July 23, 2025 • 33 mins
Go behind the scenes at Sirenian Bay Resort and discover the craftsmanship, dedication, and beauty that bring this unique destination to life. Learn what makes it a true gem of Belizean hospitality.
What happens when a luxury resort puts people at the heart of everything they do? In this eye-opening conversation with Brian Montgomery of Sirenian Bay Resorts and Villas, we explore how true hospitality extends far beyond guest experiences to transform entire communities.
Montgomery reveals the extraordinary investments Sirenian Bay makes in its staff—from providing air-conditioned housing (unheard of in the industry) to offering free meals prepared by dedicated cooks. "We're not going to have somebody stay in something that we would not stay in," he explains, highlighting how this commitment to employee welfare directly translates to the authentic warmth guests experience.
The resort's dedication to craftsmanship shines through its in-house woodshop, where seven skilled carpenters create everything from custom wedding arches to the hand-carved doors adorning each villa. Each room is named after local wildlife, with intentionally curated views and experiences that showcase Belize's natural beauty at every turn.
Most remarkable is Montgomery's leadership program, providing leadership training and mentorship to local youth in Seine Bight, while introducing them to potential career paths. His cancer journey profoundly shaped this giving philosophy: "Cancer taught me it's not about me anymore," he shares with raw honesty.
From repurposing an old satellite dish as welcome signs to naming Snooty's Bar after a beloved manatee, every detail at Sirenian Bay tells a story—one of connection, purpose, and the understanding that luxury can coexist with profound community impact. Experience the magic for yourself at this Belizean paradise where "creating a return guest on our first interaction" isn't just a mission statement—it's woven into the fabric of everything they do.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This transcript was automatically created and has
not be read or edited by ourteam.
Hi, I'm Alexa, and I'm Rory,and together we are the ROAMies.
We are married To each other.
Right?
We are a touring musical duo.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
And our music has taken us to all kinds of places
all around the world and keepsus always on the go.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
So we hope you enjoy our stories and adventures while
running around working to keepall your plates spinning.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
And we hope to facilitate your busy lifestyle
and feed your inner travel bug.
Welcome to our latest episode.
We're excited to continue parttwo with our conversation with
Brian Montgomery of Serenian BayResorts and Villas.
I would love to continue thatthought process with your staff
(00:45):
and let's kind of take a littlevirtual tour, like that you gave
us in real life, of the waythat the staff are taken care of
.
Beyond just the leadershiptraining that you offer them,
you also take care of them, likephysically.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
In Belize, since we are in the southern part of
Belize has become a prettyexpensive area as it's grown
more touristy.
You know it happens in theworld when areas get touristy,
cost of living becomes moreexpensive.
So the majority of employeescan't really afford to live in
the southern part of Belize andmost of them live an hour, hour
(01:22):
and a half, two hours away andeven though there's good
transportation systems in blazewith the bus systems and stuff,
it's still a long way to travelevery day yeah so we provide
housing for a majority ofemployees.
we have, between here andcaptain jack's, about 150
employees and we house about 75of those employees.
(01:42):
Brent and I believe that we'renot going to have somebody stay
in something that we would notstay in.
We've invested, actually asignificant amount of money in
buying three and a half acres ofproperty here.
That's just a mile down theroad, where we have a
five-bedroom house, we havemultiple one-bedrooms and
two-bedroom houses that are allair-conditioned.
(02:05):
By the way, all staff housingtypically does not carry
air-conditions.
Ours do because, again, we wantour staff to be comfortable and
feel at home.
I get staff meals here onproperty.
We have a staff kitchen.
We have two dedicated staffcooks that cook for our staff
every day and our staff gets toeat for free.
Uh, we have some staff thatlive on site.
(02:28):
So we have, uh, I think, sevenhouses we have here on site
where they, uh, our staff thathas to be here to respond, like
for maintenance, for emergencyhousekeeping, for emergencies,
our executive chef.
Those positions stay on site sothey can respond faster to
guests.
But, yeah, the housing and themeals, it's a high expense but
(02:49):
it's like in training, it's aninvestment.
You know that little investmentin your staff, for you feeding
them, for your housing them,really goes a long, long way on
how you care about your people,right?
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Because it's not only about telling them how you feel
, it's about showing them howyou feel, yeah, so yeah, so Yep,
and their service pours out ofthat because they feel loved,
they feel cared for, they feelsafe, they're enjoying life,
they're comfortable, all ofthose things that when you pour
it into them it's going to comeback out.
And as us visiting the resortman, we saw that for everyone.
(03:24):
I kept waiting for someone todrop the act Because you're like
, do I need to walk on eggshellsBecause everyone seems so happy
?
But it's a real thing.
No, there was no act going on.
It was just such a wonderfulexperience getting to know your
people.
(03:44):
I felt like, um, the first day Iarrived and I was like, oh man,
he and I really bonded.
Oh, that's cool, we've got agreat bond.
And then the next guy and I waslike he and I really bonded,
that's really great.
And then I go over and on salmo, uh, I was like, wait a minute,
he and I just bonded too.
What's what's going on?
I feel like I'm bonding withevery person on staff.
What the heck?
That's the feeling.
(04:05):
It's really a counter.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
They know your name right off the bat.
Once you first meet them,they're going to know your name.
They remember your name.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
And that's something.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Yeah, honestly, I did not teach them that.
I did not teach them how toknow.
Because I'm horrible with names, with all the radiation and
chemo I went through.
My short-term memory is not thebest in the world, but it's a
bleached culture of servanthoodmentality.
Uh, at least culture loves toserve people.
You know, they love to showpeople around, they love to help
(04:37):
people, they're there foranything you need.
So that comes across in theirown mentality.
Right, I, I didn't teach themthat, right?
Um?
But but even beyond the people,what brennan and I decided to do
as well was, uh, we wanted tomake sure we wasn't dependent on
outside support.
We want to make sure that wewant to be able to control our
(04:58):
guest experience so that whenthe guest comes to blaze,
they're going to be happy andgoing to have an incredible
BLEEZE experience.
And by doing that which is whyCaptain Jack's was so important
by offering the tours.
Captain Jack, we know you'regoing on a good boat.
We know you're going to boatthat has a new engine.
We know you're going on a staffthat's been trained, you know,
we know that we're not going to,you're not going to break down
(05:19):
in the van, you know.
So that's why we Captain Jack'swas so important.
But even deeper than that, ifyou had an opportunity I don't
know if you got to see our woodshop I know a tour guide on the
wood shop.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
We've invested in our own wood shop where we have all
grizzly equipment, all high-endwood shop equipment, and we
have seven carpenters there, youknow, for a resort that only
holds 75 people we have sevencarpenters Right there.
You know, for a resort that onlyholds 75 people, we have seven
carpets, right?
Uh, but what we do, every pieceof wood you see at the resort
(05:53):
was built by those carpenters,right.
When we need something for awedding, we want your wedding to
be special.
We don't want your wedding tobe cook junk.
If you want an arch that spans,you know, 10, we'll build you
an arch that spans 10 foot.
If you want a special champagnewall, we'll build you a
champagne wall, right.
So we've even built ring boxessmall, little small ring boxes
(06:15):
that they're going to design onright so we can build anything
you can imagine our team canbuild.
So it does save us money,because in Belize, wood doesn't
last long because of being righton the Caribbean Sea, it does
fade really fast.
So it's something you willspend money on, but I know if I
(06:35):
can control that internally, notonly do I get more people that
I can touch and I can work withand I can train and I can help,
but I get, in turn, saving moneyon using outside sources and I
get more customization, whichraises our customer experience
as well.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Right, well, that even feeds in.
Yeah, sorry well, even eachdoor, on each villa yeah was
hand carved by your team and youknow so we had weren't we in
pelican?
Yeah, we had a pel, you know.
So we had, weren't we inPelican?
