Aruba: Towards a More Responsible and Reciprocal Tourism

https://batibleki.wheninaruba.com/aruba-towards-a-more-responsible-and-reciprocal-tourism/

Amendment to the ROPV needed, to revitalize Oranjestad

https://batibleki.wheninaruba.com/amendment-to-the-ropv-needed-to-revitalize-oranjestad/

Otmar Oduber Sentenced

https://batibleki.wheninaruba.com/otmar-oduber-sentenced/

A Healthier Aruba Together

https://batibleki.wheninaruba.com/a-healthier-aruba-together/

What’s in a name, Boca Catalina

https://batibleki.wheninaruba.com/whats-in-a-name-boca-catalina/

An appreciative birthday Blog, in honor of Oscar Henriquez’ 100th birthday!

https://batibleki.wheninaruba.com/an-appreciative-birthday-blog-in-honor-of-oscar-henriquez-100th-birthday/

La Cabana Beach Resort & Casino is celebrating its 35th anniversary in 2026. Today, it is a beautifully appointed resort with updated rooms, full-service restaurants and lively bars, a large swimming pool with water slides and waterfalls, an adults-only pool with private cabanas, fully equipped fitness center, a spa and beauty facilities, a mini-market and shopping arcade, a casino and much more.

It is, above all, a true family resort — and a place people love to return to year after year.

But La Cabana’s greatest asset has never been its buildings or facilities. It is its people. Associates are deeply invested in the resort and its success; many having spent decades there. The same can be said of its loyal members and guests. They are more than visitors. They feel a real connection to the place. They are, quite simply, head over heels with La Cabana.

I have been involved with the resort in various capacities since 1996, and over the years I have collected plenty of memories, stories, and observations. So, for its 35th anniversary, I thought I would share some of what I remember, what I was told by people who were there, and what I have been able to find in the public record. This is fantastic material for a TV miniseries.

Taking a chance on tourism

In the late 1980s, Aruba was building what would become a remarkably successful tourism industry. Several local businesspeople decided to take the plunge, among them LM.

LM developed what was then among the first Eagle beach resorts, with 449 rooms, under Playa Blanca N.V., a wholly owned subsidiary of his family business, M International Development. He called the new property La Cabana Beach Resort & Racquet Club.

The idea of a large hotel had apparently taken shape as early as 1988, but it was not until December 1990 that La Cabana officially opened its doors, not as a hotel, but a timeshare.

I was there for the opening celebration and remember a wonderfully festive atmosphere. Meanwhile, the sales team was already busy selling timeshare weeks, many of them at pre-construction prices. According to longtime Assistant General Manager Jessica Franken, who is now retired, the units were selling like hot cakes.

And it is easy to understand why.

For many visitors, the timeshare concept offered the opportunity to have a home-away-from-home in Aruba for a fraction of the cost of building or buying a traditional house. In those early days, many buyers made their selections by looking at an architectural model in the sales office and pointing to the balcony and view they wanted. It was a very tangible way of buying into their own little piece of Aruba.

Enter Adwina Arends

One of the people who helped turn the new resort into a powerhouse was the legendary Adwina Arends, a true titan of Aruba’s sales and marketing world.

She was brought in to attract transient guests who could, in turn, be introduced to the timeshare program by an army of OPCs and salespeople. Adwina transformed the non-branded property into a bustling resort, drawing visitors through a worldwide network of colleagues and industry contacts.

She often said that La Cabana gave guests things they could not find at other resorts.

At the time, she had a point.

The resort was energetic, innovative, and determined to create an experience that kept people coming back.

The first General Manager was old-school Bernhardt Kainer, who remained at the helm for about a year. His successor, John Cooper, also had a relatively short tenure. The early 1990s were turbulent years for both the resort and its developer.

LM was an ambitious and highly entrepreneurial Aruban businessman whose interests extended into tourism, hospitality, real estate, gaming, and horses. He was an enthusiastic lover of Paso Fino horses.

His business career involved substantial investments and financial risks, as well as serious legal controversies that eventually culminated in his conviction in the Caso Domino criminal case. Those matters are part of the public record and form an important — although complicated — part of La Cabana’s early history.

Success brings expansion

Whatever the difficulties behind the scenes, the timeshare sales were strong, and money was coming into the resort. La Cabana was developing a solid reputation, and success created an appetite for more inventory.

That led to the development of La Cabana Villas Timeshare Resort, across the parking lot, with 362 suites. The Royal Cabana Casino complex followed, that was a 48,000-square-foot freestanding casino building, which is no longer there, and a restaurant that today operates as the Double Down Sports Bar.

I was later hired as Director of Marketing for the Royal Cabana Casino and Tropicana Showroom. We had a lot of fun — until the financial complications of NK, the Vegas-type casino operator, eventually caught up with the operation and bankruptcy followed in 1999.There was a chain on the door one morning when I showed up to work. NK was nowhere to be found.

The road to bankruptcy

La Cabana Villas had been financed in part, innovatively, through the sale of bonds. It was an attractive proposition: timeshare units were selling briskly, creating a steady flow of cash, and investors were promised attractive returns, fast.

