AirStMaarten - Monthly Newsletter - May 2009

The AirStMaarten Newsletter is professional with a personal touch, informative and to the point with news, opinions, background information, articles and promotions.

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In this May 2009 issue:
1. INTRO: Finally.... The AirStMaarten Newsletter!!!
2. SPECIALS: Great Rates For Early Bookers
3. ARTICLE: How To Travel To St. Maarten For FREE
4. SPONSOR MESSAGE: Geo-Domain Marketing
5. NEWS ITEM: Premium Island Vacations just launched
6. TRAVEL TIP: Watch That Jewelry Bag !!!
7. AGENDA: Le Select Celebrates 60th Anniversary!
8. ADVERTISEMENT: DineSBH.com - SBHdining.com
9. CUSTOMER SERVICE: How To Book With AirStMaarten

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INTRO: "Finally... The AirStMaarten Newsletter is here!!!
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Dear friends and clients,

Here it is finally: the AirStMaarten newsletter !!!
It took me three years to get the AirStMaarten newsletter published.
Can you believe that? That's how busy I have been since 2006.

In 2006 I did some market research to find out which markets in the Caribbean was the most lucrative for my shared charters concept. It turned out to be St. Barths.

St. Barths - also known as St. Barthelemy - but commonly written as "St. Barth" or "St. Barts", is a very unique island in the Caribbean. Best of all, it is located just 12 minutes away from St. Maarten by air.

Getting to St. Barths means you have to fly to St. Maarten first. Since St. Maarten is the home base of AirStMaarten, it was very easy for me to start offering shared charters to St. Barths back in 2006.

Just for your infomation, AirStMaarten is not a real airline. AirStMaarten operates as a virtual airline. I believe AirStMaarten is the first virtual airline operating in the Caribbean.

But what is a Virtual Airline?

A Virtual Airline simply means we do not own nor operate our own aircrafts. We book, hire or charter other airline companies or charter operators to execute commercial flights or private charters on our behalf.

I am more than happy to leave that part of the operation up to others so that we as AirStMaarten can concentrate on what we do best: sales, marketing and customer service.

The downside ofcourse is that because we don't own our own aircrafts, we are not allowed on the airside of the airport to meet our own clients. However, we do work with great Airport Handling Agents and VIP Services agents. Some of you have already met our friendly agents, such as Rinaldo Rogers, Elizabeth Peterson, Clara Peterson and Claudia Fleming.

Ofcourse, most of you have already met our Reservations Supervisor, Karen George, either on the phone or via email. Eventhough, you may never get to meet her personally, she is a very pleasant person to deal with and always willing to go the distance in providing great travel planning assistance to you, our clients.

I am going to stop for now. You can read the rest of this newsletter while I attend to other urgent matters.

Happy Readings!

Terrance Rey

PS: I have land for sale in St. Eustatius (Statia). 1 acre (4047 sqm) of prime land with great ocean view. Asking price is US$130.000.
http://www.stmaarten-info.com/en/guide/real-estate/land-for-sale/

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2. SPECIALS: Great Rates For Early Bookers
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Only one way to find the lowest and best rates possible and that is to submit a reservation request via www.airsxm.com as early as possible and reserve our Budget Class flights. The earlier the better!

Please always provide us with your airline connection flight information.
We need airline name, flight numbers, arrival time and departure time.

But if you are a do-it-yourself travel planner and you want the absolute best commercial rates possible, check out our new Internet Booking Engine (IBE) at: http://www.airstmaarten.net.

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3. ARTICLE: How To Travel To St. Maarten For FREE
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The current economic crisis, that will ultimately have a devastating effect on the St. Maarten tourism economy, will only serve to prove that an island like St. Maarten solely dependent on tourism income can not rely only on the whims of the major airlines to provide airlift to the island.

St. Maarten needs its own airline. St. Maarten needs to take control of the vitally important airlift to the island to safeguards its future. With a government sponsored airline company - unlike the expensive government-owned airport company - St. Maarten would be able to afford to fly passengers for free to St. Maarten. The passengers can then use the money saved to spend in the local economy at hotels, bars, restaurants, shopping and island activities.

I can't think of a better way to stimulate the economy and maintain growth on the island in these trying times where creative and proactive action is badly needed.

The place to start is with Winair. Assume ownership first. Then sponsor the airline to provide free airlift from the surrounding Caribbean islands to bring tourists, business travelers and shoppers to the island. That will boost the island's economy. Then slowly expand to subsidize inter-regional, long haul and transatlantic flights.

Trust me, in the long run, this business model will pay off for the island. I have seen Caribbean governments waste more money in foolish endeavours to not think this is a much better allocation of scarce taxpayers monies.