Speaker 1 (07:05):
The Pelican yeah, we had the Pelican Pelican, yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
You know, there's a carved Pelican on the door and
that was the name of our villathat we stayed in, which you
guys will hear about in nextweek's episode.
But we just those hand-carvedthings were gorgeous.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
So, yeah, everything here has a story.
You were talking about thecarvings on the doors.
Every room was named by ananimal of the Belize, and it's
the reason why you were inPelican.
Pelicans are high, looks down.
Well, that's what you see outover the beach and a pool.
(07:46):
They all have stories, right?
Wow?
So everything here has a storybehind it.
So I'll go back to the woodshop, even deeper than the wood
shop, and I can do a maintenancestaff, for example.
We're not dependent on outsidework for our maintenance team.
We do all our own internalmaintenance, all our ACs, all
our internal plumbing, all ourelectrical, with the intent that
(08:07):
we actually can build our ownrooms and we are expanding the
resort.
I don't know if you guys had achance to walk to the marina
when you went on the catamarine.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Yes, we did.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
That area back there.
We're going to be building anew spa back there.
It'll be a six-room spa.
That that area back there we'regoing to be building a new spa
back there.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
It'll be a six-room spa.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
That'll be awesome.
We're building 15 moretwo-story rooms which will give
us 30 more accommodations, whichwill all be Lagoon View.
Lagoon View Sunset rooms which,even though they're not on the
Caribbean, the view back thereis amazing.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Bro, I got a time lapse of the sunset from the
second floor of the officebuilding there.
Oh, the office building.
Yeah, looking back over whereyou're talking about.
I don't know if I sent it toToby.
I'll have to send it to her.
It's absolutely amazing.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Well, that's from the Sunstar Martini Bar, right.
Yeah, that's it Another one ofthose something nobody else had
in Blaze that we wanted to do.
We had this concrete building,as you remember, was an old
broadcast center when we firstbought it.
It used to be a broadcastcenter.
Oh, wow, Come on.
Yeah, and the conference roomwhich I think I brought you to
(09:19):
the conference room yes gorgeous.
That's where I did my musictraining.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
The top floor was the martini bar, which you get to
see the whole view back.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
The bottom floor was the gym right.
Yeah so we had the gym to gowith it A very nice gym, by the
way.
Yes, man, an interesting storytoo that I'm not sure if I
shared, which is kind of cool.
That was a broadcast center, asI mentioned, called Mission Bay
.
There was a huge satellite dishthat broadcast the Christian
broadcast center back there.
(09:49):
We took that satellite dish and, if you remember walking the
beach, there was two signs oneach side that says Welcome to
Seringham Bay.
Yep, they were oval shaped.
That's actually the oldsatellite dish that we cut in
half, sanded it up, rebranded itand placed it on each side of
the property, welcoming you toSerenian Bay, come on.
So we repurposed that satellitedish from way back, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
That's so neat, that's awesome man.
The little details, yes, thelittle details.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
The little details yes, the little details, yep.
And the stories behind things.
So you talked about the storybehind each little villa name.
Tell us the story behind thename of the resort itself.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Awesome.
I'm glad you asked that Becausea lot of people think it's
Serenian named by Serenity, notcommons and stuff it's not
actually.
So when we purchased theproperty, the property was
called Manatee Bay Estates.
That was what the property wascalled, and the lots that was
here was all individual lots,right?
So when we started buying thelots and we decided to do the
(10:51):
resort, we had to come up with aname.
The natural name would havebeen Manatee Bay Resort and
Villas.
That's not a very Sazam name.
As Brenda said, brenda goes, wewant a Sazam name, right, one
of their nice.
Well, I wanted a name thatyou're proud to say.
I wanted a name that employeeswould be proud to say I work far
, and Manatee Bay was not yet.
(11:13):
So I researched, I'm going toresearch it.
I researched, I come across astory with Christopher Columbus.
When he was sailing the sevenseas, in his captain's log he
documented seeing a siren.
Well, we know a siren is amermaid, right?
We also know it's a mythicalcreature.
They're not real, right?
(11:34):
It was proven that that sirenthat he saw was actually a
Durlong sea cow, manatee.
Therefore, manatee got aSirenian is a scientific name
for manatee.
Wow, so you look it up, truestory.
So a Sirenian is a manatee.
(11:55):
So, go well, sirenian Bay isthe same as Manatee Bay and
Sirenian sounds way more sexierthan Manatee, right?
Yeah, totally so.
That's how Serenian Bay got itsname, as a derivative of
Manatee Bay, which is what it'sbeen called for years and years
for that.
So, yeah, it's a cool story.
And you've got to ask, ofcourse, about Snooty's, of
(12:16):
course, snooty's Bar, you've gotto Snooty's.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Of course Snooty's bar.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
You gotta tell us that story, he has a buddy bar
at the main pool.
Snooty was the oldest livingman that he ever known.
In captivity in Florida he wasa world famous.
People travel every year tocome visit Snooty for his
birthday.
He died.
I believe it was three yearsago.
This past June he died at 69years old, very unfortunate
death.
(12:38):
They actually let the manholeopen and he went into the
manhole and he couldn't turnaround and he drowned.
What?
And you know, manatees have tohave air every once in a while.
It's a very sad story.
But you know what we did.
We memorialized Snooty atSnooty's Bar at our pool.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
So that's how.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
Snooty's Florida got its name in the memory of Snooty
the Manatee in Florida.
We came up with the garden andwe had met.
Actually, it started because wemet a gardener, mr Jose.
If you had a chance to meet MrJose while you're here, mr Jose
is an amazing man.
He was one of the best knowngardeners in the whole country
of Belize, right, and we hadintroduced to him and he was
(13:19):
looking for a change.
We didn't have a garden and wehad introduced to him and he was
looking for a change.
We didn't have a garden and wedidn't know who wanted to garden
.
But when we met Mr Jose, thelove, the passion he carried for
gardening touched our heartsand we said you know what, mr
Jose?
Come to work with us, we'regoing to make you a garden and
that's how the garden started.
(13:40):
So we actually made him agarden.
We built him a garden.
You guys saw it.
Hopefully, any of the guestscomes.
We have tour paths that gothrough the garden.
Mr Jose, I built him a homeinside of his garden.
So Mr Jose lives within hisgarden.
Even Mr Jose will not take aday off.
Even when he's off, he stays ingarden.
(14:02):
So nothing happens to hisgarden.
And now we've since addedanother gardener to help him
because unfortunately Mr Lois isgetting a lot older and he
wants somebody to take care ofhis garden.
Because he tells me, mr Brian,when I go to heaven I want to
look down, I want somebody to betaking care of my garden.
So we've hired him an assistantnow that he can start training
and be comfortable that when hedoes go to heaven hopefully no
(14:24):
time soon, we hope.
We love Mr Jose, but he hassomebody he'll trust to leave
his garden with.
The negative of the garden is hecan't produce enough to keep up
with the restaurant.
It does all the mints and a lotof the cilantro.
It does a lot of supplies butnowhere near enough that we need
to produce farther the garden,I mean for the restaurant.
(14:45):
We would need 10 acres, youknow, to be able to keep up with
the restaurant.
But it does produce to help alot.
But it's also a big touristything that we love our guests to
go back there and look at theorganic garden and meet miss
jose.
You know it serves anincredible purpose Because we do
a lot of weddings, we do a lotof corporate events, we do a lot
(15:07):
of takeovers, we do a lot ofcompanies.
So we have a lot of people thatbuy out the whole resort.
But the sweet spot wediscovered was about 100 guests.
100 to 110 guests is what wediscovered was the sweet spot.
We couldn't do that at SerenityBay.
You know we capped at.
About 75 people is really ourcap.
(15:27):
Saba came along to help us withthat.
It allowed us to have morerooms that we could supplement
what we do here.
It also allowed us to have Sabais not the five-star resort.
We still have the same service,which is five-star service, but
the accommodations are more ofthe three-and-a-half-star level,
which is great.
