Harbour Club Hosts Executives

THE Harbor Club hotel in Rodney Bay Marina has held their first formal meeting with fourteen of the new senior executives headed by the Swiss investor and owner Daniel Büchler along with the management company, Pure Element, Managing Director, Allen Chastanet.

Büchler hosted the team at Coco Palm’s Kreole Conference room in Rodney Bay Village with a full day of meetings to welcome the team and hear his vision for The HarborClub.

Walter Capasso, General Manager of The HarborClub, welcomed the executives who will head the key departments of the 115 room Gold LEED property. “Our key department heads, who have each been chosen for their wealth of experience in the hospitality industry, have met to build our team for The HarborClub which will open in March 2017” noted Capasso.

The key department heads appointed are from Accounts, Food & Beverage – Executive Chef, Maintenance, Events and Security. Pure Element will have key department heads from Food & Beverage – Corporate Chef, Information Technology, Housekeeping, Human Resources, Marketing and Reservations working at both The HarborClub and Coco Palm.

In describing the Management company, Chastanet said “Pure Element is a cloud for both The HarborClub and Coco Palm to pool together talent that each property would not be able to afford independently. This will raise our game at Coco Palm as Daniel is building a product which has never been seen in Saint Lucia nor the Caribbean. From rooms, conference facilities and restaurants, with an investment in technology we know what today’s CEOs and business travellers have come to expect on a global level and it does not currently exist on island.”

Chastanet continued “As a Gold LEED certified property, The Harbor Club will accrue credits in five green design categories: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources and indoor environmental quality making this new development environmentally friendly”.

The Executive team heard first hand from the Swiss investor Büchler, of his philosophy which was straight to the point, QUALITY. “We are starting at zero and we want to simply be the best. The highest quality is being delivered on infrastructure and that same level is expected in the service offered at The HarborClub.”

Buchler, who retired in 2009 from running his accountancy and software company in Switzerland, epitomizes Swiss efficiency and expects nothing less at The HarborClub. His background is in technology and not hospitality, and is implementing a paper free environment which has not been seen in the Caribbean.

The HarborClub in Rodney Bay will offer three conference rooms and an extensive variety of dining outlets, spa and gym. ‘The Club’ as it will be known, is catering to guests both in house and those patronizing the shops on Market Street, a pedestrian boulevard atmosphere with an Austrian café and patisserie, and a variety of shops.

Market Street connects The HarborClub and Dive Saint Lucia which opened in November 2014. Looking at the standard offered at Dive Saint Lucia, owned and managed by Daniel’s son Marcel Büchler, gives one an appreciation of the quality of building to which The HarborClub will be built.

Saint Lucia has not seen such an investment in over ten years which will raise the standard both in construction and service.