NEW
PRESIDENT of the Caribbean Hotel Association is Peter
Odle, owner and managing director of the 76-room Mango Bay Hotel in
Barbados as well as the owner of Island Inn, Sunswept Beach and
Regent hotels, all in Barbados. Odle also assumed the role of
chairman of the Barbados Tourism Authority on July 1, replacing
Hudson Husbands, who stepped down to pursue business interests in
his Tourism Global consulting firm. The CHA torch was passed to
Odle at the recent Caribbean Hotel Industry Conference in Miami
from St. Lucian hotelier Berthia Parle, who served as CHA head for
the past two years. Odle pledged to follow the path set by Parle to
further solidify the partnerships with the Caribbean Tourism
Organization, the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association and the
European Union; to continue the education and training of Caribbean
nationals in the hospitality sector; to reconnect with the small
hotels with a possible reinstatement of the Small Hotels Retreat,
which was abandoned several years ago; and to stay on top of the
new legislation coming out of Europe, much of which impacts the
Caribbean hospitality industry, he said. At a high-level task force
meeting set for July 20, Odle and his team will re-examine the CHA,
now 40 years old. Well look at where weve been and where we want to
go, he said.
A NUMBER OF
CARIBBEAN HOTELS may soon be part of a region-wide online
hotel rating system, thanks to a partnership between Mobil Travel
Guide and the Texas-based Freeman Group, a hospitality and tourism
service evaluation firm. The venture, which was announced at CHIC,
marks Mobil Travel Guides plans to go worldwide with its Star
rating system. The Mobil Travel Guide has rated hotels, restaurants
and spas in the U.S. and Canada since 1958 by using teams of
anonymous inspectors working with a checklist of 750 criteria. The
Caribbean reviews, which will be evaluated by MTGs field inspectors
and undercover service evaluators, will appear on line at www.mobiltravelguide.com, just as they do now for
9,000 hotels and restaurants and 300 spas in the U.S. and
Canada.
AWARDS FROM
CHIC
" Winners in CHAs
Taste of the Caribbean regional culinary competition: Chef of the
Year, Hans van de Triest, the Floris Suite Hotel in Curacao;
Bartender of the Year, Paul Peterson, Temptation restaurant in St.
Maarten; and Pastry Chef of the Year, Tracey Sweeting, Radisson
Cable Beach & Golf Resort, Nassau.
" Named CHAs hotelier
of the year was Anthony Bowen, general manager of the Windjammer
Landing Villa Beach Resort & Spa in St. Lucia; honored as CHAs
allied member of the year was George de Mercado, senior executive,
marketing and sales, Air Jamaica.
" Hotel employees and
associations honored at CHA: Avril Patricia Culley, activities
coordinator at the Aruba Phoenix Beach Resort, 2006 Caribbean
Employee of the Year; Raymond Lowe, maintenance manager at Green
Turtle Club, Abaco, the Bahamas, 2006 Supervisor of the Year; Don
Werdekker, executive vice president of the Curacao Hospitality
& Tourism Association, 2006 Small Hotel Association Executive
of the Year; Jorge Pesquera, president and CEO of the Aruba Hotel
& Tourism Association, 2006 Large Hotel Association Executive
of the Year.
" The American
Express Caribbean Environmental Award in the small hotel category
went to 3 Rivers Eco Lodge & Sustainable Living Centre (for the
second year) in Rosalie, Dominica, a property powered entirely by
sun. In the large hotel category, the award went to Sandals Montego
Bay in Montego Bay, Jamaica. The Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable
Tourism (CAST) honored the Amsterdam Manor Beach Resort in Aruba as
the best overall performer in sustainable tourism practices, while
the Manchebo Beach Resort & Spa, also in Aruba, earned the
award for the most improved hotel in that category.
SPECIAL
NOTE: Beginning in July, the Caribbean e-letter will be
published every other Tuesday, beginning with the July 4
edition.
Caribbean
Editor:
Gay Nagle
Myers
Phone: (201) 902-1591
[email protected]
For promotional
opportunities in the E-letters, contact [email protected].