It's still a fantastic resort,but the price point allows us to
(15:50):
attract every guest At theirprice point.
They want a little lower.
If our price point is a littlelower, we can attract guests
traveling with any budget.
So that's why Saba wasimportant to us.
The enclave came along a couplemonths ago.
The enclave was looking atselling and they came to me
wondering if I wanted to buypart of the enclave and I first
(16:12):
no, I don't want to buy anymore.
I'm, you know, I'm done buying.
My wife would kill me anddivorce me if I did more, right?
Uh, so I said, said no.
They said well, you know what,though?
We're wanting to change ourconcept, because right now,
their current management companyis more of like a VRBO rental,
more Airbnb type rental.
We want to make it a resortfeel and you guys can do that.
(16:35):
So we started discussing it andthey have seven rooms.
It's on a private island, justoff the coast of the end of the
peninsula beautiful, beautifulrooms, beautiful little pool,
kitchen area and all that.
So, yeah, as of august 1st, wetake over the enclave and what
we're looking at doing is takingit to another level.
I'm making it a resort feel,looking at taking it all
(16:59):
inclusive and being part of theoverall feel so that you guys
could come back.
You know what I want to spendtwo nights on an island.
You go spend two nights on anisland and come every four
nights to Serenity Bay or Saba.
So give you a rightful,encompassing feel of your trip
and the personal attention youget.
(17:19):
You know, know, we're lookingat up in the service level there
a bit, offering that moredirect resort field service
level and being able to tie itinto.
You can come eat at serenitybay, or do we just say, but you
know it doesn't, you don't haveto be on the island all the time
, right?
So so I'm really excited aboutit.
Actually, I'm really excitedabout taking over the team.
We've done something here thatI've had, mr Brown, why do you
(17:41):
do that?
We brought every member ofCerulean Bank out to the island
if they want, and what we'retrying to do is get that buy-in
and ownership that they feellike they own part of this Right
.
So most companies wouldprobably say, hey, we have an
island, you're going to work onthat.
We're going to start August 1st.
That's not how we swing andbend work.
(18:02):
We're allowing all of ourhousekeepers to go out and look
at it A lot of maintenance guysso we take them out, tour them
around.
The excitement is built nowwithin the company.
Not only are people wanting toI want to go work out there, I
want to go work out there but itgenerates excitement for the
whole company that we're growingand the buy-in.
It's been really exciting towatch the staff really adapt to
(18:23):
growth of the company Instead ofhaving people go.
Why in the world are we doingthat?
Why are we growing?
Why don't we just be out here?
They're now going hold on.
What's next now?
What are you going to do next?
So Catamaran, as you guys, wentout on is that same part of that
offering a catamaran experienceto guests.
Eventually, we'd like to say,hey, if you want to come out and
(18:44):
spend the night on a catamaran,one of your nice gear, we spend
out because it's a four-bedroomcatamaran, yeah right, spend
right on the ocean and then comeback and stay a few nights on
island or go up and stay a fewnights at serenity bay.
That's the whole concept thatwe're trying to accomplish with
our portfolio of companies.
Yeah, very cool.
Get away with us talking aboutmy same-by kids.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Come on, Tell us yes absolutely Please.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
This may not be the right time, but I can't get by
without talking about them.
No, I love it.
I love it.
That is so cool.
They are our future, right,mm-hmm?
And when you look at what we'retrying to do or the amount of
staff housing we have to do andall this, you know it's kind of
selfish.
I'm gonna admit there's someselfishness to it.
If I can get 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 year old kids mindset
(19:32):
trained now about whatleadership means and how to be
better spoken and all that youknow, when they get to high
school and they graduate, I'mgoing to have employees that
want to come work with me andI'm going to train.
And guess what?
I'm going to save on staffhousing because they live
locally already.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Yeah, that's the selfish guy.
There's always somethingselfish.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
That's my selfish guy , Matt, but in reality it's my
love.
I've had 30 kids the firstclass.
We're hoping to start anotherclass here soon, Wow, To get
these kids.
So I have a contact namedKerwin who is the most amazing
mentor you'll ever meet.
You know Kerwin came from abackground of gangs, violence,
(20:13):
drugs, alcohol.
He came from the worst of theworst background.
You could come from right, butKerwin changed.
You know, Kerwin found he foundGod for him as religion.
He found out the way it turnedhim around and his love became
changing people to not take theroad he was on and he became a
(20:35):
mentor of Sainbite and me andhim have become very, very close
.
I support his efforts and whathe does.
He supports the resort here.
I can call hey, Corwin, I needa security guard.
Okay, I got a good guy for you.
He's not going to send mesomeone he knows is bad.
He's going to send me the bestof the best, right?
(20:55):
So that's the selfish side ofthe best too, right?
Corwin knows all these kids.
He's known these kids sincehe's grown up.
So we pick the kids who we think, who we feel are going to be
valuable to learn this, who aregoing to listen to us, number
one, right, Not just come up andcause problems, which has not
been an issue, but we handselect the kids.
(21:16):
The kids come in and the way wedo it every week and these last
kids went for almost fourmonths.
So every saturday or sundaythese kids would come in at
eight o'clock.
They'd stay here till 12.
We feed them pizza, we feedthem, feed them and then send
them take them home.
We started out teaching basicleadership, because this is what
(21:37):
leadership means.
Then we got advanced.
Every week we advanced andadvanced, and advanced, and I
told them you as well have to doa presentation.
We scared these kids to death.
Doing a presentation right,I'll bet.
But these kids came in andevery week I would have a
different department come talkto them.
I would have woodshop come oneweek.
Security would come one week.
Food and beverage would comeone week.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Housekeeping would come one week food and beverage
would come one week.
Housekeeping would come oneweek.
So then again you're in again.
That's brilliant for you.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
They're volunteering.
Can I come talk?
Can I come talk?
So they talk about that whetherthat drives the interest of a
10, 11, 12, 13 year old.
Oh my gosh, mechanic I saw theclub car mechanic.
I think I want to be a mechanicwhen I grow up.
Yeah, I don't think I want to.
I think I want to be a mechanicwhen I grow up.
I don't think I want to be achef when I grow up.
(22:25):
I want to work and get serviceswhen I grow up.
So they started learning whatthey may want to do and what
their interest is.
And then we'll tour.
We go out and tour thedepartments and actually show
them what the department worklooks like.
So then they come up.
Then we start teaching themlike job skills, how to
interview, how to do a resume.
You know how to do that kind ofstuff.
Then I start talking about howto do a presentation.
(22:47):
I taught on PowerPoint.
I actually taught them AI thisyear, so I taught them how to
use artificial intelligence.
Because I use artificialintelligence now I'm a big.
I'm a big chat GPT fan now.
I didn't think I'd ever do.
I'm very concerned what itbrings to our future, of course,
like, I think a lot of peopleare Sure.
(23:09):
I think as we grow ingeneration, generations will
adapt, right, right right weadapted.
I did field service.
I traveled 1,200 miles a week.
I didn't have a cell phone, Ididn't have a laptop, I didn't
have internet, you know what.
But I made it right so AI wouldbe no different, generations
(23:30):
right, so AI would be nodifferent.
How to use new technology, andthat's my hope, but anyway.
So I taught them all this andthen I gave them two more weeks
to prepare and I didn't tellthem what their topic was going
to be.
Talk about whatever you want,and if I told you some of the
topics these kids did, it wouldjust break your heart, right?
Because some of these kids gotup there and talked about the
(23:51):
challenges of being a same-bitekid Sex trafficking, the mothers
selling their daughters forprostitution to make money,
drugs, alcoholism, getting teenpregnancy.
They brought that up in themeetings and talked about how
they're dealing with it andasking advice on how to deal
(24:12):
with it.
I mean, one kid asked me,14-year-old.
I said, mr Bryant, what happensif I get a girl pregnant?
