Sonesta Hotels has issued a statement that all of its guests on St. Maarten were evacuated from the destination on Saturday, September 9.
According to the statement, the last group left on a Sunwing aircraft to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
“We are overwhelmed with emotion knowing that these heroic individuals will be reunited with their family and friends soon," according to the statement. "We respect their confidence in our entire team during this extremely difficult time."
The Dutch Marines will be using Sonesta Maho Beach Resort, Casino & Spa as its base of operations in St. Maarten. Princess Juliana International Airport continues to remain under the control of the Dutch military.
It is also confirmed that Samaritan’s Purse will be sending another DC-8 aircraft of supplies along with a 14-person Disaster Assistance Response Team to assist in relief efforts for a total of a 28-person team; the group will also be using Sonesta Maho Resort as its base of operations.
As part of the hotel's Hurricane Preparedness Plan, all in-house hotel guests were advised to take their passports, any pertinent medication, and comfortable clothing, and move from their hotel rooms to an internal shelter, which had been set up in line with the company’s operations plan, according to a statement issued last week.
According to that statement, guests of Sonesta Ocean Point Resort and Sonesta Maho Beach Resort, Casino & Spa were staying in conference rooms located at The Royal Islander, a vacation ownership property located in the Maho area. The Royal Islander is operated by The Maho Group, which manages Sonesta's St. Maarten hotels. Guests of Sonesta Great Bay Beach Resort, Casino & Spa were staying in the internal conference rooms of the hotel.
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