Adjectives to describe The Reef - "family" "home" "caring"

Last week after Hurricane Dean passed close by us we sent out an email to our whole mailing list to let everyone know things were fine. We were overwhelmed by not just the sheer number of replies, but also the depth of feeling that many of the replies.

We know that our members and guests like The Reef, but to be honest we really had no idea how much so many of them feel like The Reef and everyone who works here are part of their family, and that we are their "Cayman home". Boy, stuff like that makes all the hard work oh so worthwhile !

For those of our guests who had to cut short their vacation, we emailed them to let them know that in addition to refunding their unused nights stay, we were also giving them a five night certificate to use the next time they came down to Cayman. The following is a reply to one such email just received by our reservations department :

Dear Linda,

In the time since we've been home from our vacation, my wife and I have fielded at least four dozen inquires from friends and family about what our vacation was like considering the change in plans that Dean necessitated. We told everyone that the short time we spent on Grand Cayman at The Reef was wonderful — and no one believes that the lobsters we saw while snorkeling out near the reef were really as big as we said they are (I swear the tail of the largest could feed a family of four).

Even though we had to flee to Miami, we did so with the mindset that there are far worse places to be a "refugee" for three days. Our only remorse was that we had to cancel our trip to Stringray City in order to catch our flight out.

Thank you for the generous offer. It only goes to cement The Reef's reputation in my mind. We'll eagerly take you up on the five-night voucher for next summer — and we look forward to some more of Sandra's cocktails — after we check out Stingray City.

Take care !

A few more excepts from emails replying to our main email last week :

Our thoughts and prayers have been with you and The Reef Resort during this crisis! We are very thankful that everyone is safe and not much damage. The Reef is our other home and family that we look forward to every year. We are bringing our 4 daughters this year the week before Christmas for our first family vacation. Our daughter’s ages are 27, 25, 12, and 8. We are looking forward to spending time with our girls and enjoying our time together at The Reef!

We were very happy to know very little damage occurred at The Reef. After the last one, we know how prepared and efficient the resort is. We appreciate you letting us know how the Caymans faired. Our thoughts and prayers are with you always.

Thanks so much for the email regarding the Royal Reef post Hurricane Dean. I have stayed many times at your resort and have had positive experiences each time

I am so glad to hear that you all and the resort are ok. I had been thinking about you guys. I must say, my first thought was about the resort since we're hoping to come back there in December, but also, I suddenly realized I was worried about the people. So, I am so glad to hear all is basically well with both. That feeling that I got is a real testament to everyone that works there (and also the other people on the island). My girlfriend and I pass on our well wishes. Hopefully we'll see you in December and I hope the hurricane season passes without too much incident for you all there. Take good care and I hope the re-opening is smooth.

It’s so reassuring that damage in your area seems to be minimal. Thanks for the update, we have been following the weather situation from ‘SAFE GREAT BRITAIN’ . We had a great vacation with you last year and a great week also in Cayman Brac. I hope they too escaped with little damage. We WILL be back, so until then keep sending the emails – best of luck for the future.

Thank you for your letter. We are extremely pleased to hear that there was minimal damage as we thoroughly enjoy staying at The Reef throught the year.
As locals it is so refreshing to feel we have had a vacation away from the island without even leaving the island and everyone is always so kind and helpful.
Best wishes


Hi Tom......we just wanted to say how nice it was that you sent this e-mail to ALL of your Reef family. We were not scheduled to come down to the Island, but I just wanted to say it was nice to hear that you were on top of the clean-up. It's people like you that make us want to come back....

Way to go Tom

We are proud to be owners at your resort