An insight into the O'Hara family at Coral Reef Club, Barbados
The O’Hara family has been running the exclusive Coral Reef Club in Barbados for the past 50 years. We caught up with them to find out how they keep this, colonial style property continually fresh attracting guests back year after year. Here’s what the O’Hara family had to say…
'20 years ago, our father, Budge O’Hara sadly died at a time when we were proposing to do a major project; re-building 30 rooms, building a new pool and renovating our kitchens. However, as a family we pulled together and our plans included the construction of the Plantation Suites, setting a new standard in the Caribbean.
This was the start of many years of upgrading and every year we have a list of projects, small and large, that we discuss at length and prioritise what we feel is essential. Our key is always to upgrade in a way that evolves our product. As we fortunately have such a high repeat rate of guests we are always very conscious of how we make changes and upgrades.
When we recognised the popularity of destination spas in 2008 we spent a considerable amount of time researching what would be right for our property. With our beautiful 12 acre gardens being a core attraction of Coral Reef, we designed The Spa at Coral Reef within a stunning garden space, including a hydro pool and cabanas framed by Travelers Palms and Casuarina trees.
We concentrate heavily on our team with on-going training which yields results borne out by the positive comments we receive and the fact that we have such a high rate of returning guests.
As a family, we are hands on and both guests and staff seem to like this in an ever more homogenized world where personal connection is sometimes lost but very much appreciated.'
Karen Capaldi, Director
“When we recognised the popularity of destination spas in 2008 we spent a considerable amount of time researching what would be right for our property. With our beautiful 12 acre gardens being a core attraction of Coral Reef, we designed The Spa at Coral Reef within a stunning garden space, including a hydro pool and cabanas framed by Travelers Palms and Casuarina trees.”