Vassell shines to win coveted Sandals award
BEACHES OCHO Rios Diamond Team Member of the Year Jardine Vassell outclassed 25 of her colleagues locally and across the Caribbean to win the coveted 10th Anniversary Sandals Ultimate Award for 2017.
Vassell walked away with $2.6 million in cash – the highest sum to have ever been awarded at any staff award in the tourism sector. She also received a crystal trophy, a framed citation, and a luxuryincluded all-expense-paid trip for two with paid vacation time to an overseas Sandals or Beaches with exclusive private-jet round-trip transfer as well as champagne luxury ground transfer from home to airport, and VIP resort experiences.
“This is a sizeable upgrade of the cash prize, which was previously US$2,500. This new figure will be the prize money for the Ultimate winner going forward,”said Sandals Deputy Chairman Adam Stewart during the award ceremony last Thursday night at Sandals South Coast in Westmoreland.
ONE INTENTION
Vassell, a supervisor in the SnapShots Department at Beaches Ocho Rios and a former coordinator and team leader in the resort’s Kid Camp, stated that she arrived on the south coast on the first day of the Ultimate week of activities with one intention: to win.
However, she was also quick to admit, “I was optimistic, but when we (team members) had our first meeting and I realised that everybody – all the other 25 nominees – came with their A game, I knew the competition was stiff.”
Vassell competed against nominees from Turks and Caicos Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, St Lucia, Grenada, Barbados and The Bahamas.