TourismToday

1. Small Hotels Overview
2. Definition of Small Hotels
3. Rooms Inventory & Market Segments
4. The Small Hotels Unit
5. Mobile Resource Training Center

Small Hotels Overview

The small properties are a heterogeneous group. There are a wide variety of product offerings within the sector. This group represents accommodation facilities of less than 75 room ranging from small to medium sized hotels, cottages, villas, apartments, bed and breakfasts and guest houses. They are sprinkled throughout The Islands of The Bahamas. They afford the visitors the opportunity to experience The Islands the way they should be experienced – in lodgings every bit as distinctive, intimate, and hospitable as The Islands themselves. The level of guest service offered in a hotel varies without regard to hotel size or type, and some hotels offer more than one level of service.

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Definition of Small Hotels

The suggested criteria for small hotels are as follows:

1. Small size (75) rooms or less
2. Wide variability in standards of facilities (e.g. air conditioning, restaurants and bars may be present or absent)
3. Operated for profit
4. A majority of staff are local
5. No international “brand name” recognition
6. Generally, a more intimate relationship between guests & staff
7. Generally, informal management and employee relationships

Using these criteria, small hotels will encompass full-service properties, apartment hotels as well as ecolodges and other niche accommodations.

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Rooms Inventory & Market Segments

The Bahamas Small Hotels’ inventory of 5,352 rooms includes 248 properties of various sizes, some with well-established market niches:

1. Domestic Tourism
2. Bonefishing Lodges
3. Caribbean and returning Bahamians
4. Long-Term Stay/Relocation Guests
5. Corporate Lodging
6. Boutique Hotels
7. Dive Lodges
8. Ecolodges

Some of these properties target a younger market (.ie., summer students) because of the property’s proximity to beaches and night-life.

Others attract a higher level of clientele through ambiance, cuisine, personalization and meeting facilities.

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The Small Hotels Unit

Small Tourism Enterprise Project

The Bahamas Small Hotels Unit has been designed to administer to the unique needs of the small hotels throughout the Islands of The Bahamas. The objectives are to provide a comprehensive and coordinated range of assistance to small hotels encompassing product, marketing and institutional framework as well as financing linkages. An extremely important aspect of the strategic planning for the Small Hotels Community is the adoption system of classifications, brands, and standards that reflects a market driven approach. This system will allow small hotel operators to determine its targeted markets and set service standards. This market segmentation consists of viewing a market as a number of smaller market segments, each segment a group of consumers with similar product and service preferences. However the brands and standards are meant to ensure that the product meets international market expectations in terms of the type of product and quality levels. Consistency in these areas is very important for market purposes.

The Small Hotels Unit might be considered a resource tool for small hotel operators seeking to access assistance oriented specifically to the small hotel sector on all aspects of small hotel development, management and operations. Services provided to small hotels include:

Product and Operations Audits

Such an evaluation can be very helpful in identifying changes owners and managers could make to improve profitability.

Product Quality

Product upgrading to meet market expectations will be essential for many properties. Audits of product quality must include facilities, grounds and service levels. Product quality findings must then be matched against target market segments to identify areas for improvement.

Common Minimum Standards Development

The major purpose for adopting a system of minimum standards is to convey to the consumer some notion of value for money. Therefore, the system has to be properly designed and administered to guarantee the effective delivery of satisfactory service to visitors.

Operations and Management Training

One of the important findings from interviews with the small hotel sector and with financial institutions over the years relates to the gaps in effective management and operations.

Human Resource Development

The effective delivery of training to employees in operations’ financial matters, management, housekeeping and service.

