The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

ONE&ONLY Ocean Club employees were yesterday said to be “pretty supportive” of the changes at the Paradise Island-based property, as the luxury hotel’s general manager dismissed talk of low employee morale ahead of the hotel’s anticipated reopening after four and half months.

One&Only General Manager John Conway said “morale is everything” in the hospital industry, and as such charged that One&Only’s management team has worked “very hard” to ensure that the employees are afforded the opportunity to function in a conducive work environment leading up to today’s opening.

Mr Conway also praised the hotel’s 430 employees for having “doubled down” in excelling in the hotel’s training courses, adding that hotel officials are “really excited” that its “major investment in training” paid off.

Mr Conway’s statements came a week after The Tribune was told by employees that they reportedly have a “low morale” because of certain changes taking place at the resort.

On February 6, Ocean Club employees told this newspaper that they had “mixed feelings” over the changes being made regarding the day-to-day running of the luxury hotel, which reportedly includes a change in shift rostering as well as changes and additions to the employees’ responsibilities.

The same was confirmed by Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union (BCHAWU) Secretary General Darrin Woods, who said the “morale is low” amongst One&Only employees, and that the union was still aggressively seeking to meet with hotel officials to resolve the issues. When asked by The Tribune if this was the case, however, Mr Conway denied the assertions.

“They’ve actually been outspoken about the training they went through, how they’re treated, the environment we create here, and I think they’re pretty supportive,” Mr Conway said. “And by the way, morale is everything in a business like ours. And without it you can’t exist, not at the level of expectation we have, and the level of expectation the customer has. So an employee can’t fake being happy. You’ve got to be able to feel good about where you work, and we work very hard to make sure that happens.”

He added: “It’s a very exciting time for us, especially after the major investment in training. And that’s where we’re really excited. The hardware is one thing, the software is something that we’re pleased with. And all the colleagues really doubled down. It’s very difficult to make the grade if you will. There was testing involved and more food and beverage knowledge that I had, because I tried the test as well.

“But they’ve done very well and we’re very excited about that.”

One&Only temporarily closed its doors in October 2016 to repair damage inflicted on the property by Hurricane Matthew. The resort lost a number of roof shingles from the Crescent Wing and the Villas during the category four storm and the Dune restaurant sustained serious damage. The luxury hotel was initially expected to re-open at the beginning of December, but later confirmed that it had delayed its re-opening date to Valentine’s Day of this year.

Yesterday, Mr Conway confirmed that the cost of repairs to the luxury hotel was “almost $30m”.

He also said that despite the closure, he and other hotel officials are optimistic that they will make up for lost time, pointing to encouraging first quarter projections that he said will likely continue throughout the year.

“We’ve been working through all the time we’ve been closed,” he said. “Our sales effort has been vigorous, in fact more vigorous than ever. For us when you have a closure like this, to make sure you’re on the normal pace when you reopen, you almost have to … when people hear that a resort is closed, you have to work twice as hard to get the message out.

“So we’ve started that over the last several weeks and done reopening parties if you will in New York and Toronto. And we think that that with all the electronic direct mail and all the different direct mailings we are doing, our customer base is fully aware that we’re reopening tomorrow. The Bahamian legend will return (today).

“That said we think the first quarter is shaping up quite well. We open (today) so we have a half a month in February, all of March, that is peak season. And we roll right into April, May and June with pretty good numbers. So right now we’re very optimistic, working hard on the third and fourth quarter, but we could have a very good year.”

Regarding occupancy, Mr Conway said: “Typically in season we’d be running 85 to 90 per cent (full). And we open with those kinds of numbers. So we’re into full pace which is where we should be at this time of year, and that is because of the work I described before. So February will end up like that, March will be very strong, April very strong, May looks good, and as I said the full second quarter looks good. Looking at working on third and fourth now.”

Mr Conway made his statements during a ribbon cutting ceremony to commemorate One&Only’s reopening. On hand was Prime Minister Perry Christie, who encouraged hotel employees to do their best to ensure that One&Only continues to be “historically the magnificent small resort in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.”

“The magic to any destination is people enjoying themselves in such a way that they say I have to come back,” Mr Christie said. “When your leadership tells you that you are the be all and end all of this resort, when they dedicate the resources to engage in the training that they did, they were doing that not only to empower you, because whatever you end up in life it is the training that you have gotten that will stay with you.

“And I’m hoping that when I come here in five years time, just taking a period in the future, those of you who smiled with me today, will be continuing with your employment here and will be able to say, ‘Mr Christie you were so right that our service made all the difference because we were so good that our owners decided to give us a bonus last year and this year.’”