What happens?
I go.
Well, first of all, make sure,if that's a decision you make,
you know and again we talkedabout decisions that's not a
good decision, that's a decisionyou don't make.
You have to own your decision.
Now you can't own.
(24:33):
Yes, you can admit it was amistake, but that kid is not a
mistake.
That kid is your ownershipright, right.
And he looks at me and goes Idon't have a dad Because my dad
got my mom pregnant and left mymom.
And I said that is somethingyou should learn from and know
you would never do that.
And if you happen to make thatmistake, you still need to own
(24:53):
that baby right and own yourmistakes and he just sat there
and just gave me the biggest hugI ever had and I asked him.
I said is there something I canhelp you with?
Has this happened to you?
He says no, but it happened tomy best friend, so he was trying
to do for his best friend right.
So these kids are reallystarting to open their minds up
(25:14):
and it's just amazing to watchthem start to think at such a
young age.
But at the end of the day, ifthey're with me four or five
hours every Saturday, that meansthey're off the street for four
or five hours every Saturday,and they're more aware, maybe
they don't want to go to thestreets, right, right.
And the most amazing part waswhen they did the presentations
(25:36):
and I took them to Monkey River.
So I'm not sure if you guys gotto tour Monkey River when you
were here.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
No.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
We didn't get to.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
But Monkey River is a tour if you come back you
definitely need to do.
You go through a little village.
You see crocodiles, all kindsof birds, all kinds of species.
It's a really, really cool,cool tour.
Right now I took these kids toMonkey River and these kids'
eyes were just this big becauseit's in their country but they
(26:03):
never knew it existed in theircountry.
They never knew this kind ofstuff existed in their country.
Wow, and the time they hadwatching the joy in their
country.
They never knew this kind ofstuff existed in their country.
Wow, and the time they hadwatching the joy in their eyes,
watching them laugh, watchingthem hear the hollow monkeys
yelling at them in the treesright, because they had never
heard a monkey before.
And it's just like would justmake you so.
(26:23):
It makes everything you do inlife worthwhile.
Pacincia if you look on the mapand you go, I'm going Pacincia.
If you look on the map and yougo, I'm going to Pacincia, I
mean that's what I'm going downto Pacincia.
In reality, you're really notgoing to Pacincia.
Pacincia is a village, about a20-minute golf cart down the
road, right.
Yeah, that's the originalvillage.
That's where the fishingvillage came from.
That's what really came down tothis area and everything kind
(26:47):
of expanded north.
Well, sainbite excuse me,sainbite actually is an original
Garifuna village.
It's one of the originalGarifuna villages in Belize.
Wow, it's where slaves actuallyinitially came over and settled
here and it developed Sainbiteand that started Belize.
And then Belize was part of,you know, the English colony and
(27:08):
you know they separated, Ibelieve in somewhere in 1982, 83
, some time frame.
Those villages are part of thehistory of Belize, right, and
people are concerned that theymay go away, and we hope not.
We hope not Because that's whatwe want people to come to
Belize to see.
We don't want you to come hereand see high-rise condos and
(27:28):
high-rise resorts everywhere.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
That's not my desire for this area right.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
I think people really care about it.
They want to see the villagesstay in place.
They want to see these jackstands.
We get a lot of flack, so tospeak, a lot of times from
retirees down here about you'reall inclusive, you're taking
money away from other places.
Well, to about you're allinclusive, you're taking money
away from other places.
(27:53):
Well, to me, that is absolutelyuntrue, absolutely untrue, right
, because you're pouring intothe community.
Well that.
But I think even deeper thanthat when they think we're
taking money away from barefootor for tips of tune or from all
these other places.
We are absolutely not.
When, I guess, come here, theydon't stay at our resort six,
seven days a a week.
They're not eating here everyday.
They want to go out and seeplaces.
(28:16):
In fact, we encourage them togo out, right, so they're going
out eating locally.
But you know what's getting themhere, which is a little
short-sighted thinking.
All-inclusive, as you guysprobably know, is the number one
searched vacation word, right?
When people look for vacations,the number one they search for
all-inclusive vacations.
Well, bleach doesn't have a lotof those.
So if I'm going to get peopleto Bleach, I need to utilize
(28:38):
those searches, right?
So by getting people to come toBleach, I'm getting more people
to come because of myall-inclusive marketing.
Therefore, bleach is going tomake more money because they
have more people coming.
But when they get here, we'reselling the local kajuis, we're
selling the local stuff.
We're bringing people to thecommunity all the time.
(28:58):
We're driving people to thevillage all day long.
It's short-minded thinking thatno one thinks about this.
I'm such a big picture thinker.
Anyway, you know they have alot to offer.
There's so many good placesBurrito stands that you drive by
.
You know, go into some burritostands, you're going to get the
(29:19):
best burrito you've ever had inyour life from this little stand
on the side of the street.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Yeah, and this is a guy from Texas, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
I mean, I know a good food bank in Texas, right, but
you come here, you're going toget some good, good, fresh home
cooking here, these local places, and we want you to experience
that, right.
Yeah, because we want you tocome here and enjoy Belize.
Yes, because if you come backto Belize again, whether you
stay with us or not, you'restill coming back to Belize,
which is what I want you toreally do, right to Belize,
(29:47):
which is what I want you toreally do.
Right, we'll get our fair shareof guests.
I'm not worried about that.
We'll always get our fair shareof guests, but we're not for
everybody.
Serenity Bay is not foreverybody.
You may want to go to adifferent resort for some other
reason.
You may want to go to more of awooden structure, more jungly
feel.
That's okay.
This is my last thing.
Our mission statement is tocreate a return guest on our
first interaction.
(30:07):
That's our mission statement.
And when I teach that, I askwhere does that start in your
mind?
Well, most people say, oh, itstarts when you arrive at the
resort.
Oh gosh, no, it starts waybefore that.
Right, it starts with ouradvertisement.
It starts with our marketing.
It starts with our social media.
Right, there are millions andmillions and millions and
(30:27):
millions of options to go inthis world.
There are millions and millionsand millions of options to go
in this world.
Belize is a speck a speckprobably not even the size of a
needle on places to go in thisworld.
So you have to get theirattention right through your
social media and advertisement.
But even once you get it, yougot to make sure you provide the
right information.
So to get down to come toBelize, to come to Pasincia, to
(30:49):
come to Serenium Bay, is a longthought out process.
Right, I said.
But it don't stop there.
You know when they arrive, asyou guys experienced.
You know our entry is curatedRight, the gate is shut.
It meets you when you walk in.
Right, fresh towels when youturn the corner from front desk.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Yeah, you don't see the ocean when you're the corner
for front desk.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
Yeah, see the ocean.
You're walking.
I'm giving away.
It's only if anybody's ready tocome.
I'm going to give away mysecret, but you know my hope.
Our employees curate thatexperience because you come to
police for the ocean.
That's really why you come.
You come to see the ocean,right, and the beaches.
So when you get here you don'tsee the beaches.
When you first come up, it'sall blocked on purpose.
(31:31):
You don't see the beaches untilyou finally get your pretty
welcome drink.
You see the pool, then you seethe open beach and that right.
Then you get into your rooms.
It's all curated so that everyinteraction we have with you is
driving you to come back again.
That's awesome when you leave,the favorite thing we like to
say when you leave.
Oh my gosh, what happened toLee?
(31:51):
I'm so sorry.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
We want to see you cry we want to see you cry
because you're having a hardtime.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
I hope you don't have to go what I went through to
teach me that life's too shortto live.
Right, I went through a lot tolearn that lesson, and I
wouldn't you.
You know cancer, as you guysknow, is horrible.
Right, I wouldn't protectcancer on anyone, but I also
would not change my past foranything either.
That taught me to be who I amtoday.
I mean, I was already a prettydecent person, I think.
(32:17):
But you know, the cancer taughtme it's not about me anymore.
