By now you have heard that Cabo San Lucas was hit last week with a powerful hurricane. Please see below for status updates for the resort, travel to the area, photos and more.
Villa del Palmar and Villa del Arco: Resort Update
In the aftermath of Hurricane Odile, the Club is pleased to report that our resorts are in great shape. We are so fortunate that they fared so well given the extreme circumstances the region of Cabo encountered. All three properties, Villa del Palmar, Villa del Arco, and Villa la Estancia, are scheduled to be fully operational by the end of this week.
Villa Del Arco had four rooms with broken windows and 15% of palm trees lost in the pool area. We are currently cleaning one pool; the other two are already cleaned and being refilled. We will have all restaurants and pools open by October 1, along with 215 out of 222 rooms; the remaining seven rooms will be available November 30. At Villa Del Palmar the acrylic dome in the lobby was damaged. We had 30 rooms with broken windows and 25% loss of palms in the pool area. We will have 370 rooms ready for occupancy by October 1 with all restaurants and pools open. The remaining 97 rooms will be available November 30.
We are completely on track and progressing rapidly towards getting back to normal in the immediate future. We are grateful that our developers built these resorts so well! These resorts are more than just “buildings.” These structures are your home – they have offered you countless happy vacation memories in the best of times; they have also offered safe haven and shelter in the most challenging of times.
Villa Group Emergency Response Plan –
We are so proud of how our team handled this emergency. Our successful crisis management is due to the excellent preparation of the Villa Group, and the commitment to effective communication that it has instilled in its management and staff. All of our hotels have a formal hurricane contingency plan. This year training took place from May to June with actual brigades and hands-on exercises. Now, with the real-life experience of Hurricane Odile behind them, management is fine-tuning this plan even further with all they have learned. After the hurricane, the first thing each department did was make formal action plans that took into account the realities that needed to be addressed in each area, from cleaning, to insurance claims, purchases and specifications. The Villa Group has all proper insurance coverages in place and we are working diligently with our assessors and agents to complete the claims process as expeditiously as possible. During this repair phase, the departments have a brief meeting every morning at 9 to update the plans – and then it’s “all hands on deck.” The teamwork has been incredible; the accounting staff and waiters are helping the gardeners straighten palm trees; the spa staff is sweeping around the pool, and there are many more examples of staff pitching in and helping where necessary. Overall it has been a tremendous team building experience for everyone.
