PHILIPSBURG:--- The St. Maarten Hospitality & Trade SHTA's Crystal Pineapple Award has gained high praises this year and the SHTA's Director for Small Hotels Kenrick Housen says he is proud of The Paradise Inn who won the award for Hotelier of the Year and also The Holland House Hotel with the award for Supervisor of the year in the Small Hotels Division.
Housen also highlighted the Holland House Hotel who had one of their staff Diana Gumbs winning an award for Supervisor of the Year. Housen said that he hopes that other properties will look at hotels such as Holland House Hotel and The Paradise Inn as examples.
The Seventh Annual Crystal Pineapple Awards Gala event was held on Friday November 30th at the Maho Room in the Sonesta Maho Beach Resort with over 300 people in attendance. Miss Diana Gumbs accepted her award and a representative from The Paradise Inn accepted the award on behalf of the Hotel Operator Mrs. Josette de Randamie who was unfortunately not able to attend this year.
Housen says he is especially proud of the fact that as a member of the SHTA in the Small Hotel's Division De Randamie has maintained a high standard of service at the hotel which opened three years ago, and also that Ms Gumbs manages thousands of reservations each year and understands the value each guest brings to the hotel as well as the entire island; which shows in the votes they received from the general public.
According to Housen, it is important that other hotels look at the benefits that can be derived from membership with SHTA as De Randamie who is also the newest hotel to participate in the SHTA's Dollar-A-Day program will also have access to the association's training Program which follows the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute AHLEI curriculum and involves on property instructions, as well as other SHTA benefits including being able to post your property on the CHTA Caribbeantravel.com website at no cost and benefit from a wide range of services offered by the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association including attendance at its Annual Marketplace, the largest in the Caribbean each year.