But over time, some investors found that debts were not being repaid as expected. In some cases, obligations were reportedly converted into timeshare ownership.

As the financial situation unraveled, questions arose about the Villas financial administration and records. A bankruptcy process consequently became long drawn out, making it difficult for trustees to establish exactly what had happened in every instance.

As I said, bankruptcy was anything but quick. The process dragged on for years and was not officially concluded until 2010. By then, Playa Blanca N.V. no longer owned the resort. Ownership went to the true owners, the Cooperative Association.

The resort keeps going

The years leading up to the developer’s bankruptcy were marked by financial pressures and attempts to keep the operation afloat. Yet, remarkably, the resort itself continued to thrive.

Much of the credit belongs to General Manager David Page, a true servant leader who took care of the business while keeping an equally close eye on the people who worked there and the guests who stayed there.

Behind the scenes, two important transactions would eventually help shape La Cabana’s future.

The first brought in Bluegreen Vacations, a U.S.-based vacation-ownership company with a points-based system allowing members to book stays at resorts throughout the United States and Caribbean.

Bluegreen initially purchased approximately 4,000 unsold vacation weeks and later acquired additional inventory. The company established a sales operation at La Cabana and went on to enjoy nearly two decades of collaboration with the resort.

The arrangement helped sell remaining inventory and, because Bluegreen assumed responsibility for those units, helped reduce the maintenance-fee burden associated with unsold inventory.

Another chapter begins

A second major transaction took place in 2007, when KL International, a Las Vegas-based company, acquired assets associated with La Cabana Villas that had previously belonged to Playa Blanca N.V., at auction, including the casino and freestanding restaurant.

I remember being present at the signing of the deed and wondering why FG, CEO of the G Group and the genius associated with the transaction, was not there. I had met him during earlier exploratory visits to Aruba and remember being struck by how sloppy and unkempt he appeared to be. Where did they find him, I thought.

Having offloaded the assets on the other side of the parking lot, did not make it financially easier for LM. The years that followed proved difficult. Disputes developed over the ownership and management of various assets. We now had LM in ongoing bankruptcy, the new greedy management company, a vulture type of group, and the resort, involved in numerous legal proceedings.

(The vultures were perfectly content to NEVER settle any disputes, if their fees were paid, and their relationship with the thriving resort continues to be incredibly beneficial to their bank account.)

Ultimately, it took a long and complicated legal battle — including a series of lawsuits — before the timeshare owners were able to regain control of the resort. P.S. The promised capital improvements associated with the vultures did not materialize as anticipated.

Protecting the resort

General Manager Lou Roelofsen, who sadly passed away, served as a trusted custodian of La Cabana from 2001 to 2005.

He was followed in 2006 by Joe Najjar, who had been living and working in Aruba since 1995 and knew the island, its people, and the resort exceptionally well.

It turned out to be an important appointment.

Joe inherited a resort facing serious challenges, including difficult ownership and management issues, a challenging public-relations environment for the island of Aruba, and the effects of the global monetary crisis.

According to Joe, the fact that La Cabana’s timeshare owners had become the majority shareholders was crucial. A savvy and determined Board of Directors worked together to protect the owners’ interests and usher the greedy former management out.

An important provision in the agreements allowed the owners to act if the casino ceased operating. When the Royal Cabana Casino closed, the provision became relevant, and the court granted the request that helped push the vultures out.

Joe has always credited Martin “Marty” Doctrow, who served for many years as President of the Board of La Cabana’s Cooperative Association, with playing a particularly key role in that successful transition. He is also grateful to local legal eagle Maura Brown, for fighting a good fight.

And here we are

Joe Najjar has spent the past 20 years working tirelessly on behalf of La Cabana.

Today, the resort is renovated, financially stronger and firmly focused on its future. It operates its own food-and-beverage program and continues to add new features, services, and experiences. It is proud of its stellar team of associates, who consider going the extra mile, the norm.

In many ways, it has come full circle.

The resort that began as an ambitious gamble in Aruba’s emerging tourism industry has become a beloved vacation destination with generations of returning owners and guests.

And perhaps Adwina Arends’ old description still says it best: La Cabana should give its guests something they cannot find anywhere else.

We all know the lovely Boca Catalina, but what is the origin of the name.

It is a standout among local Indian names such as Arashi and Malmok.

In the book of Vi Frank, this is what he says about the little cove:

BOCA CATALINA.

Boca is Papiamento for Mouth or Inlet and Catalina is a woman’s name. This name does not appear on any of the old maps or any other source, although the name does appear on field notations. Before the 1960s, this name only existed colloquially. However, no explanation for this can be obtained upon the origin of this name that has been lost forever.

Vivienno L. Frank authored an important book available in the library and in the archive. The book, Aruba and a selection of her Toponyms, the origin of Aruba’s place names finally revealed, was published in 2019 and translated to English in 2025.

I asked for the help of the amazing Peter Scholing from Arubiana Caribiana archive. He searched Coleccion Aruba and reported the first mention of Boca Catalina is 1954 on a map, before that it was just Arashi or Malmok, for the beaches of the area. A written source first mentions it in 1973.

