sandals negril . industry hotel resort all inclusive resort founded 1981 founder gordon stewart chairman headquarters montego bay jamaica number of locations 15 resorts area served caribbean key people adam stewart ceo number of employees 10 000 parent sandals resorts international sri website sandals sandals resorts is an operator of all inclusive resorts for couples in the caribbean and part of sandals resorts international sri parent company of sandals resorts beaches resorts grand pineapple beach resorts fowl cay resort and several private villas . founded by jamaican born gordon butch stewart in 1981 sri is based in montego bay jamaica and is responsible for resort development service standards training and day to day operations . sandals resorts international has properties throughout the caribbean islands of jamaica the bahamas saint lucia antigua turks & caicos and most recently barbados and grenada with fifteen sandals resorts three beaches resorts two grand pineapple beach resorts one fowl cay private island resort and four villa properties in jamaica . contents 1 properties 2 leadership 3 history 4 controversies 4.1 refusal of service to gay couples 4.2 corruption allegation settlement 5 references 6 external links properties edit sandals resorts properties include sandals montego bay ; sandals royal caribbean resort & private island ; sandals grande riviera beach & villa golf resort ; now sandals ochi beach resort sandals negril beach resort & spa ; sandals whitehouse european village & spa ; sandals royal plantation ocho rios jamaica ; sandals carlyle montego bay jamaica ; sandals grande st. lucian spa & beach resort ; sandals la toc golf resort & spa in st. lucia ; sandals halcyon beach st. lucia ; sandals grande antigua resort & spa ; sandals royal bahamian spa resort & offshore island ; sandals emerald bay great exuma bahamas ; sandals barbados resort & spa ; sandals lasource grenada resort & spa grenada in july 2009 sri partnered with martha stewart living omnimedia to bring customizable martha stewart weddings to brides and grooms having a destination wedding at any of the 15 sandals resorts and beaches resorts beginning january 1 2010 . the companies also announced that they will introduce martha stewart crafts classes for adults at sandals resorts and craft camps for families at beaches resorts in 2010 . 1 in august 2009 sri announced the purchase of the former four season great exuma which debuted as sandals emerald bay great exuma bahamas on january 22 2010 . 2 leadership edit main article gordon butch stewart gordon butch stewart chairman and founder born in kingston jamaica on july 6 1941 he grew up along jamaica s north coast . after rising to the position of sales manager for the dutch owned cura ao trading company stewart left in 1968 to start appliance traders ltd. atl . founded as an air conditioner service and distribution company atl soon grew adding refrigerators freezers and other appliances . today atl makes or sells everything from water pumps and electrical generators to cars and auto parts . 3 history edit the first government owned all inclusive resort opened in ocho rios and atl was contracted to supply kitchen appliances and air conditioners . stewart then purchased an old hotel on one of montego bay s largest beaches despite having no hotel experience . citation needed as of 2007 he controls what analysts estimate to be a billion dollar privately owned jamaican based empire that includes 25 caribbean resorts appliance traders ltd. and the observer newspaper . 4 adam stewart ceo adam stewart is the ceo of sandals resorts international sri which owns and operates caribbean based sandals resorts beaches resorts and grand pineapple beach resorts . stewart oversees all areas of sri operations which is headquartered in montego bay jamaica . he has held this position since 2006 . citation needed stewart was born on january 27 1981 the same year that his father gordon butch stewart purchased his first hotel and launched the sandals resorts chain . adam stewart was raised in jamaica and graduated from florida international university s hospitality management program in miami fl . 5 in march 2009 stewart launched the sandals foundation the philanthropic arm of sandals resorts international . 6 in august 2009 adam stewart was appointed as deputy chairman of the family owned atl group comprising the jamaica observer and a chain of appliance outlets . 6 7 controversies edit refusal of service to gay couples edit the company had a long standing policy dating from 1981 which banned gays from their couples only resorts . the policy was variously stated by characterizing the accommodations as resort for couples heterosexual only or couples only . a couple is defined as one female adult and one male adult policies require male female couples only or couples of the same gender are not accepted . sandals anti gay policy received a great deal of publicity when stays at their resorts were offered as prizes in various promotions by companies such as microsoft yahoo and us airways in 1999 . 8 later reports indicated that some resorts also made no accommodations for the handicapped prompting the aclu to opine that companies offering sandals stays as prizes or otherwise doing business with sandals resorts might be the targets of lawsuits . the companies involved promptly severed their relationships with sandals stating they were unaware of its discriminatory practices . 9 adverts for the company were banned from the london underground in 2003 after public objections were raised . 10 one possible cause for this policy may have been that homosexuality was illegal in jamaica . sandals ended its policy of refusing service to gay couples in august 2004 after further protest . 11 their current policy is similar to their guest policy on public displays of affection and topless women on their beaches use discretion . if other guests complain management may request a change in behavior . two of sandals resorts have small discreet clothing optional beaches quite widely known but not overtly advertised . both are located on small discreet areas of private reef islands belonging to the resorts . access to the islands which have other amenities is limited to ferry boats from the main resorts . 12 13 corruption allegation settlement edit in january 2013 the government of turks and caicos islands and sandals agreed to a settlement of us 12 million around local corruption allegations without admission of any liability . 14 15 16 references edit martha stewart living omnimedia and sandals resorts to launch martha stewart weddings program in the caribbean sandals resorts international purchases four seasons in great exuma bahamas gordon butch stewart allen desmond . gordon butch stewart jamaica s first international superstar businessman . bonita jamaica . people adam stewart . hotel & resort insider . a b evans hope . sandals foundation now a reality . jamaica gleaner . the luxist awards . luxist . gay rights travel flap snares microsoft yahoo the microsoft & us airways anti gay sweepstakes controversy february 1999 complete information press releases screen captures muir hugh june 5 2003 . tube bans anti gay holiday firm adverts . the guardian . zezima katie october 24 2004 . travel advisory ; sandals resorts ends single sex policy . the new york times . liberty line 11 16 04 1 us helps turks and caicos recoup millions from sandals resort . the miami herald . 23 january 2013 . butch stewart speaks out . turks & caicis sun . 22 may 2013 . major changes to beaches development agreement . suntv . 24 may 2013 . external links edit official website v t e hotels and resorts in jamaica bahia principe beaches resorts the enchanted gardens frenchman s cove resort golden clouds goldeneye hotel and resort goldeneye estate hedonism resorts jamaica pegasus hotel round hill sandals resorts tensing pen resort xtabi retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title sandals resorts & oldid 734602478 categories companies of jamaicahotel chainshotels in barbadoshotels in jamaicahotels in nassau bahamashotels in the bahamasjamaican brandstourism in antigua and barbudatourism in grenadatourism in saint luciahidden categories all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from february 2014 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 15 august 2016 at 13 18 . text is available 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