In spite of the myriad challenges facing the tourism industry, the Barbados-based Hilton is outperforming its sister resorts across the Caribbean.
“From Europe, the exchange rate, Zika, from many aspects. However, coming from a global standpoint and my regionals that look over all of the Caribbean and have all of the numbers of the Caribbean, Barbados is actually the healthiest country in the entire Caribbean financially when it comes to our hotel. We are actually breaking 15-year records. We
are going on a third year in a row in a very positive manner, both financially and services-oriented,” said General Manager of Hilton Barbados, George Stanfield.
Engaging the media on Friday night during an awards ceremony at the Needham’s Point resort, he attributed the success to the hotel’s change in mission and vision in 2014, including incentives for staff.
“It’s the first time ever in history that all of my team members for two years in a row are getting all their full-time, even during low season,” he stated.
In fact, he highlighted that while it was common for some staff to be sent home during the August-September slow period where the hotel’s occupancy rates traditionally fell to between 30 to 40 per cent, currently it stood at 70 per cent.
Earlier in the night, Acting Minister of Tourism, Senator Irene Sandiford-Garner outlined that since 2011, the plant recorded profits every year and was set to do so again for the 2014-2016 period.
Confirming this, Stanfield outlined, “2008 was a record year here and in pretty much the entire world before the 2009 recession. In 2014, we were able to hit 2008 numbers and that’s pretty impressive. That’s not with ADR either, it was just more heads in beds. While rate was really driven in 2008, more marketing power and volume was managed more in 2014. We kept that strategy in 2015 but increasing rates, so we’re actually able to beat our record from our 2014 heading into 2015 and in 2016 we’re at the same pace.”
Nevertheless, he admitted that 2016 was proving to be a difficult year not only for Hilton Barbados and other local hotels, but regionally.