Update, May 1st, 2009: AIRLINES DONATE FREE TICKETS TO ST. MARTIN
Three airlines have donated seats to delegates attending St. Maarten/St. Martin Annual Tradeshow (SMART) that starts May 20 in Radisson St. Martin Resort, Marina and Spa. Air France, CorsairFly and Air Caraibes have donated 20 seats each to European and Regional delegates and will also have their representatives on the SMART selling floor. Read more>>>

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4. SPONSOR MESSAGE: Geo-Domain Marketing
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What is Geo-Domain Marketing and what does it means for Caribbean islands such as St. Maarten and St. Barths? I will be writing more about geo-domain marketing in later issues. But in the meantime, get a taste by visiting our new geo-domain website at: http://www.stmaarten-info.com.

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5. NEWS ITEM: Premium Island Vacations
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James Daltrey and Vincent Chevalier of Premium IV, a concierge services provider on St. Barths, has partnered with Guy Coles of New York to launch Premium Island Vacations.

Noticed how they turned Premium IV into Premium Island Vacations?
PIV.... the reverse of VIP. Cute! And Subliminal ! :-)

Premium Island Vacations exclusively offers St. Barths as a travel destination, providing individually tailored services of the highest quality to its discerning clients, including hotel and villa reservation services, travel arrangements to and from St. Barths, including long haul and local flights, charter planes, charter boats and private jets. All booked via AirStMaarten ofcourse. :-)

Working closely with Premium IV on St. Barths, Premium Island Vacations will provide you with priority access to their renowned concierge and ground handling services, as well as arranging excursions and special events, provisioning villas and organizing massage and beauty treatments so you can enjoy a truly wonderful vacation experience.
 
Contact Premium Island Vacations for the best vacation advice regarding your travel plans to St. Barths. Go to http://www.premiumislandvacations.com.

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6. TRAVEL TIP: Watch That Jewelry Bag !!!
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A client informed us today that she lost her jewelry bag somewhere between St. Barths and St. Maarten. As amazing as it sounds, she had the jewelry bag in her hand bag and must have dropped it while boarding our private aircraft in St. Barths. The aircrafts are cleaned every day after all the flights have been executed and unfortunately none of the staff found any bag or jewelry in the luggage compartment or in the cabin of the aircraft. I sympathize greatly with this client and I feel real bad for her. Therefore, I have only one advice to you ladies out there when traveling: Watch That Jewelry Bag !!!

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7. AGENDA: Le Select Celebrates 60th Anniversary!
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Le Select is a St. Barths island institution that is loved by locals and tourists alike. Many returning tourists affectionately call it "The Office". Marius Stakelborough, born on St. Barths in 1923 and still going strong, opened Le Select sixty years ago, and its longevity attests to its popularity. It is a "bare-bones" bar and grill in the heart of Gustavia and a wonderful place to have a hamburger with fries, a cold beer or other libation, meet friends and people-watch - the street activity never stops. Le Select will celebrate its sixtieth anniversary this November 2009. Festivities will begin on Friday, November 6th, around 11 a.m. and continue through Sunday, November 8th. Local bands will be playing throughout the day and night, and you can be sure that a lot of dancing will take place! In addition, the Blues Festival begins on November 5th and runs through the weekend. Be sure to make your reservations early as this is sure to be a "sold-out" event as friends of Marius worldwide come to celebrate with him! Go to www.airsxm.com to submit your reservation request now. Don't delay any longer. I hear Jimmy Buffett will be there also.

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8. ADVERTISEMENT: DineSBH.com - SBHdining.com
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Since clients often ask me to recommend restaurants or my favorite places to eat, I registered the domain names DineSBH.com and SBHdining.com with the intention to publish restaurant reviews and photo's whenever I visit St. Barths (for business or pleasure) and I dine at any of St. Barths' great restaurants.

Here is a photograph of a dish I took at one of St. Barths' famous restaurants.

Visit DineSBH.com to find out how to get to eat this dish.

Where was this photo taken? Email me to find out.
Visit www.sbhdining.com to also find out how to get to St. Barths.


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9. CUSTOMER SERVICE: How To Book With AirStMaarten
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Booking Procedure & Reservation Information

Submit a reservation request online at www.airsxm.com. Once we receive your request, we will send you a Reservation Offer for your consideration. Once you accept our proposal, we will require payment. You can use our credit card form to send us your credit card information. We accept all major credit cards such as Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express. You can also pay by bank transfer, check, cash or Paypal. Once payment is received, we will book the commercial flight or private charter and send you a Reservation Confirmation.

If you have requested additional services such as VIP Transfer Services, we will send you a Final Confirmation containing all details of your travel itinerary and services booked. And that's how you book with AirStMaarten.

Other Customer Service Resources:
Our Shared Charters concept explained in full detail
VIP Transfer Services through Princess Juliana Int'l Airport
Island Concierge Services on St. Maarten and St. Barths
Read what our satisfied clients are saying about our service
Ticket Insurance
We also accept payments via Paypal
St. Maarten Villa Rentals
St. Maarten Yachting and Sailing Charters
Sign up for our email newsletter service

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