You know what, if you'retalking about something you love
, it shouldn't be hard.
Nope, that's it.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
I love resort I love Belize.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
I love Belize, I love my people with all my heart,
and it made it easy to talkabout them.
Thank you so much Hope to seey'all back down here soon.
Absolutely, man, all right guys, all right.
Bye.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
We hope we've inspired you this episode, so
join us next time.
Please subscribe to rate andshare our podcast with your
friends or you know whomever?
And please like and follow uson Instagram, youtube and
Facebook.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
We are also on X and on all social platforms.
We are at TheRomies, that'sT-H-E-R-O-A-M-I-E-S, and our
main hub is our website.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
At wwwtheromiescom, that's right, that's.
T-h-e-r-o-a-m-i-e-scom.
We'll be there until next time.
Yeah, thanks for listening, bye.
This transcript was automatically created and has
not be read or edited by ourteam.
Hi, I'm Alexa, and I'm Rory,and together we are the ROAMies.
We are married To each other.
Right?
We are a touring musical duo.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
And our music has taken us to all kinds of places
all around the world and keepsus always on the go.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
So we hope you enjoy our stories and adventures while
running around working to keepall your plates spinning.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
And we hope to facilitate your busy lifestyle
and feed your inner travel bug.
Welcome to our latest episode.
We're excited to continue parttwo with our conversation with
Brian Montgomery of Serenian BayResorts and Villas.
I would love to continue thatthought process with your staff
(00:45):
and let's kind of take a littlevirtual tour, like that you gave
us in real life, of the waythat the staff are taken care of
.
Beyond just the leadershiptraining that you offer them,
you also take care of them, likephysically.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
In Belize, since we are in the southern part of
Belize has become a prettyexpensive area as it's grown
more touristy.
You know it happens in theworld when areas get touristy,
cost of living becomes moreexpensive.
So the majority of employeescan't really afford to live in
the southern part of Belize andmost of them live an hour, hour
(01:22):
and a half, two hours away andeven though there's good
transportation systems in blazewith the bus systems and stuff,
it's still a long way to travelevery day yeah so we provide
housing for a majority ofemployees.
we have, between here andcaptain jack's, about 150
employees and we house about 75of those employees.
(01:42):
Brent and I believe that we'renot going to have somebody stay
in something that we would notstay in.
We've invested, actually asignificant amount of money in
buying three and a half acres ofproperty here.
That's just a mile down theroad, where we have a
five-bedroom house, we havemultiple one-bedrooms and
two-bedroom houses that are allair-conditioned.
(02:05):
By the way, all staff housingtypically does not carry
air-conditions.
Ours do because, again, we wantour staff to be comfortable and
feel at home.
I get staff meals here onproperty.
We have a staff kitchen.
We have two dedicated staffcooks that cook for our staff
every day and our staff gets toeat for free.
Uh, we have some staff thatlive on site.
(02:28):
So we have, uh, I think, sevenhouses we have here on site
where they, uh, our staff thathas to be here to respond, like
for maintenance, for emergencyhousekeeping, for emergencies,
our executive chef.
Those positions stay on site sothey can respond faster to
guests.
But, yeah, the housing and themeals, it's a high expense but
(02:49):
it's like in training, it's aninvestment.
You know that little investmentin your staff, for you feeding
them, for your housing them,really goes a long, long way on
how you care about your people,right?
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Because it's not only about telling them how you feel
, it's about showing them howyou feel, yeah, so yeah, so Yep,
and their service pours out ofthat because they feel loved,
they feel cared for, they feelsafe, they're enjoying life,
they're comfortable, all ofthose things that when you pour
it into them it's going to comeback out.
And as us visiting the resortman, we saw that for everyone.
(03:24):
I kept waiting for someone todrop the act Because you're like
, do I need to walk on eggshellsBecause everyone seems so happy
?
But it's a real thing.
No, there was no act going on.
It was just such a wonderfulexperience getting to know your
people.
(03:44):
I felt like, um, the first day Iarrived and I was like, oh man,
he and I really bonded.
Oh, that's cool, we've got agreat bond.
And then the next guy and I waslike he and I really bonded,
that's really great.
And then I go over and on salmo, uh, I was like, wait a minute,
he and I just bonded too.
What's what's going on?
I feel like I'm bonding withevery person on staff.
What the heck?
That's the feeling.
(04:05):
It's really a counter.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
They know your name right off the bat.
Once you first meet them,they're going to know your name.
They remember your name.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
And that's something.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Yeah, honestly, I did not teach them that.
I did not teach them how toknow.
Because I'm horrible with names, with all the radiation and
chemo I went through.
My short-term memory is not thebest in the world, but it's a
bleached culture of servanthoodmentality.
Uh, at least culture loves toserve people.
You know, they love to showpeople around, they love to help
(04:37):
people, they're there foranything you need.
So that comes across in theirown mentality.
Right, I, I didn't teach themthat, right?
Um?
But but even beyond the people,what brennan and I decided to do
as well was, uh, we wanted tomake sure we wasn't dependent on
outside support.
We want to make sure that wewant to be able to control our
(04:58):
guest experience so that whenthe guest comes to blaze,
they're going to be happy andgoing to have an incredible
BLEEZE experience.
And by doing that which is whyCaptain Jack's was so important
by offering the tours.
Captain Jack, we know you'regoing on a good boat.
We know you're going to boatthat has a new engine.
We know you're going on a staffthat's been trained, you know,
we know that we're not going to,you're not going to break down
(05:19):
in the van, you know.
So that's why we Captain Jack'swas so important.
But even deeper than that, ifyou had an opportunity I don't
know if you got to see our woodshop I know a tour guide on the
wood shop.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
We've invested in our own wood shop where we have all
grizzly equipment, all high-endwood shop equipment, and we
have seven carpenters there, youknow, for a resort that only
holds 75 people we have sevencarpenters Right there.
You know, for a resort that onlyholds 75 people, we have seven
carpets, right?
Uh, but what we do, every pieceof wood you see at the resort
(05:53):
was built by those carpenters,right.
When we need something for awedding, we want your wedding to
be special.
We don't want your wedding tobe cook junk.
If you want an arch that spans,you know, 10, we'll build you
an arch that spans 10 foot.
If you want a special champagnewall, we'll build you a
champagne wall, right.
So we've even built ring boxessmall, little small ring boxes
(06:15):
that they're going to design onright so we can build anything
you can imagine our team canbuild.
So it does save us money,because in Belize, wood doesn't
last long because of being righton the Caribbean Sea, it does
fade really fast.
So it's something you willspend money on, but I know if I
(06:35):
can control that internally, notonly do I get more people that
I can touch and I can work withand I can train and I can help,
but I get, in turn, saving moneyon using outside sources and I
get more customization, whichraises our customer experience
as well.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Right, well, that even feeds in.
Yeah, sorry well, even eachdoor, on each villa yeah was
hand carved by your team and youknow so we had weren't we in
pelican?
Yeah, we had a pel, you know.
So we had, weren't we inPelican?
Speaker 1 (07:05):
The Pelican yeah, we had the Pelican Pelican, yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
You know, there's a carved Pelican on the door and
that was the name of our villathat we stayed in, which you
guys will hear about in nextweek's episode.
But we just those hand-carvedthings were gorgeous.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
So, yeah, everything here has a story.
You were talking about thecarvings on the doors.
Every room was named by ananimal of the Belize, and it's
the reason why you were inPelican.
Pelicans are high, looks down.
Well, that's what you see outover the beach and a pool.
(07:46):
They all have stories, right?
Wow?
So everything here has a storybehind it.
So I'll go back to the woodshop, even deeper than the wood
shop, and I can do a maintenancestaff, for example.
We're not dependent on outsidework for our maintenance team.
We do all our own internalmaintenance, all our ACs, all
our internal plumbing, all ourelectrical, with the intent that
(08:07):
we actually can build our ownrooms and we are expanding the
resort.
