The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

MEMORIES Grand Bahama Beach and Casino Resort has signed a contract with the College of the Bahamas to provide professional training for 700 hotel staff, beginning in the New Year.

Gabriel Varela, the resort general manager, and Dr Rodney Smith, the newly appointed college president, signed the official documents yesterday.

Mr Varela said the signing would provide many of their employees the opportunity to obtain professional training. “Many of them do not have professional diplomas and degrees,” he said, adding hotel staff will undergo a year’s training with COB’s Culinary and Hospitality Management Institute (CHMI).

David Johnson, of the Tourism Development Corporation of the Bahamas, and Betty Bethel, general manager of the Ministry of Tourism Grand Bahama, were also present. Other officials there included Dr Denard, associate vice president of the COB Northern Campus; Sophia Rolle, head of the Culinary and Hospitality Management Institute at COB; Arthur Jones, council member of COB Northern Campus, and Mary Culmer, human resources manager at Memories.

Ms Rolle said the training programme will be offered by the CHMI in partnership with the American Hotel Educational Institute and the American Culinary Federation to offer unique and specific training for hotel employees, as well as strategic leadership training for the hotel’s executive team.

“We want to thank to Memories, a Blue Diamond property, for engaging the Institute in such a training model,” she said. “It is a very new model we are implementing where we will be introducing a living lab scenario to Memories, and we intend to train 700 employees over a year’s span.”

Mr Johnson was pleased that a training partnership has been formed between a leading resort in Grand Bahama and the COB. “It is unique that the college has taken this bold step to extend their campus to include this resort because this blends not just the theory of service and hospitality, but brings the practice of it home,” he said. “And we have a unique opportunity to merge those two disciplines and take the level of service in Grand Bahama to the highest level anywhere in the region. I believe the fast growth and expansion we are seeing in the tourism sector in Grand Bahama can only continue to flourish if we can sustain it through service.”

Dr Smith said the college welcomes the opportunity to work closely with the hotel. “We are very grateful for the opportunity for this public/private partnership and we look forward to many other kinds of opportunities like this one,” he said.

Mr Jones said: “As the College transitions into University status, it is our intention that this UOB would act as the ultimate adviser for the nation in education, training, and research. We would like to say to the business community in Grand Bahama that we are here and we want to serve you,” he said.