Many groups and individuals, travelling to and from Anguilla, are no doubt grateful to the COVID-19 Portal Team for facilitating their entry and departure arrangements over the past months and beyond.
But Four Seasons Resort and Residences, for which the team may have handled the travel plans of the largest number of persons, has expressed its thanks in a most tangible way. A number of well-placed staff members, with the support of the General Manager, Mr. Diego Angarita, held a sumptuous breakfast and luncheon for the Portal group, as well as afforded them an opportunity for a well-deserved rest and relaxation on Friday, August 13, 2021. The team members were hosted at the resort’s Town Home, overlooking the northern coastal areas of the island and spent a full day there.
Ms. Erimel Franklin, Four Seasons’ recently-employed Manager of the People and Culture Department, said that her colleague, the Residential Manager, Ms. Mercier Smith, had been working closely with the Portal Team. The hospitality event was Ms. Smith’s idea to thank the team and to celebrate their hard work. “This is Four Seasons’ way of saying thank you for assisting us in such challenging times and to show the resort’s gratitude to the Portal Team,” Ms. Franklin stated.
Responding, Ms. Smith said: “We decided to bring the Portal Team to the resort to have a day out of office. They have been working long and hard for excessive hours in order to have guests come to our shores. I would like to say a big thank you to our General Manager who immediately gave his approval. The team spent the entire day at Four Seasons. They had a nice set-up for breakfast and lunch, followed later by a lounge out.”
The Anguillian Four Seasons’ Residential Manager continued: “I work very closely with the Portal Team bringing guests here. The team has afforded me the opportunity to make their arrival process as seamless as possible. When the guests come to the resort they enjoy the Four Seasons’ experience from the beginning to the end. It is a great responsibility, but I can handle it.”
The resort’s Banquet Manager, Ms. Kelvina Connor, commented: “We are hosting some members of the Portal Team, giving them a day at Four Seasons; letting them enjoy what we have to offer and thanking them so much for all the hard work that they have done in getting our guests here on time. The guests love it here. They are in paradise.”
Meanwhile, a number of members of the Portal Team also commented on its work and the event held for them. Parliamentary Secretary, Tourism, Mrs. Quincia Gumbs-Marie, said in part: “It is a good place to be right now as we look into the future of the Portal and the increased arrivals to Anguilla and how we should handle that. It is really a good opportunity to celebrate the work that the Portal Team has done thus far, and it needs to live beyond its intended lifespan at the end of September. We have the synergies going on right now to see what is necessary to build capacity, and to even get better than we are right now.
“We came from a point of a great learning curve with the portal and we have really perfected how the process is completed. We have been to capacities where persons began with just processing applications to come to Anguilla, to be able to look at PCR tests and vaccination cards and build capacity to strengthen the team as a whole.”
The Parliamentary Secretary continued: “We had a rough start, and we had a bit of baptism by fire, but I would say that the team grew very quickly in terms of capacity and always had solutions to the problems that they faced – so it was never a matter of saying that a problem existed and we didn’t know how to handle it. We had the ITT constantly working with the Portal Team to get things done, and they still work with us very closely. We had the Deputy Governor handling personnel and ensuring that everyone was able to do his or her job. Susan Hodge was the head of the team; Keneeka Bailey, the deputy head of the team; and Mrs. Hyacinth Bradley, who started with the team, graduated to the point where she began looking through applications, on the health side, from persons to enter Anguilla.
“We are aware that there was a lot of negative feedback on social media, but we took that opportunity to grow – so I am a very proud of the team.”
Later on, the Parliamentary Secretary took the opportunity to congratulate Four Seasons Anguilla for having one of its best months of July in terms of guest arrivals. She also commended the resort for being in a position to pay out over US$1,000 each to more than 400 employees in service charge benefits.
Deputy Governor, Mr. Perin Bradley, who has responsibility to oversee the work of the Portal Team, commented: “It has been the gateway to Anguilla since May 18, 2021. We have been working very closely with our hospitality partners to make sure that our guests get to Anguilla; follow the safety protocols; the testing requirements and so forth. This event for us is just an example of Four Seasons’ recognising and appreciating the work of the Portal Team. They want to say thanks to the team for so far getting people into Anguilla safely, on time; and making sure that they have a wonderful experience from start to finish. We are very grateful to Four Seasons for recognising our efforts. This is just a token of their appreciation.”
He added: “The calls, queries and emails that come in on a daily basis are phenomenal – and all the public servants and others are doing a fantastic job. We had some teething problems of course but, for the most part, the majority of persons have been able to come to Anguilla without any problems whatsoever.”
Two other of members of the Portal Team also spoke to The Anguillian newspaper. One was Mrs. Hyacinth Bradley, who, among other matters, is handling most of the communications with her knowledge of English, French, Spanish and Creole. She said in part: “One of our challenges is manoeuvring the portal but I believe our guests and incoming residents are getting a handle on understanding the system. We have what I think is one of the best tests, and persons may find it challenging to get that PCR test in real time – so there is a lot of back and forth surrounding getting the proper test for entry; but we have a dynamic team and are doing very well.”
The other team member was Ms. Susan Hodge. “I am the Team Leader of a wonderful group of public servants who have been getting everybody into Anguilla,” she stated. “Since May, we have had a hand in all persons coming to the island and at times there had been some challenges with persons doing wrong tests. When St. Maarten changed its protocols we had some extremely late nights to make sure that persons get to Anguilla on time, but we are now basically on top the situation.”
Four Seasons’ General Manager, Mr. Angarita, was delighted to have the Anguilla Portal Team members at the resort – and was grateful to the property’s staff members who welcomed and entertained them.
