Full to the brim with yachts! - “This weekend was one for the books,” said an ecstatic Preben Olesen, CEO of Port Lucaya Marina in Grand Bahama. Olesen was referencing the fact that his marina was full for the US Memorial Day long-weekend, (Photo by Erik J. Russell for Barefoot Marketing)
FREEPORT, Grand Bahama – “This weekend was one for the books,” said an ecstatic Preben Olesen, CEO of Port Lucaya Marina in Grand Bahama. Olesen was referencing the fact that his marina was full for the US Memorial Day long-weekend, which also helped make the adjacent Port Lucaya Marketplace a vibrant and bustling entertainment hub over the weekend.
“We’ve got our staff working full time marketing our marina,” said the CEO. “They’ve been busy sending email blasts about the weekend availability to all our former clients and following them up with personal calls.” Their efforts paid off as the Port Lucaya Marina sold over 100 slips for the US Memorial Day weekend and they are already receiving re-bookings for the July 4th holiday.
Port Lucaya Marina sold out for Memorial Weekend - Thanks to hard working staff at Port Lucya Marina they sold over 100 slips for the US Memorial Day weekend and they are already receiving re-bookings for the July 4th holiday. (Photo by Erik J. Russell for Barefoot Marketing)
Olesen, who resumed control of his marina in late 2009 after a court battle, has spent a good part of the year in heavy duty maintenance work and re-advertising his property. “The closing of the Port Lucaya Resort hurt us quite a bit,” noted Olesen. “In fact, a leading Florida boating magazine reported our marina had closed along with the hotel! We own the marina slips around the hotel and so they assumed we were closed too.” To counter that mis-information Olesen and his Port Lucaya Marina staff took to the phones and emails to assure customers that they were indeed open and so too was their fuel dock. Their work paid off as last weekend saw a return of the boating traffic the marina used to enjoy in the early 2000s.
“We were very pleased to be contacted by Preben and his team this week” said General Manager of the Treasure Bay Casino, Eddie Llambias. “They gave us a ‘heads up’ on the marina traffic they expected for the holiday and allowed our marketing team to go and welcome the guests and inform them of our weekend activities – it was great synergy!”
Boaters pack out Port Lucaya in Grand Bahama. - (Photo by Erik J. Russell for Barefoot Marketing)
In fact, the marina also notified all of the local vendors, especially the Port Lucaya restaurants, about their strong bookings. “It was wonderful to see the marina so active this weekend,” said Chef Boulet, General Manager of Lucianos and Le Med Restaurants. “It was our pleasure to serve many of the yacht owners and fantastic to be so busy.” Noting too that it was a busy weekend was CEO of Pelican Bay, Magnus Alnebeck, who stated, “it was nice to see a full marina again.”
As summer nears, the Port Lucaya Marina as well as Olesen’s adjacent property, the Grand Bahama Yacht Club, are concentrating their efforts on connecting with their clients. “We were very pleased with our success this weekend and are actively working to keep this high end clientele revisiting Grand Bahama again and again!”