I don't know if you guys had achance to walk to the marina
when you went on the catamarine.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Yes, we did.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
That area back there.
We're going to be building anew spa back there.
It'll be a six-room spa.
That that area back there we'regoing to be building a new spa
back there.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
It'll be a six-room spa.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
That'll be awesome.
We're building 15 moretwo-story rooms which will give
us 30 more accommodations, whichwill all be Lagoon View.
Lagoon View Sunset rooms which,even though they're not on the
Caribbean, the view back thereis amazing.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Bro, I got a time lapse of the sunset from the
second floor of the officebuilding there.
Oh, the office building.
Yeah, looking back over whereyou're talking about.
I don't know if I sent it toToby.
I'll have to send it to her.
It's absolutely amazing.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Well, that's from the Sunstar Martini Bar, right.
Yeah, that's it Another one ofthose something nobody else had
in Blaze that we wanted to do.
We had this concrete building,as you remember, was an old
broadcast center when we firstbought it.
It used to be a broadcastcenter.
Oh, wow, Come on.
Yeah, and the conference roomwhich I think I brought you to
(09:19):
the conference room yes gorgeous.
That's where I did my musictraining.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
The top floor was the martini bar, which you get to
see the whole view back.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
The bottom floor was the gym right.
Yeah so we had the gym to gowith it A very nice gym, by the
way.
Yes, man, an interesting storytoo that I'm not sure if I
shared, which is kind of cool.
That was a broadcast center, asI mentioned, called Mission Bay
.
There was a huge satellite dishthat broadcast the Christian
broadcast center back there.
(09:49):
We took that satellite dish and, if you remember walking the
beach, there was two signs oneach side that says Welcome to
Seringham Bay.
Yep, they were oval shaped.
That's actually the oldsatellite dish that we cut in
half, sanded it up, rebranded itand placed it on each side of
the property, welcoming you toSerenian Bay, come on.
So we repurposed that satellitedish from way back, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
That's so neat, that's awesome man.
The little details, yes, thelittle details.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
The little details yes, the little details, yep.
And the stories behind things.
So you talked about the storybehind each little villa name.
Tell us the story behind thename of the resort itself.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Awesome.
I'm glad you asked that Becausea lot of people think it's
Serenian named by Serenity, notcommons and stuff it's not
actually.
So when we purchased theproperty, the property was
called Manatee Bay Estates.
That was what the property wascalled, and the lots that was
here was all individual lots,right?
So when we started buying thelots and we decided to do the
(10:51):
resort, we had to come up with aname.
The natural name would havebeen Manatee Bay Resort and
Villas.
That's not a very Sazam name.
As Brenda said, brenda goes, wewant a Sazam name, right, one
of their nice.
Well, I wanted a name thatyou're proud to say.
I wanted a name that employeeswould be proud to say I work far
, and Manatee Bay was not yet.
(11:13):
So I researched, I'm going toresearch it.
I researched, I come across astory with Christopher Columbus.
When he was sailing the sevenseas, in his captain's log he
documented seeing a siren.
Well, we know a siren is amermaid, right?
We also know it's a mythicalcreature.
They're not real, right?
(11:34):
It was proven that that sirenthat he saw was actually a
Durlong sea cow, manatee.
Therefore, manatee got aSirenian is a scientific name
for manatee.
Wow, so you look it up, truestory.
So a Sirenian is a manatee.
(11:55):
So, go well, sirenian Bay isthe same as Manatee Bay and
Sirenian sounds way more sexierthan Manatee, right?
Yeah, totally so.
That's how Serenian Bay got itsname, as a derivative of
Manatee Bay, which is what it'sbeen called for years and years
for that.
So, yeah, it's a cool story.
And you've got to ask, ofcourse, about Snooty's, of
(12:16):
course, snooty's Bar, you've gotto Snooty's.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Of course Snooty's bar.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
You gotta tell us that story, he has a buddy bar
at the main pool.
Snooty was the oldest livingman that he ever known.
In captivity in Florida he wasa world famous.
People travel every year tocome visit Snooty for his
birthday.
He died.
I believe it was three yearsago.
This past June he died at 69years old, very unfortunate
death.
(12:38):
They actually let the manholeopen and he went into the
manhole and he couldn't turnaround and he drowned.
What?
And you know, manatees have tohave air every once in a while.
It's a very sad story.
But you know what we did.
We memorialized Snooty atSnooty's Bar at our pool.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
So that's how.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
Snooty's Florida got its name in the memory of Snooty
the Manatee in Florida.
We came up with the garden andwe had met.
Actually, it started because wemet a gardener, mr Jose.
If you had a chance to meet MrJose while you're here, mr Jose
is an amazing man.
He was one of the best knowngardeners in the whole country
of Belize, right, and we hadintroduced to him and he was
(13:19):
looking for a change.
We didn't have a garden and wehad introduced to him and he was
looking for a change.
We didn't have a garden and wedidn't know who wanted to garden
.
But when we met Mr Jose, thelove, the passion he carried for
gardening touched our heartsand we said you know what, mr
Jose?
Come to work with us, we'regoing to make you a garden and
that's how the garden started.
(13:40):
So we actually made him agarden.
We built him a garden.
You guys saw it.
Hopefully, any of the guestscomes.
We have tour paths that gothrough the garden.
Mr Jose, I built him a homeinside of his garden.
So Mr Jose lives within hisgarden.
Even Mr Jose will not take aday off.
Even when he's off, he stays ingarden.
(14:02):
So nothing happens to hisgarden.
And now we've since addedanother gardener to help him
because unfortunately Mr Lois isgetting a lot older and he
wants somebody to take care ofhis garden.
Because he tells me, mr Brian,when I go to heaven I want to
look down, I want somebody to betaking care of my garden.
So we've hired him an assistantnow that he can start training
and be comfortable that when hedoes go to heaven hopefully no
(14:24):
time soon, we hope.
We love Mr Jose, but he hassomebody he'll trust to leave
his garden with.
The negative of the garden is hecan't produce enough to keep up
with the restaurant.
It does all the mints and a lotof the cilantro.
It does a lot of supplies butnowhere near enough that we need
to produce farther the garden,I mean for the restaurant.
(14:45):
We would need 10 acres, youknow, to be able to keep up with
the restaurant.
But it does produce to help alot.
But it's also a big touristything that we love our guests to
go back there and look at theorganic garden and meet miss
jose.
You know it serves anincredible purpose Because we do
a lot of weddings, we do a lotof corporate events, we do a lot
(15:07):
of takeovers, we do a lot ofcompanies.
So we have a lot of people thatbuy out the whole resort.
But the sweet spot wediscovered was about 100 guests.
100 to 110 guests is what wediscovered was the sweet spot.
We couldn't do that at SerenityBay.
You know we capped at.
About 75 people is really ourcap.
(15:27):
Saba came along to help us withthat.
It allowed us to have morerooms that we could supplement
what we do here.
It also allowed us to have Sabais not the five-star resort.
We still have the same service,which is five-star service, but
the accommodations are more ofthe three-and-a-half-star level,
which is great.
It's still a fantastic resort,but the price point allows us to
(15:50):
attract every guest At theirprice point.
They want a little lower.
If our price point is a littlelower, we can attract guests
traveling with any budget.
So that's why Saba wasimportant to us.
The enclave came along a couplemonths ago.
The enclave was looking atselling and they came to me
wondering if I wanted to buypart of the enclave and I first
(16:12):
no, I don't want to buy anymore.
I'm, you know, I'm done buying.
My wife would kill me anddivorce me if I did more, right?
Uh, so I said, said no.
They said well, you know what,though?
We're wanting to change ourconcept, because right now,
their current management companyis more of like a VRBO rental,
more Airbnb type rental.
We want to make it a resortfeel and you guys can do that.
(16:35):
So we started discussing it andthey have seven rooms.
