Former Four Seasons Property to Become a Sandals Resort
The former Four Seasons resort on Great Exuma Island in the Bahamas is now a Sandals property. Sandals Chairman Butch Stewart has purchased the recently-shuttered Four Seasons Resort Great Exuma at Emerald Bay. The 500-acre resort will re-emerge as the Sandals Emerald Bay, Great Exuma, Bahamas on Jan. 22.
“We will start taking reservations in two weeks,” Stewart said. “This resort is in pristine condition, and I have nothing but praise for Four Seasons, which ran a magnificent operation here. We are acquiring one of the most spectacular pieces of real estate in the Caribbean operated by one of the world’s most respected hotel companies.”
However, Sandals does plan to make changes, adding its own design styles and architectural touches, including a half-acre pool complete with the largest Jacuzzi in the Bahamas, a swim-up bar and a fire-pit seating area on an island in the center of the pool.
The pool will be flanked by misting columns and cabanas with Wi-Fi access. A second, smaller pool will be set in a more secluded location on the property. Sandals also will add two restaurants, including one that will offer barefoot dining on the dunes, for a total of six a la carte restaurants, a pizzeria and a café. Each of the 190 suites will have butler service that will extend to poolside or beachfront requests.
Other amenities include six tennis courts with professional stadium seating for competition; a Red Lane spa with 22 treatment areas; 13,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting space; an 18-hole, Greg Norman-designed golf course; and a 17-acre, 160-slip deepwater marina that can accommodate yachts up to 300 feet in length.
The Four Season resort closed on May 26. The property had been in receivership since June 2007. Sandals Emerald Bay is the 14th resort in the company’s portfolio and the third investment in the Bahamas, already home to the Sandals Royal Bahamian Spa Resort & Offshore Island in Nassau and Royal Plantation Island at Fowl Cay in the Exumas.