The unit’s goal is to link small hotels with a cross-section of industry partners and experts who can give assistance in achieving the following objectives:

1. Maintain, regulate and enforce the agreed minimum standards of operation.
2. Drive the marketing, promotion and sales activities of small hotels.
3. Ensure that properties work continuously on product enhancement.
4. Provide on-going liaison with government and other tourism-related bodies.
5. Provide a central facility or mechanism dedicated to the development of the small hotel sector
6. Provide advice and guidance to operators and new entrants
7. Implement training programs to develop managerial skills of small hoteliers so that they understand how their small property fits into the overall picture and how they can best maximize the asset of their staff

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Mobile Resource Training Center

Training in the Hospitality Sector remains one of the most critical areas for improving the quality of the tourism product. It is required on an on-going basis in all facets of the hotel industry in support of industry development. The Small Hotels Unit, Ministry of Tourism, has at its disposal a Mobile Resource Center that is designed to provide the operators of small hotels and other industry partners access to a training and certification program, encouraging them to compete with international standards. It was designed as a resource center in a “suitcase” that can taken to properties (i.e., the Family Islands in The Bahamas). Training and Certification Programs available include:

Skills for Success Program.

A set of food and beverage and room training and certification materials for small hotels using the American Hotel and Lodging Association-Educational Institute ( AHLA -EI) system.

1. Banquet Server
2. Bartender
3. Public Space Cleaner
4. Room Attendant
5. Front Office Representative
6. Reservationist
7. Kitchen Steward
8. Restaurant Server

The Spirit of Hospitality

This training program is designed to address attitudes within the hospitality industry. It is specifically geared towards enhancing the employee’s capabilities to meet and exceed guest expectations.

Certified Hospitality Supervisor (CHS)

The Certified Hospitality Supervisor’s Certification is designed for persons who are currently employed as a full-time supervisor with at least 3 months experiences. He/she must be a person who supervises two or more individuals. and has job duties that are at least 20 percent supervisory in nature and include such task as scheduling, training, interviewing, disciplining, inspecting and conducting performance reviews, making decisions and judgment calls while performing daily duties.

The Certified Hospitality Department Trainer (CHDT)

An internationally recognized professional certification program designed for departmental managers, supervisors, current trainers of hotel line level staff and other industry partners responsible for developing line level personnel.

The Certified Hospitality Trainer (CHT)

The American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute internationally recognized professional certification program designed for hospitality trainers.

The Certified Hospitality Instructor (CHI)

The American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute internationally recognized professional certification program designed for high school teachers of lodging, food and beverage and tourism courses. The program provides teachers with information on the hospitality industry so that they can effectively teach hospitality subjects to their students. The Educational Institute of the American Hotel & Lodging Association (EI) is the premier source for delivering quality hospitality education, training, and professional certification that serves the needs of hospitality schools and industries worldwide.

Owner/Manager Training Program

Delivery of this program is an intensive workshop format covering hotel management/operations and food and beverage, all designed from the perspective of the owner/manager. The program manuals are accompanied by diskettes which takes into consideration all accounting scenarios in a small hotel such as forecasting, calculating average daily rate, and occupancy rates. All of which the hotelier can customize for his own scenario by putting in his own numbers. The program is very hands-on and each module may be delivered on its own so that restaurateurs have the benefits of doing the Food and Beverage component without sitting through the hotels program. While no exam is administered a certificate endorsed by the AHLA-EI is issued after successful completion of the built-in competencies.

Caribbean-innkeeper.com

The Caribbean Innkeeper is a valuable resource for small tourism enterprises with an A to Z library covering a comprehensive range of topics on hotel management and operations. A wide range of toolkits are available including an electronic demonstration of the “look and feel” of a Caribbean small hotel and the pictorial demonstrations of upgrading and presenting Caribbean cuisine to contemporary tablecloth standards

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Ms. Jacqueline W-Ramsey
General Manager – Small Hotels Unit
British American Bldg
P. O. Box N-3701
Nassau, Bahamas
Phone: 242-356-6965-7
Fax: 242-326-4764
Email: jramsey@bahamas.com
Website: www.bahamas.com

Mrs. Sherry Collie
Sr. Manager – Small Hotels Unit
Tel:1-242-356-0435 / 242-328-7810 / 242-326-5371
Fax: 242-326-0166
Email: scollie@bahamas.com
Website: www.bahamas.com

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