Community

The Discovery hotel is an important part of the local community and this contemporary boutique hotel has made a clear commitment to the welfare of the local Saint Lucians, particularly the island's young people. The hotel focuses its charitable funding and sponsorship on projects which support the community of Marigot.

For example, the Discovery hotel recently rebuilt a house belonging to a single mother and her children which burned down. The hotel also:

• Supports and sponsors the village day care centre.
• Runs joint community fund raising projects with the Marigot Development Committee for community facilities and improvements.
• Has a joint environmental task force which is run by the hotel and the Marigot Bay village development committee.
• Has community clean up days in which everybody participates from the school children and village residents to the hotel owners and staff.
• Works with the Caribbean Students' Environmental Alliance training local teachers to take children out and test sea water for pollution and come up with practical measures for reducing pollution and improving water quality. This is particularly relevant for the hotel because Marigot with its huge area of mangroves is a key fish spawning area.
• Employs primarily Saint Lucian staff, including the management team and concierge.
• Hires local guides. The resort uses individuals who have a similar philosophy when it comes to protection of the environment and specialist knowledge on the flora and fauna that makes Saint Lucia special.
• Works closely with the Departments of Forestry and Fisheries to ensure guests have meaningful and informative tour experiences.

The Discovery hotel also commissioned famous British rock and roll photographer, Gered Mankowitz, who took a series of portraits of key people in significant locations around Saint Lucia. The exhibition catalogue is available to guests on request and the portraits now hang in Government House, the home of Saint Lucia's Governor General, as a gift to the nation.

Wherever possible the community-conscious hotel purchases furnishing and goods from local suppliers. Even the hotel beds are locally made in a factory which produces mattresses of outstanding quality. All of the hotel's paper products are locally made and most of the art in the hotel is created by Saint Lucian artists. Much of the music played in the public areas of the hotel at Marigot Bay is by musicians from St Lucia and the wider Caribbean.

When the hotel was first conceived, it was designed to blend seamlessly into the natural environment of Marigot Bay. It is the hotel's mission to ensure the property likewise blends seamlessly into and supports the local community.

Community Sponsorship

• In February 2008, a team from the hotel joined with members of the community to undertake a house-building project for Lydia Alexander, a single mother of six from the Marigot community who lost her home in a fire in March 2007. The Discovery hotel donated EC$28,000 worth of materials and provided voluntary labour for the construction of her new home.
• The Discovery at Marigot Bay hotel launched its first summer internship programme in July 2008 in partnership with the Marigot Secondary School to give young people the opportunity to gain work experience in the hospitality industry.
• In September 2008, the Discovery hotel launched its annual First Step Scholarship programme for students from Marigot Village and surrounding areas who may not otherwise have enough money to pay for uniforms and books entering their first year of secondary school.