Wendy Doran (STB), Jeanina Dupersoy of Alicia’s Inn and Lisa Noel (STB)
Marie-Line Andrew and Lisa Coffi (STB) with Anastacio Baker and Alexia Best of Baker’s Suites
POND ISLAND--Two small hotels – Alicia's Inn and Baker's Suites – have received the “Hospitality Assured” label.
The two received the certification following participation in the pilot Hospitality Assured programme, sponsored by the European Union’s Competitiveness of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (COSME) programme for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The two businesses will now benefit from improved ratings and other accolades from online rating sites, including recognition for improved customer loyalty amongst a host of other benefits.
Tourism and Economic Affairs Minister Stuart Johnson congratulated the two businesses on their achievement. “Every hospitality business needs to offer quality service. It is essential for business growth and the future development of our tourism product,” he said, adding that training enables businesses to reach their full potential in customer service.
As a vacation destination, St. Maarten businesses must ensure visitors have an excellent guest service experience, said Johnson. The programme promotes a culture of quality and service excellence which are driven by international standards and certification that creates and maintains competitive tourism enterprises.
St. Maarten Tourist Bureau Interim Director May-Ling Chun said, “Training helps staff to feel valued and capable to handle a variety of situations. It creates an effective and pleasant work environment.”
Jeanina Dupersoy of Alicia’s Inn said, “Our journey and experience has been very fruitful. As an organisation, we have gained valuable knowledge on how to operate and identify excellence throughout the organisation. As a quality system, the Hospitality Assured programme is challenging. However, the benefits we experienced in organisational and business growth is priceless.”
Anastacio Baker of Baker’s Suites said, “The journey on achieving this award was not a smooth one as the requirements and the demand were very high … the results could be seen daily in the manner in which our staff communicate with our guests and also amongst each other.”
