
12:50pictures instagrammable moments and then we come back down there is a bus and there's water and there's a
12:56first gate pit just in case okay um and that to me is a better way my way of interacting with your
13:03management and your guests and your staff at easter we all go kite flying we go to the golf course we
13:09have a lot of families and house for instance and we invite all of the staff and their kids so they
13:13come with their kids their kids meet the guests and their kids and that way they're getting to meet
13:18grenadians uh we involve a lot of our guests in uh the stories and hopkins foundation which i he
13:25started a scholarship fund and i've made it into a foundation so we've adopted the home for the
13:31abandoned and abused kids the queen elizabeth home we've adopted the grand ann farsi school
13:35then not only do we give scholarships the guests go to school they do homework
13:40they help us to paint on earth day we go down and we plant every two weeks we take the guy the guests
13:46down and we teach the kids about taking care of the earth water and the plants so we do various
13:53things because what i have noticed it's about the experience people are not just coming to lie down
13:58on the beach yeah and that's something that grand dance gives them as well you can sit on the beach
14:02and meet the locals you can engage they no longer want they no longer ask you can we go to a fine dining
14:07restaurant on island they want to eat in people's homes they want to feel that connection to people
14:13and for me that starts when you arrive here um and it's it's a feeling it's you know there's hotels all
14:20over the world and there's family-run hotels all over the world but we have developed a culture
14:24it's a feeling it's a sense when you leave you miss it you connect with it um if you look at our
14:30facebook page most of our guests are interacting with a lot of our staff sometimes a lot of our
14:36staff know that the guests are coming before us because they're facebook friends and it's about
14:40that connection and i think that in itself is that you're you're understanding and getting a feel of
14:45what grenada is yeah and and thank you so much for mentioning those specific things so that brings me
14:51like perfectly into the next question which has to do with a lot of our readers really zero in on
14:58wellness yes um and embracing local culture wanting to ensure that they're not only enjoying
15:04their vacations but also giving back to local community yeah so particularly for black travelers who
15:10are looking to not only engage in in local culture but for black women they have their girlfriend get
15:16away there might be the historically black college colleges and universities that do their retreats
15:23um with this shift that we're seeing with travelers who want more of that how do you um how can or how
15:31does a brand like a spice island beach resort engage with those specific travelers oh yeah that is
15:37definitely a trend now and we do have a lot of black girlfriend groups we do have a lot of the american
15:44travelers who seek us out online we i don't avidly market to be a black owned property i think once you
15:51research us you will see that we we do have a maybe about 10 to 12 percent and growing of and they've
15:59become repeat guests who they come back and they arrive and they've come here because it's black owned and
16:04they only want to you know eat at a black owned hotel they only want to wear clothes made by you
16:10know someone who is black owned i think in the caribbean it's obviously a little different um we
16:15weren't we didn't have to deal with as many things as you know those in the u.s did and it's a little
16:20different but again we had girlfriend groups come in um we send them to the spa but even at our spa we do
16:29for instance they can get their their weave done or their braids done they don't need to go to the
16:34beach to do that so we do all that hair we send them on the foodie tours where they can connect with
16:40each other and they can meet the locals uh we do yoga for them with you know a lot of the local
16:46yoga instructors of course i'm aware that it's we are an independently owned hotel five-star hotel
16:53locally owned black owned it's it's not something that you see often yeah so it's about getting the
16:58message out there and the right message out there i believe you know as during the keynote that you
17:03recently gave at the state of the tourism industry conference you talked about people being at the
17:08heart of tourism expand upon that a little bit because you made some really amazing points about
17:14people being at the heart of that sustainability and people being at the heart of the experience
17:19so just in the in the spice touch that we see and that that people interaction yeah i mean the
17:26theme of the conference was you know the lifeblood of the caribbean but people are the the lifeblood of
17:32hotels and the hospitality industry and i think we already do it here which is most of the things that
17:38i've just been explaining the fact that it's a one-on-one we greet all of our arrivals and departures we
17:44say goodbye if it's not myself it's a manager the staff engage a guest if you know you don't like
17:50what's on the dinner menu you can pre-order if you would like to have oil down tomorrow you let us know
17:57we would do it for you at the end of the day the even with the employees they like i said are a part of
18:04and feel that they are a part of and that really is the base of what hospitality is it's a people's
18:10business and i think in many instances people are how do i say running hotels or anyone could run a
18:18hotel but not everyone can be a hotelier and there's a big difference and the whole notion of
18:23hospitality i feel like it's been lost in a lot of areas and it goes right back down to coming into a
18:30resort on an island and knowing the island that you're on and feeling that sense of place it all comes
18:36back to people and how you connect with them yeah then i think as much as we use technology and we
18:41want to integrate technology i will always be an adamant that we have to still incorporate people
18:48into it you know that we're a people-to-people industry yeah absolutely yeah absolutely and it's
18:56those little touches and those thinking about those things definitely makes a huge difference and it's so
19:00noticeable immediately it makes a big big difference i you know i always speak about the day that um
