I go to dive. So this is from that perspective.
I've been to dive resorts that shouldn't be allowed to call themselves that as it's apparent they were set up for another purpose - at least originally.
Soft sand between facilities is a killer when hauling gear. A secure storage area with convenienent 24/7 access to gear - especially if shorediving possibilities exist is preferable.
If there is local offshore diving, some sort of convenient access to is is preferable. Like a dive dock with good wide steps made of some non-slick material. I've seen so many out of wood that are almost hazardous once the algae forms on them, the smart ones use corrugated rubber floor mats or something similar on top of them. Although that can be slick as well. Regular maintenance prevents that, I've been somewhere once where I saw a staff person scrubbing them off.
Some sort of bench on the end of the dock is also useful.
One of the diveops on Curacao closes and locks their facilities at 5PM so w/o special arrangements you don't have access to your gear or tanks to shoredive the other 16hrs. of the day. There that's just wrong...
We stayed at BelMar condos in Bonaire once, outside our door was a personal dive locker, and our room key opened the public areas of the diveshop for access to tanks, the Nitrox analyzer and the wetsuit storage area. Great idea...
And rooms 1/4 mile away from the diveop are a bad idea. Even the layout s/b considered. At some of the better known dive resorts on Bonaire, with their perpendicular orientation from the condos to the beach, it can be a long walk with gear. At several we drove to the closest point, dropped the gear and then went back and parked.
At BelMar otoh with it's parallel orientation, except for the upstairs rooms, nothing is farther than 100' to the dive dock. They could even have done a better job during construction (recent) since all the stairs are in the back. They do compensate for it somewhat by having lockers for the upstairs condos on the diveshop end of the complex.
Capt. Don's Habitat does this well, the lockers are at the same level as the divedock, they're tall, there's lots of them and the locker room is open to the ocean. There's a tall table for setting your gear up on and it's a 50' walk to the end of the dive dock. And although it's a drop from the resort level to the ocean, they use a long ramp instead of flights of stairs.
If you're starting from scratch, locate the dive op near the diving also, surprisingly I've been to a couple that weren't. Plaza Resort comes to mind, their diveop is located near their boat dock but their shoredive site is a good 1/4-1/2 mi. north of there. I've heard they started staging tanks near there recently, prior to that it was a long walk from some of the condos and rooms. Although in their defense, I think their boat traffic is a larger part of their business. And you can park pretty close to the diveshop for tank pickup for shorediving elsewhere.
And if you're going to provide lockers, make sure they're both secure and accessible. I've seen some that were homebuilt, one even had the hinges on the outside of the door. 2 minutes with a screwdriver would defeat the best lock.
Steps are to be avoided whenever possible also. And do logical things - at Habitat Curacao for example, although they have three vertical flights of stairs down to water level, they located their tank fill station, showers and lockers at the bottom also. Showers are also there and they also have a long, tall table for gearing up and getting into your gear. And smartly included benches to the sides so you can sit while getting into your boots/wetsuit etc. Then it's a short walk down their divedock to a great shore dive.
But perversely, you get weights in the diveshop and have to carry them down all those steps. (I dropped mine...) A smart thing they do is a second tank pickup in their parking lot so at least you don't have to carry tanks back UP the stairs when shorediving.
If you're going to sell "valet" diving - mean it!!! One diveop in the Caymans offered it, but in addition to having to haul my own gear from their shop to their boat daily, they asked me to help carry tanks back. Only a couple hundred yards but it wasn't what they advertised.
Otoh at Dive BVI, once my gear was on the boat the first time, I never touched it again all week unless I wanted to, they efficiently helped everyone in and out of the water, changed tanks during SI's and securely stored our gear all week. Then cleaned everything thoroughly the last day and made it available for pickup to meet our schedule the next morning - not theirs. Just a first-class operation.
Personally I prefer dive boats designed for diving, like the Newton's. If possible also stay away from anything with a raised center hatch above the engines, that's a pita when you're geared up and moving to the back in anything but flat calm conditions. I've been on several boats with wide benches at the back of the boat also. Made it convenient to sit down, put on my fins, grab the handholds and step onto the dive platform and GS into the water. And it's a lot easier when the step down to the platform is pretty shallow, one boat I was on it wasn't and I saw someone stumble and almost pitch headfirst into the water. Just bad design as it was a retro-fit.
Big, wide swimsteps and two ladders are preferred. Good railings ALL the way up the ladder also. And the ladders should be the ones you can board with your fins on - a single pole down the middle and open ends. Occcasionally conditions dictate getting back on board with your fins still on. I was on one boat where the below water ladder was open but it changed to a conventional ladder above the water line. That was stupid...
And what idiot designed dive boat roofs so that you whack your head stepping on/off the side steps onto the dock. A simple cutout eliminates that, I've seen it done on several boats.
For the resort, clean. secure accommodations are a must. And A/C in the tropics, I'm always going to want that - even if it costs slightly more - at least to sleep. Individual outside showers are a good idea to minimize the amount of sand, salt etc. that gets into the properties.
Being a videographer, if it's possible to provide a larger safe, I'd consider that a plus. At least something big enough for a laptop or photo/video setup would be ideal. Most safes I've seen are sized for passports and money only.