Then one of my neighbors reported in the neighborhood chat:

“I received the following info from my mom. For context, ‘Padu’ (Vingal) is my great grandfather who passed away in 1981, she said the following. Padu always took us to Catalina to buy watermelons. We bought those round melons from an elderly woman who lived there—her name was indeed Catalina—and the melons simply grew among the rocks wherever there was sand. There were palm trees there, too, as well as those yellow Kibrahacha flowering trees. She lived right by the sea. A small, rustic shack stood there on the rocks. It used to rain so much more in Aruba.

Then another entry popped up in the chat: “About 30 meters off the coast of Malmok, there used to be a small island we would always swim to collect starfish. Padu would get the starfish and my father would make lamps out of them—they were beautiful! The starfish were 25–30 cm in size and a stunning yellow-orange-brown color. When we went to Malmok to pick up starfish, we would also stop by Boca Catalina to pick up melons from the old lady Catalina.”

What do you know about the origin of the name?

Aruba’s adults-only boutique hideaway remains the first and only hotel in the Dutch Caribbean’s ABC Islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao) to receive Two MICHELIN Keys.

 Boardwalk Boutique Hotel Aruba has once again been awarded Two MICHELIN Keys in the MICHELIN Guide Hotel Selection 2026, confirming its place among a select global group of hotels recognized for exceptional stays. For Aruba, the award is also a point of pride: a locally rooted, family-run boutique hotel delivering guest experiences distinctive enough to stand beside the world’s leading properties.

MICHELIN described the recognition as a celebration of the “hard work, passion and dedication” of Boardwalk’s team in delivering outstanding guest experiences. In 2026, the Guide’s hotel selection spans more than 9,000 hotels worldwide; 2,832 hotels received Keys, and 657 received Two Keys, the distinction MICHELIN defines as “an exceptional stay.”

A Two Key stay, Aruba-style

Boardwalk is an adults-only hotel with 49 private casitas set in tropical gardens on a former coconut plantation near Palm Beach. At Boardwalk, colorful casita design, lush gardens, original local art, reserved Palm Beach palapas, The Coco Bistro, analog guest rituals and thoughtful service come together to create a stay that feels personal and unmistakably Aruban.

The hotel keeps deepening its commitment to the island through experiences rooted in Aruba’s culture, nature and pace. Boardwalk’s Slow Summer program frames Aruba at its calmest: quieter beaches, an easier island rhythm, complimentary weekly wellness experiences and thoughtful in-room touches that invite guests to slow down and reconnect. One vivid example is the floating ocean sound baths, where guests drift at sunset in the Caribbean Sea as sound bowls guide deep relaxation.

Boardwalk’s year-round Moments Library brings analog discovery into the guest journey with Aruban dominoes, locally curated music, Papiamento phrase cards, art materials, binoculars and Polaroids guests can leave behind as recommendations for the next traveler.

That connection to place also extends through art. Through its Artist in Residence program and Twin Art projects — a nod to Boardwalk’s twin-sister founders — the hotel works with local artists and welcomes visiting creatives to interpret Aruba’s nature, heritage and contrasts through their own lens. The resulting work becomes part of the property and the guest experience, creating a cultural exchange that brings the world to Aruba while carrying new perspectives of Aruba back into the world.

Together, these experiences reflect Boardwalk’s belief in the power of pause: that genuine happiness often begins when guests have space to look up, notice the island and carry the feeling home.

Because of the team

“Being honored with Two MICHELIN Keys for a second year is especially meaningful because this recognition belongs to our team,” says Stephanie Rooijakkers, co-founder of Boardwalk Boutique Hotel Aruba. “It is in the care they bring to the smallest things — beds made with a smile, sharing the garden with passion, coconuts opened like small island rituals, and quietly making sure everything works exactly as it should. That care is what guests feel, even when they don’t see it. They are the reason Boardwalk feels like Aruba.”

Her twin sister and fellow co-founder, Kimberly Rooijakkers, adds: “For us, the guest experience is not about adding more. It is about creating room for what matters: nature, culture, connection, rest and small moments of joy. We want guests to slow down enough to really experience Aruba — and to carry a little of that feeling home with them.”

What do Two MICHELIN Keys mean?

The MICHELIN Key is the Guide’s hotel distinction, awarded to hotels that stand out within its inspected selection.

Two MICHELIN Keys recognize an exceptional stay: a memorable experience in a hotel of character and charm, run with pride and considerable care.

About Boardwalk Boutique Hotel Aruba

Boardwalk Boutique Hotel Aruba is a colorful, adults-only boutique hotel nestled in a lush former coconut plantation near Palm Beach. The hotel offers 49 private casitas with patios, hammocks, BBQs and kitchenettes or full kitchens, surrounded by tropical gardens and vibrant island design. Boardwalk combines privacy, thoughtful service, warm hospitality and meaningful moments in an intimate Caribbean setting. Guests can also enjoy all-day dining, fresh juices and handcrafted cocktails at The Coco Bistro.