19:06the period when my father passed and it was a tough time for them the staff and everyone said how did
19:12you survive it was the month of february it was the busiest time of year um and they all got up came to
19:18work serve the coffee serve the breakfast and it's something that i think was instilled in all of us from
19:24him that the show must go on people are here for an experience and a vacation and we have to deliver
19:31that so no matter what happens and i say that to the team all the time no matter what happens
19:35you've got to come in and boots on the ground and the show has to go on you know and that's how they
19:40got through that period and that was instilled as if in all of us that sort of at the end of the day
19:46it's the blood yeah it's the blood it's a interesting word to use but made sense yeah and i totally make
19:53sense yeah so now shifting to you a little bit now um being in this in this demanding role
20:01in the um tourism industry it's not easy yeah it requires a lot of your time a lot of travel
20:09how do you create balance for yourself how what are the ways that you kind of unwind and kind of
20:16have your sacred space i will be very honest and say i am still trying to find the balance
20:21but that is on me totally on me i absolutely love everything about what i do when i travel
20:29i'm engaging with people it's a people to people i'm not sitting at a desk or a conference all the
20:34time i absolutely love it the hardest part and i don't want to say the hardest part would be to
20:40balance being a mother and you know working the amount of hours that i do or traveling and that's
20:47because it's the type of mother that i want to be because i have help i have a village that that is
20:52there for me but i honestly you just you just get up and do it you just get up and get it done because
20:58i love it and most days most weekends i say i'm going to stay home sundays i'm going to stay home
21:04my car drives here i just i am here i may be in my shorts i may be you know scheduled not to be here
21:12but i'm around because where else would i be you know this i grew up here my heart is here i i i
21:19say to people i have one son and 220 kids which is the team at spice and i tell them that all the
21:26time every time someone says are you going to have more kids and i say no i have 20 220 and i have a
21:32six-year-old so that is enough but with any business and a business owner uh i then that's
21:38how i see myself it's challenging and the challenge comes from you know running a business in a hotel
21:43in this day and age after covid after the pandemic um one of the hardest things for me this is the
21:49easy period the hardest period was the fact that my father passed away uh four weeks before the world
21:55shut down so i took over the reins on and he he passed away on the 22nd of february and
22:02we shut down on the 23rd of march so that year was a tough one for me uh mentally emotionally physically
22:10but i put two feet on the ground and i had to stand up and be there for the team we were all going
22:15through it together so this is the easy part running the hotel so to speak is the easy part i i i
22:21survived that year and a half and i say to people anything i can take anything right now but i think
22:27you have to really love this business to be in it and i had every opportunity to walk away you know
22:36i obviously i knew i would take over but i didn't think i would take over at the age of 35 when i did
22:41with a one and a half year old and there wasn't a question in my mind so get in the car we're going up
22:46and you know the i'm thankful to have the village that i have here to help with that i have um
22:53our general manager he's been with us for 24 years most of the team at that level of being with us for
22:5820 and so you have that literally family you have that support and they are supporting me because they
23:04realize that this is everything to me it's ingrained in me and i i need to see this through it's my
23:11legacy it's my son's legacy so the only challenge is just running a business you know like
23:16with everyone else you know a lot of persons ask me is it more challenging being a woman
23:21it i haven't had that i haven't had to face any issues with that i haven't felt like i've been
23:26treated differently or something was a little easier or harder because it's just the day-to-day
23:32challenges of running a hotel and a business yeah yeah so yeah yeah well last couple questions here
23:39absolutely i was through but every time i see your photos or videos i see the amazing outfits
23:46and so i wanted to ask you a question about how would you describe your personal style
23:54oh wow never been asked that one before
23:59you know i it's changed and it's evolved i've become a lot more relaxed and f i like to say
24:06effortless in my style and my sense of style in the last year i think initially i conf i wanted i
24:14tried to or i conformed to what should be you know you go to a conference and you you go to specific
24:22things and you have to wear a jacket or a blazer um in the last two years i think i've developed my
24:29own i wear a lot of linen it's very effortless but the one thing that i do know is that you have to dress
24:35for success that is no matter what you do as much as people say that it's not really about what you
24:42wear and how you look it is how you carry yourself and you have to dress for success
24:48so i don't have an answer to that one yeah you definitely answered it you definitely answered it
24:54you told you yeah you told me how your style has evolved and how you've come into your own and it
25:00reminds me a lot about it reminded me of myself a bit because for so long in the news business i
25:06always was like okay well must have the hair like bone straight yeah i must wear the the dress
25:12the blazer and if i'm not doing that that's fine and now i'm just like well i want to bring
25:17a little bit of caribbean essence into things i want to be colorful and yeah that kind of thing you
25:22have to dress not to your mood but depending on where i'm going yeah i wear what i feel suits
25:30the occasion it may not suit everyone else but you have to be happy with how you look yeah and
25:36that brings on confidence as well and that transcends down to people that are around you as well
25:42absolutely and as you said dressing for success no matter where you go because you are your you
25:46are your calling card yeah yeah i uh every you know i i would always speak about my father but