It's on a private island, justoff the coast of the end of the
peninsula beautiful, beautifulrooms, beautiful little pool,
kitchen area and all that.
So, yeah, as of august 1st, wetake over the enclave and what
we're looking at doing is takingit to another level.
I'm making it a resort feel,looking at taking it all
(16:59):
inclusive and being part of theoverall feel so that you guys
could come back.
You know what I want to spendtwo nights on an island.
You go spend two nights on anisland and come every four
nights to Serenity Bay or Saba.
So give you a rightful,encompassing feel of your trip
and the personal attention youget.
(17:19):
You know, know, we're lookingat up in the service level there
a bit, offering that moredirect resort field service
level and being able to tie itinto.
You can come eat at serenitybay, or do we just say, but you
know it doesn't, you don't haveto be on the island all the time
, right?
So so I'm really excited aboutit.
Actually, I'm really excitedabout taking over the team.
We've done something here thatI've had, mr Brown, why do you
(17:41):
do that?
We brought every member ofCerulean Bank out to the island
if they want, and what we'retrying to do is get that buy-in
and ownership that they feellike they own part of this Right
.
So most companies wouldprobably say, hey, we have an
island, you're going to work onthat.
We're going to start August 1st.
That's not how we swing andbend work.
(18:02):
We're allowing all of ourhousekeepers to go out and look
at it A lot of maintenance guysso we take them out, tour them
around.
The excitement is built nowwithin the company.
Not only are people wanting toI want to go work out there, I
want to go work out there but itgenerates excitement for the
whole company that we're growingand the buy-in.
It's been really exciting towatch the staff really adapt to
(18:23):
growth of the company Instead ofhaving people go.
Why in the world are we doingthat?
Why are we growing?
Why don't we just be out here?
They're now going hold on.
What's next now?
What are you going to do next?
So Catamaran, as you guys, wentout on is that same part of that
offering a catamaran experienceto guests.
Eventually, we'd like to say,hey, if you want to come out and
(18:44):
spend the night on a catamaran,one of your nice gear, we spend
out because it's a four-bedroomcatamaran, yeah right, spend
right on the ocean and then comeback and stay a few nights on
island or go up and stay a fewnights at serenity bay.
That's the whole concept thatwe're trying to accomplish with
our portfolio of companies.
Yeah, very cool.
Get away with us talking aboutmy same-by kids.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Come on, Tell us yes absolutely Please.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
This may not be the right time, but I can't get by
without talking about them.
No, I love it.
I love it.
That is so cool.
They are our future, right,mm-hmm?
And when you look at what we'retrying to do or the amount of
staff housing we have to do andall this, you know it's kind of
selfish.
I'm gonna admit there's someselfishness to it.
If I can get 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 year old kids mindset
(19:32):
trained now about whatleadership means and how to be
better spoken and all that youknow, when they get to high
school and they graduate, I'mgoing to have employees that
want to come work with me andI'm going to train.
And guess what?
I'm going to save on staffhousing because they live
locally already.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Yeah, that's the selfish guy.
There's always somethingselfish.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
That's my selfish guy , Matt, but in reality it's my
love.
I've had 30 kids the firstclass.
We're hoping to start anotherclass here soon, Wow, To get
these kids.
So I have a contact namedKerwin who is the most amazing
mentor you'll ever meet.
You know Kerwin came from abackground of gangs, violence,
(20:13):
drugs, alcohol.
He came from the worst of theworst background.
You could come from right, butKerwin changed.
You know, Kerwin found he foundGod for him as religion.
He found out the way it turnedhim around and his love became
changing people to not take theroad he was on and he became a
(20:35):
mentor of Sainbite and me andhim have become very, very close
.
I support his efforts and whathe does.
He supports the resort here.
I can call hey, Corwin, I needa security guard.
Okay, I got a good guy for you.
He's not going to send mesomeone he knows is bad.
He's going to send me the bestof the best, right?
(20:55):
So that's the selfish side ofthe best too, right?
Corwin knows all these kids.
He's known these kids sincehe's grown up.
So we pick the kids who we think, who we feel are going to be
valuable to learn this, who aregoing to listen to us, number
one, right, Not just come up andcause problems, which has not
been an issue, but we handselect the kids.
(21:16):
The kids come in and the way wedo it every week and these last
kids went for almost fourmonths.
So every saturday or sundaythese kids would come in at
eight o'clock.
They'd stay here till 12.
We feed them pizza, we feedthem, feed them and then send
them take them home.
We started out teaching basicleadership, because this is what
(21:37):
leadership means.
Then we got advanced.
Every week we advanced andadvanced, and advanced, and I
told them you as well have to doa presentation.
We scared these kids to death.
Doing a presentation right,I'll bet.
But these kids came in andevery week I would have a
different department come talkto them.
I would have woodshop come oneweek.
Security would come one week.
Food and beverage would comeone week.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Housekeeping would come one week food and beverage
would come one week.
Housekeeping would come oneweek.
So then again you're in again.
That's brilliant for you.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
They're volunteering.
Can I come talk?
Can I come talk?
So they talk about that whetherthat drives the interest of a
10, 11, 12, 13 year old.
Oh my gosh, mechanic I saw theclub car mechanic.
I think I want to be a mechanicwhen I grow up.
Yeah, I don't think I want to.
I think I want to be a mechanicwhen I grow up.
I don't think I want to be achef when I grow up.
(22:25):
I want to work and get serviceswhen I grow up.
So they started learning whatthey may want to do and what
their interest is.
And then we'll tour.
We go out and tour thedepartments and actually show
them what the department worklooks like.
So then they come up.
Then we start teaching themlike job skills, how to
interview, how to do a resume.
You know how to do that kind ofstuff.
Then I start talking about howto do a presentation.
(22:47):
I taught on PowerPoint.
I actually taught them AI thisyear, so I taught them how to
use artificial intelligence.
Because I use artificialintelligence now I'm a big.
I'm a big chat GPT fan now.
I didn't think I'd ever do.
I'm very concerned what itbrings to our future, of course,
like, I think a lot of peopleare Sure.
(23:09):
I think as we grow ingeneration, generations will
adapt, right, right right weadapted.
I did field service.
I traveled 1,200 miles a week.
I didn't have a cell phone, Ididn't have a laptop, I didn't
have internet, you know what.
But I made it right so AI wouldbe no different, generations
(23:30):
right, so AI would be nodifferent.
How to use new technology, andthat's my hope, but anyway.
So I taught them all this andthen I gave them two more weeks
to prepare and I didn't tellthem what their topic was going
to be.
Talk about whatever you want,and if I told you some of the
topics these kids did, it wouldjust break your heart, right?
Because some of these kids gotup there and talked about the
(23:51):
challenges of being a same-bitekid Sex trafficking, the mothers
selling their daughters forprostitution to make money,
drugs, alcoholism, getting teenpregnancy.
They brought that up in themeetings and talked about how
they're dealing with it andasking advice on how to deal
(24:12):
with it.
I mean, one kid asked me,14-year-old.
I said, mr Bryant, what happensif I get a girl pregnant?
What happens?
I go.
Well, first of all, make sure,if that's a decision you make,
you know and again we talkedabout decisions that's not a
good decision, that's a decisionyou don't make.
You have to own your decision.
Now you can't own.
(24:33):
Yes, you can admit it was amistake, but that kid is not a
mistake.
That kid is your ownershipright, right.
And he looks at me and goes Idon't have a dad Because my dad
got my mom pregnant and left mymom.
And I said that is somethingyou should learn from and know
you would never do that.
And if you happen to make thatmistake, you still need to own
(24:53):
that baby right and own yourmistakes and he just sat there
and just gave me the biggest hugI ever had and I asked him.
I said is there something I canhelp you with?
Has this happened to you?
He says no, but it happened tomy best friend, so he was trying
to do for his best friend right.
