That John Martin

Gordon “Butch” Stewart, the founder of Sandals Resorts, on dealing with a hotel close to the airport in this month’s Inc magazine:

Everybody thought we’d be out of business the first month because the hotel is very close to the airport. We came up with the idea of everyone waving to the people that were leaving in the plane, and kissing the one you love when a plane flies by. I don’t think we have five complaints after that.

And then the Concorde started flying to Jamaica once a week:

[The Concorde] made more noise than any airplane I’ve ever heard. The buildings shook. So we turned all the beach lounges to face the airport, and that magnificent airplane would get up right in front of everybody on the beach. Guests would come rushing in: “Has the Concorde taken off yet?” We made a promotion out of it.

Clever.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 30th, 2008 at 10:53 pm and is filed under business.