PHILIPSBURG:--- St. Maarten Hospitality & Trade Association (SHTA) is extended special welcome to The Paradise Inn as the newest hotel on St. Maarten to join its Dollar-A-Day program. The hotel's participation in the Dollar-A-Day program will mean it can have access to the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute (AHLEI) professional certification curriculum for its staff in the area Front Desk Customer Care, Housekeeping, Security, Maintenance and Food & Beverage. The training is designed to be given on the job and can be tailored for Supervisory and Management positions as well.
Proprietor at the Paradise Inn Josette de-Randamie-Dormoy, who recently won the Crystal Pineapple Award for Small Hotelier of the Year on November 30th, said she was especially pleased with the work that DAD had already been doing for St. Maarten in general. She said, "I think any business whether you are a hotel business or any other business, would want to be part of a fundraising like Dollar A Day because of the work it does with helping the community and marketing the island." She said, "Being able to feel like you are part of a process, this is what I like doing." The Paradise Inn will be celebrating its third anniversary on January 15th, 2013 and continues to grow as a quiet, clean and family oriented little paradise in one of the most central locations on the Bush Road in St. Maarten.
The SHTA delivered marketing material to the Paradise Inn on Wednesday December 5th, 2012 and also provided training for the staff on how to promote the Dollar-A-Day program and were also given instructions on how the program works. The Dollar-A-Day program or DAD which started in 2000, is a community development program started from the SHTA through which the association identifies social, and educational projects which they can contribute to using funds raised by hotels whose guests give a voluntary donation of a dollar for each night stay at their property.
There are now thirteen hotels participating in the Dollar-A-Day Program and they are Paradise Inn, Carl's Unique Inn, Coral Beach Club, Divi Little Bay Beach Resort, L'Esperance Hotel Suites, La Vista Resort, Oyster Bay Beach Resort, Princess Heights, Royal Islander Club (La Plage and La Terrace), Sonesta Great Bay Resort, Sonesta Maho Beach Resort, the Horney Toad Guest House and Turquoise Shell Inn. Executive Director for the SHTA Alfred Harley said the program's success depends entirely on the hotels whose Front Desk staff and Management are the ones explaining to guests what the DAD program does and why they should contribute.
In the past twelve months over 180 of hotel staff received specialized training following the. The DAD is also used to assist the unemployed on the island through the DIRPIE program which is an initiative by St. Maarten Government to assist unemployed persons within the community with job training programs and paid part time work.