Hawks Cay seeks to welcome more Canadian guests

Following a multi-million dollar renovation, representatives from Hawks Cay Resort are looking to draw more Canadians into the Florida Keys, beyond the state’s travel hotspots.

During a recent visit to meet with members of the Canadian travel trade, Andrew Rosuck, regional vice-president, sales & marketing and Matt Lawrence, director of marketing, met with PAX to provide an overview what on Hawks Cay has to offer Canadian travellers looking for sun and surf.

With so many people from north of the border travelling to Florida each year, the property plans to leverage those numbers and increase the number of Canadian guests staying at Hawks Cay, which currently makes up approximately five per cent of the resort’s international clientele.

“There’s never enough!” Rosuck said of Canadian travellers, adding that he hopes to increase arrivals by 50 per cent. “A lot of Canadians will come to Miami and Ft. Lauderdale and just stop, but they should come further south! The Keys are so much different and unique from what Florida has to offer – it’s like driving to the Caribbean.”

The 60-acre property on Duck Key (located midway along the Florida Keys and an approximate two-hour drive from Miami) boasts 177 rooms in the main hotel, along with 250, two-, three- and four-bedroom villas and two penthouse suites, which were renovated as part of the recent upgrades at the resort. Additional work is continuing on the property’s marina, which includes a new 250-seat restaurant named Angler & Ale set to open in January, where guests can have their catch cleaned and cooked (which Rosuck called the “hook and cook” concept) or partake in a seafood-oriented menu as well as local craft beer, which will soon include Hawks Cay’s very own brew.

With the Gulf of Mexico to the west and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, water is a central theme found throughout the resort and its activities. In addition to the resort’s five pools (including a kids pool as well as the award-winning adults-only Tranquility Pool), Hawks Cay features a saltwater lagoon where guests can enjoy a beach experience in a controlled environment, complete with rising and lowering ‘tides’ controlled by the resort. Visitors can also take part in watersports ranging from fishing, jetskiing and parasailing to paddleboarding and kayaking through the mangroves.

“It’s very water-driven,” Rosuck said of the property. “You have a great marina with fishing and our own fleet of fishing boats; we have a dive shop and dive boats to go scuba or snuba diving.”

Rosuck and Lawrence said that the groups segment is very important in terms of guest numbers, whether it’s a destination wedding (which they said draw a lot of Canadian travellers) or business retreat, making use of Hawks Cay’s 20,000 square-foot convention centre and taking part in the resorts activities for team-building and networking opportunities.

“From a team-building aspect, if you were to go to Las Vegas and do an incentive trip, everyone can scatter and do their own thing after the meeting,” Lawrence explained. “When you’re on an island for an occasion like that and everything is centrally-located, you go to the fire pit and you can hang out with all of your peers. That’s where relationships are built, when you’re having fun.”

For agents looking to experience the property first-hand, Hawks Cay offers several FAMs throughout the year.

More about Hawks Cay

- With many families visiting the property during school breaks, Hawks Cay offers numerous programs and activities for kids, including the Coral Cay kids club, educational sessions featuring marine life such as sea turtles, and the ‘Mermaid Academy,’ in which kids can try swimming with a mermaid tail.

- Outside the resort, the Florida Keys offers travellers a laid-back yet upscale experience, Rosuck said, with draws such as boutique clothing and art shops, upscale dining and a giant lobster statue named Betsy. Lawrence said that while many guests park their rental vehicles at the resort for the duration of their stay (shuttle services are also available), a vehicle allows for easier access to the nearby communities of the Keys.

- Hawks Cay’s ‘By Land, By Air, By Sea’ package flies guests in from Ft. Lauderdale/Miami, where they are picked up by limo or seaplane for a four-night stay in one of the resort’s penthouse suites, including a dinner cooked the property’s executive chef, a poolside cabana and a spa experience.

More information is available at www.hawkscay.com.