So these kids are reallystarting to open their minds up
(25:14):
and it's just amazing to watchthem start to think at such a
young age.
But at the end of the day, ifthey're with me four or five
hours every Saturday, that meansthey're off the street for four
or five hours every Saturday,and they're more aware, maybe
they don't want to go to thestreets, right, right.
And the most amazing part waswhen they did the presentations
(25:36):
and I took them to Monkey River.
So I'm not sure if you guys gotto tour Monkey River when you
were here.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
No.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
We didn't get to.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
But Monkey River is a tour if you come back you
definitely need to do.
You go through a little village.
You see crocodiles, all kindsof birds, all kinds of species.
It's a really, really cool,cool tour.
Right now I took these kids toMonkey River and these kids'
eyes were just this big becauseit's in their country but they
(26:03):
never knew it existed in theircountry.
They never knew this kind ofstuff existed in their country.
Wow, and the time they hadwatching the joy in their
country.
They never knew this kind ofstuff existed in their country.
Wow, and the time they hadwatching the joy in their eyes,
watching them laugh, watchingthem hear the hollow monkeys
yelling at them in the treesright, because they had never
heard a monkey before.
And it's just like would justmake you so.
(26:23):
It makes everything you do inlife worthwhile.
Pacincia if you look on the mapand you go, I'm going Pacincia.
If you look on the map and yougo, I'm going to Pacincia, I
mean that's what I'm going downto Pacincia.
In reality, you're really notgoing to Pacincia.
Pacincia is a village, about a20-minute golf cart down the
road, right.
Yeah, that's the originalvillage.
That's where the fishingvillage came from.
That's what really came down tothis area and everything kind
(26:47):
of expanded north.
Well, sainbite excuse me,sainbite actually is an original
Garifuna village.
It's one of the originalGarifuna villages in Belize.
Wow, it's where slaves actuallyinitially came over and settled
here and it developed Sainbiteand that started Belize.
And then Belize was part of,you know, the English colony and
(27:08):
you know they separated, Ibelieve in somewhere in 1982, 83
, some time frame.
Those villages are part of thehistory of Belize, right, and
people are concerned that theymay go away, and we hope not.
We hope not Because that's whatwe want people to come to
Belize to see.
We don't want you to come hereand see high-rise condos and
(27:28):
high-rise resorts everywhere.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
That's not my desire for this area right.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
I think people really care about it.
They want to see the villagesstay in place.
They want to see these jackstands.
We get a lot of flack, so tospeak, a lot of times from
retirees down here about you'reall inclusive, you're taking
money away from other places.
Well, to about you're allinclusive, you're taking money
away from other places.
(27:53):
Well, to me, that is absolutelyuntrue, absolutely untrue, right
, because you're pouring intothe community.
Well that.
But I think even deeper thanthat when they think we're
taking money away from barefootor for tips of tune or from all
these other places.
We are absolutely not.
When, I guess, come here, theydon't stay at our resort six,
seven days a a week.
They're not eating here everyday.
They want to go out and seeplaces.
(28:16):
In fact, we encourage them togo out, right, so they're going
out eating locally.
But you know what's getting themhere, which is a little
short-sighted thinking.
All-inclusive, as you guysprobably know, is the number one
searched vacation word, right?
When people look for vacations,the number one they search for
all-inclusive vacations.
Well, bleach doesn't have a lotof those.
So if I'm going to get peopleto Bleach, I need to utilize
(28:38):
those searches, right?
So by getting people to come toBleach, I'm getting more people
to come because of myall-inclusive marketing.
Therefore, bleach is going tomake more money because they
have more people coming.
But when they get here, we'reselling the local kajuis, we're
selling the local stuff.
We're bringing people to thecommunity all the time.
(28:58):
We're driving people to thevillage all day long.
It's short-minded thinking thatno one thinks about this.
I'm such a big picture thinker.
Anyway, you know they have alot to offer.
There's so many good placesBurrito stands that you drive by
.
You know, go into some burritostands, you're going to get the
(29:19):
best burrito you've ever had inyour life from this little stand
on the side of the street.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Yeah, and this is a guy from Texas, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
I mean, I know a good food bank in Texas, right, but
you come here, you're going toget some good, good, fresh home
cooking here, these local places, and we want you to experience
that, right.
Yeah, because we want you tocome here and enjoy Belize.
Yes, because if you come backto Belize again, whether you
stay with us or not, you'restill coming back to Belize,
which is what I want you toreally do, right to Belize,
(29:47):
which is what I want you toreally do.
Right, we'll get our fair shareof guests.
I'm not worried about that.
We'll always get our fair shareof guests, but we're not for
everybody.
Serenity Bay is not foreverybody.
You may want to go to adifferent resort for some other
reason.
You may want to go to more of awooden structure, more jungly
feel.
That's okay.
This is my last thing.
Our mission statement is tocreate a return guest on our
first interaction.
(30:07):
That's our mission statement.
And when I teach that, I askwhere does that start in your
mind?
Well, most people say, oh, itstarts when you arrive at the
resort.
Oh gosh, no, it starts waybefore that.
Right, it starts with ouradvertisement.
It starts with our marketing.
It starts with our social media.
Right, there are millions andmillions and millions and
(30:27):
millions of options to go inthis world.
There are millions and millionsand millions of options to go
in this world.
Belize is a speck a speckprobably not even the size of a
needle on places to go in thisworld.
So you have to get theirattention right through your
social media and advertisement.
But even once you get it, yougot to make sure you provide the
right information.
So to get down to come toBelize, to come to Pasincia, to
(30:49):
come to Serenium Bay, is a longthought out process.
Right, I said.
But it don't stop there.
You know when they arrive, asyou guys experienced.
You know our entry is curatedRight, the gate is shut.
It meets you when you walk in.
Right, fresh towels when youturn the corner from front desk.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Yeah, you don't see the ocean when you're the corner
for front desk.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
Yeah, see the ocean.
You're walking.
I'm giving away.
It's only if anybody's ready tocome.
I'm going to give away mysecret, but you know my hope.
Our employees curate thatexperience because you come to
police for the ocean.
That's really why you come.
You come to see the ocean,right, and the beaches.
So when you get here you don'tsee the beaches.
When you first come up, it'sall blocked on purpose.
(31:31):
You don't see the beaches untilyou finally get your pretty
welcome drink.
You see the pool, then you seethe open beach and that right.
Then you get into your rooms.
It's all curated so that everyinteraction we have with you is
driving you to come back again.
That's awesome when you leave,the favorite thing we like to
say when you leave.
Oh my gosh, what happened toLee?
(31:51):
I'm so sorry.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
We want to see you cry we want to see you cry
because you're having a hardtime.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
I hope you don't have to go what I went through to
teach me that life's too shortto live.
Right, I went through a lot tolearn that lesson, and I
wouldn't you.
You know cancer, as you guysknow, is horrible.
Right, I wouldn't protectcancer on anyone, but I also
would not change my past foranything either.
That taught me to be who I amtoday.
I mean, I was already a prettydecent person, I think.
(32:17):
But you know, the cancer taughtme it's not about me anymore.
You know what, if you'retalking about something you love
, it shouldn't be hard.
Nope, that's it.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
I love resort I love Belize.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
I love Belize, I love my people with all my heart,
and it made it easy to talkabout them.
Thank you so much Hope to seey'all back down here soon.
Absolutely, man, all right guys, all right.
Bye.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
We hope we've inspired you this episode, so
join us next time.
Please subscribe to rate andshare our podcast with your
friends or you know whomever?
And please like and follow uson Instagram, youtube and
Facebook.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
We are also on X and on all social platforms.
We are at TheRomies, that'sT-H-E-R-O-A-M-I-E-S, and our
main hub is our website.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
At wwwtheromiescom, that's right, that's.
T-h-e-r-o-a-m-i-e-scom.
We'll be there until next time.
Yeah, thanks for listening, bye.
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