The Tribune

By ANNELIA NIXON

TRIBUNE Business Reporter

anixon@tribunemedia.net

HOTEL developers were yesterday urged to do more to prepare Bahamians for senior management positions, while accounting for the additional cost of recruiting and housing workers on the Family Islands.

Bill Clegg, regional director of development at BWH hotels, said the Caribbean hospitality industry has historically relied on overseas recruitment to fill general manager and other executive positions, but argued that greater investment and local leadership development is needed to reverse that trend.

Speaking during a panel discussion at the Caribbean Hotel Investment Conference and Operation Summit ( CHICOS) at Atlantis, Mr Clegg said the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) has developed mentoring and leadership programmes designed to move regional hospitality workers into junior executive and eventually senior management roles.

He added that having local leadership is increasingly important as hotels seek to preserve the cultural identity and authenticity of their destinations.

“The last thing you want to do is open a hotel in Jamaica with a general manager from Kansas in the United States,” Mr Clegg said. “… You’re going to want to make sure that somebody understands the culture, the guest expectations there, the history, the background of the region as well.”

Mr Clegg said an experienced hotelier is no longer the only consideration when selecting someone to lead a property, with local knowledge and an understanding of the destination becoming equally important.

Felipe MacLean, founder and chief executive of the Yntegra Group, the developer behind the $200m Rosewood Exuma project, also stressed the importance of creating opportunities for Bahamians, pointing to the advantages of partnering with an established International hotel brand.

Mr MacLean said Yntegra's decision to work with Rosewood was partly influenced by the brand's global presence and its ability to expose local employees to international hospitality standards and training opportunities.

He said the group intends to help develop Bahamian talent while maintaining the character of the destination. “It's very important also that they knew The Bahamas. They've been operating here, and they have those training programmes that definitely give a different exposure to the locals,” Mr MacLean said. “As Rosewood says, they want to keep the sense of place in their development.”

Mr MacLean said the majority of people currently working with the company are Bahamians, and that employing local workers remained its priority, although he acknowledged that limited availability could eventually require recruitment from overseas.

He said Yntegra has already been working with communities and training local staff, arguing that projects of this scale could create opportunities for younger Bahamians seeking careers in hospitality.

“Our priority will always give preference to the Bahamians,” Mr MacLean said. “We've done it before. We're doing it now, and we're going to do it in the future.”

However, Mr MacLean also suggested that technology could fundamentally change staffing requirements across the hotel industry, particularly in high-end properties where guest-facing service is not the only measure of the experience.

Responding to questions about the potential use of robotics in back-of-house operations, including food preparation and laundry services, he said automation could allow hotels to perform tasks with significantly fewer employees.

“I honestly think that we're heading there,” Mr MacLean said. “I think technology is going to substitute a bunch of jobs, probably with robots, with things that today ten people do. Probably you're going to be able to do them with three people.”

He said technology could be particularly useful in high-end hospitality, where guests often value privacy and discreet service rather than constant interaction with staff.

“The best service is when you don't see the service,” Mr MacLean said, adding that technology could help hotels achieve that level of service while addressing labour shortages.