25:52the first time i moved to grenada and i went if he was taking me to the bank maybe to get a loan to
25:57get a car because he never bought me my first car clearly i haven't gotten over it and i walked out
26:03the house in gym sneakers and sweatpants at the age of 20 at the time and he was like absolutely not you
26:11don't go to the bank dress like that you dress for success you go into the bank it's a serious you
26:16know yeah and i always i always remember that yeah you know i always remember that so my grandmother
26:21was a dressmaker and she she used to make me press my skirt yeah my shirt yeah and she's like you have
26:30to look a certain way there is the same thing like i'm like okay great yeah so far and that that kind of
26:37experience that we have gotten you can't it's hard to get that anymore yeah to get that this is true
26:43so um there are many women that may look to you and see the role that you play here not only at
26:51spice island beach resort but just in the tourism industry and as a woman in leadership
26:55i want to know how can they follow in your footsteps or how can they achieve
27:01even a quarter of what you have what would your advice be for someone whether it's in the
27:07hospitality industry or any industry to other women who are maybe not necessarily struggling
27:14but just trying to find their path yeah well first of all you need to find that path and you need to
27:19ensure that it's for you like i said i couldn't do this and if i didn't absolutely love it and you have
27:25to be dedicated nothing success doesn't come overnight and like i rightly said i had a choice
27:32i could have said i could have been on the beach all day i could have just wandered around but you
27:39have to really be dedicated and i always say even as a business owner or in any role that you take
27:44you've got to be in your business so you've got to be a hundred percent in the role that you're in if
27:50you want to open a restaurant a beach bar a rum shop you've got to be there you've got to put
27:55your stamp on it and i think people tend to want to find that so-called balance so a lot of people
28:03have a new job or they've taken on more responsibility but they still want their weekends
28:07off or they still want you know a lot of the other things that they term to be balanced the balance can
28:13come after you have to find the new balance for what you've taken on which is what i did in the
28:18first few years and now things are more settled i travel a lot more i get out you find your peace
28:24but then you come back and i i just love boots on the ground you you put your boots on the ground
28:29and you keep going but if you don't have the dedication and the commitment then it won't
28:35happen it won't happen yeah it won't happen and you have to enjoy what you do and that's why people say
28:40to me will you encourage your son you know you're building his legacy i would never because i don't
28:46want it to be a case where he the expectation is that he comes into the hospitality industry and then
28:52he doesn't love it right he doesn't like football but he's great at it his dad is a great footballer
28:57so from the age of two i've had him on the field pushing pushing and after a year i just stopped
29:02because he's great and he kicks the ball but he does it without any spice without any happiness
29:08and i think that is the concept that we need to use you know dedication dedication yeah and you have to
29:14love it what is a memory that you have here or a recent one with a whether it was an interaction
29:22with the gas or something with your staff that sticks out in your mind our we actually had the
29:27first ever staff award uh gallo we've usually do it here on property so this last april we had our
29:34first off property gala um massive it's edged in my memory because usually we just do something in the
29:41conference room and i said you know what they need to get dressed up they need to shake a leg
29:46so we did it when the hotel wasn't that busy and it went from 7 a.m uh 7 p.m so we had a gala dinner
29:52dance and for those who had to work because the hotel was open we did a oil dung and a fish waters
29:58pot at 11 p.m so they came after and the dj i think played until 4 a.m but sitting there in that room with
30:05them and connecting with them and seeing the smiles on their faces getting up on that stage and and they
30:12went all out like men and women i mean they made me proud they went to town on their outfits and they
30:19were so proud they were so happy to be working with us and in a place like that and to sit in that room
30:24with my family and close friends and all of them and just that to me sticks out in my mind mind you
30:30they're all asking for it every year but that sticks out to me the period during covid um where
30:39you had to send people home but then you had about 10 including the gm who just showed up the day after
30:45the hotel was shut and the country was shut who messaged and said we're gonna come in we can still
30:51come in there was no discussion about salary the hotel was closed but they showed up and because this
30:57is their love and there are instances in that period that i remember and with the guests there is a
31:05just before i went to cayman there's a family my son befriended the little girl and they're from new
31:10york maybe they came twice last year and they're about to do their fourth trip this year and they
31:16wanted a play date i said okay i'll bring him up to the pool and i ended up going home changing out of
31:21my work clothes and i was in the pool with them cocktails drinking playing and it's etched in my
31:27mind because to me that is very much who i am and who spice is the fact that it doesn't have to be a
31:32cocktail party i would go to the beach on a sunday with royston and i would see them other you know
31:38families and couples and i would engage them but just relaxing by the pool you know with people i now
31:44call my friends yeah um in my swimsuit drinking cocktails and the kids are playing and you know
31:50that to me is everything that i am and it's everything that spice is um and the fact that i
31:56i can do that i love the fact that i have the ability and the leeway to do it yeah those are
32:01experiences that money can't buy yeah yeah i read it is yeah we we have a lot of fun we have a lot of
32:07fun with the team when i travel i miss them you
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