It is three months and a few days since the world-renowned hotel chain, Four Seasons Resort and Residences, opened its 101st property in Anguilla on October 20, 2016, and has been busily engaged in establishing its particular brand of hospitality.
Four Seasons held its first staff party on Saturday night, January 21, at the Anguillian-owned Flavours Restaurant at La Vue. The choice of location was well thought out. Spacious and well-decorated, and known for its high standard, the restaurant offered Four Seasons’ employees a most appropriate venue to enjoy themselves with all the delight, music, dancing, feting, and even pageantry of a well-organised and high profile party.
Planning Committee members and employees turned up elegantly attired and took memorable photographs at a photo booth labelled “Claiming the Throne”.
General Manager of Four Seasons Resort and Residences, Mrs. Ilsa Harley, was elated as she delivered a brief welcome address: “It is so overwhelming to see all these beautiful and handsome people in one room,” she said amidst shouts of applause.
“I have never seen as many people dressed as well as you are dressed. It’s been three months since Four Seasons came to Anguilla on October 20th. If we look back, it may be said we made a lot of mistakes and there were a lot of things we could have done better; but we would say that from the employees’ standpoint, you could not have done anything better to be as good as you’ve been. The comments we got from the guests have been incredibly good so we have one thing to say – thank you so, so much.”
Ms. Dorla Hodge, Director of Human Resources, put the event in perspective: “Every year after festive, which is our busiest time of the year, we have an appreciation party for our employees. It is a time to look back and to celebrate our accomplishments. This is our first such party under Four Seasons. We felt it was important to establish a bar so our theme this year is “Claiming the Throne” because it speaks about royalty and excellence and, as colleagues, we want to ensure that we aspire to excellence.”
Ms. Hodge said the aim of the employee awards was to motivate the resort’s employees to achieve excellence. Towards that end, the nominees for the Award of Employee of the Month were the winners of Employee of the Month for October, November and December respectively. They were Mario Connor (House Keeping), Marcia Gumbs (Culinary) and Dionne Laing (Engineering).
The winner will be awarded US$1,000; a round trip ticket for two to Nevis; a three-night stay for two at Four Seasons there and a Plaque.
One of the features of the appreciation party was a dress competition involving a number of selected employees. The best dressed female was Kara Hughes. The other finalists were Mauricia Huliger and Marynka Ruan. The best dressed male was Hue Carty. His competitors were Leslie Joseph and Rafael Gonzalez.
The grand finale was a pageantry performance involving the Planning Committee members. Attired in carnival costumes, they converged on the musical band area in a performance that delighted the large gathering from start to finish.
The musical area was occupied for the 1st half of the party by Natalie and the House Band. Natalie, the young singer, a graduate in Business from the University of the Virgin Islands, is one of Anguilla’s rising stars, noted for her excellent singing talent. Her performance, and that of her band, drew several dancing groups on the floor. DJ Deanie brought the festivities to a close with his pulsating rhythms. It was an amazing evening of recognition, fun and comraderie.
