While remaining silent on the planned opening of the US$58M Guyana Marriott Hotel, Chairman of Atlantic Hotel Inc (AHI), Winston Brassington released a statement yesterday calling criticisms over staff recruitment without merit and saying that 239 persons have been hired.
In a press release, the chairman revealed that the proposed five-star hotel will open with a permanent staff of 239 which he noted would “double” upon the completion of the casino and entertainment complex.
Brassington stated that less than five percent of the staff are from overseas.
In the press release he said that of the 29 members of the management team, 20 are Guyanese. Of those, five were recruited from overseas and returned to Guyana. The statement continued that four of the nine non–Guyanese management staff were sought out due to the specialities that could not be found in Guyana.
Additionally, the statement noted that 30 of the staff recruited had worked in other hotels across Guyana. Concerns had been raised that Marriott is poaching staff from other hotels.
The salary scheme offered to the 223 employees recruited locally from the 3,475 applicants is comparable with that generally paid in the hospitality sector here for similarly qualified persons, Brassington said.
The statement from AHI revealed that 90 members of the staff are currently in training and 60 will start next week.
General Manager Roberto Grisi had told Stabroek News in August that over 50 hours of training is generally required for new employees within the first year of employment. He noted that given the scope of the various positions at the hotel, the training levels were varied.
He noted, “It is always our desire to hire from within the countries and communities in which our hotels are located and the people of Guyana have a great spirit and are very hospitable people, something that you cannot train.”
Grisi said that while he anticipated that “90% to 95%” of the new employees would be Guyanese nationals, the hotel’s management will be brought in. He explained that “when opening our first hotel in any new market, we generally provide an experienced Marriott leadership team to manage and launch the hotel.”
He added, “An experienced team trains the staff and the entry-level Guyanese supervisors to ensure they are educated on our highly regarded service standards.”
AHI stated yesterday that the hotel project has already delivered on its promise of job creation and “it is patently ridiculous for anyone to claim otherwise.”
It said that 922 applications were received for the 29 management positions, 691 applications were received for the 30 supervisory staff positions and 180 staff for non-management positions were engaged from 1,862 applications.
The hotel has been the subject of myriad controversies over the years and has seen legal action being filed against the special purpose company, AHI by political activist Desmond Trotman. Questions have also been raised about the taxpayers’ money that has been used to finance the construction.
