The five-star Zemi Beach House Hotel & Spa at Shoal Bay, Anguilla, is among the upscale tourism properties on the island which have fully recovered from Hurricane Irma and reporting good occupancy levels and smooth operations.
Zemi Beach House’s General Manager, Mr. Paulo Paias, took the opportunity of a media interview, and a staff award ceremony on Tuesday, January 15, to speak about the progress of the hotel which reopened on February 15, 2018 following the hurricane. “In 2018, up to November, 80% of our guests were first comers to Anguilla, while 20% were repeat visitors who chose either us or Four Seasons – as the other properties were closed,” Mr. Paias recalled. “We did not know at the time we reopened the hotel – after Hurricane Irma – that we would have had that traction of first visitors to Anguilla. We did not know how the market was going to react to come to an island that had been through a category 5 hurricane.” He said the reopening of the property came after some projections relating to the market were made, and he was delighted that those projections turned out to be successful. Although there are still some scars left on Anguilla, by the hurricane, he was happy that a tremendous job was done to get the hotel back in shape with its reopening up to end of 2018 – and its continuing smooth operations now into 2019.
He reported that November 2018 “was a tremendous month in terms of occupancy. We reached close to 70% if not 70%, and in December we again had good performance – and basically Anguilla is back in business.” He noted that Anguilla was on two occasions awarded the title of best destination in the Caribbean, by Travel & Leisure, while Frangipani in Anguilla was awarded the best hotel in the region.
Mr. Paias went on: “I don’t normally say to guests, and to my colleagues, that we are not really competing against each other. Because each hotel is so different and so unique, we are not competing in the market. We are complementing each other which is a good thing. Guests who stay at Four Seasons sometimes come to stay with us because they want to experience this part of the island, as well, so we complement each other. I am very happy that we have brands now, like Belmond, Four Seasons, Zemi, CuisinArt and the Reef – leading hotels of the world – and Malliouhana [Auberge] which is opened now.”
He said that with the reopening of all the hotels, Anguilla was now regaining its position as a leading tourist destination.
and Sales and Marketing Director, Mr. Frank Pierce
During the presentation of the staff awards, Mr. Paias summed up the marketing of Zemi Beach House & Spa as follows : “We did a tremendous job in terms of marketing strategy which, by the way, was much gut feeling than anything else – bearing in mind an island that was affected by a category 5 hurricane. We just stuck there in the market to do our best, and we did a phenomenal job on the marketing, reservations, and the arrival experience. All the work that everyone [including the employees] did on the property, for our guests, was great.”
He added that all the awards the hotel received during 2018, and those it expects in 2019, were matters that spoke well about the operations of the property and were the results of teamwork with all departments complementing each other. He said the continued success of the hotel required hard work and a right attitude among the employees. “If you have the right attitude to do your job, everything else will come with it,” he told the staff. “You learn the knowhow with experience and training, but you attitude is really important.”
The General Manager expressed appreciation to the owners of the property, Mr. Jeff Goldstein and Mrs. Susan Goldstein. “I have managed many hotels around the globe, and have met many hotel owners, and Jeff is very, very unique,” he told the employees. “He is a very special person as well as Susan and the whole family. You have no idea how lucky we all are to have a hotel owner like Jeff.” (Applause.)
The employees who were presented with awards from the Department of Human Resources led by the Director, Mrs Annmarie Letang, were as follows:
Associate of the Month (December 2018)
Heart of the House
Sugeidy Fleming (Nominee)
Maria Polanco (WINNER)
Face of the House
Akil Wallace (Nominee)
Michline Mussington (Nominee)
Shaquan Lake-Connor (WINNER)
Associate of the Quarter (October –December 2018)
Kimone Polson (Nominee)
Maria Polanco (Nominee)
Shaquan Lake-Connor (Nominee)
Texla Bradshaw (WINNER)
Supervisor of the Quarter (October –December 2018)
Travelle Charles (Nominee)
Kishma Sasso – (WINNER)
The ceremony was hosted by Human Resources Director, Mrs. Annmarie Letang, along with her HR Assistant, Ms. Tanieshia Johnson. Mrs. Letang urged the team to continue to strive for Excellence, as Tourism Excellence were the pillars on which our beautiful island, Anguilla, stood. It is the only way we will have numbers coming to our shores. The team was praised, and thanked with gratitude, by the General Manager, Mr. Paulo Paias, for all the hard work it puts into place to make Zemi Beach and Anguilla successful.
Mrs. Letang also highlighted that Ms. Lisa Joseph of Guest Services, the 2018 Ambassador of Excellence Award Winner for Zemi Beach, captured the 2018 Anguilla Tourism Award for Employee of the Year. Ms. Joseph’s win along with all the other awardees were celebrated and cheered on with great joy and commendation.
