Private sector says impressed with Marriott

Following a tour, the Private Sector Commission (PSC) said it was very impressed by the quality of facilities and the planned services to be offered by the Marriott Hotel which is to be formally opened on Thursday.

In a statement yesterday, the PSC said it is of the view that the introduction of these facilities will contribute significantly to raising the standards of the local hospitality industry and would boost the growth of the tourism sector.

“We are convinced that the opening of the Marriott Hotel will ignite many other developments of similar nature in the future”, the PSC said.

It added that during the tour the PSC also gained insights into the Marriott’s recruiting and training methodology and was “very satisfied to see many young Guyanese workers being highly motivated to be of service”.

The PSC said that the General Manager highlighted the Marriott’s “ethical principle of only partnering with reputable, law abiding local suppliers of goods and services as they will not be procuring goods and services from persons unless they can prove that their businesses are in compliance with the laws of the country”.

The statement said that a hotel of this standard has been one of the projects that the PSC has been advocating for a very long time.

Noting that the Marriott is an International Brand very familiar to business owners and travellers globally, the PSC said “We would like to congratulate the Government of Guyana for initiating such a visionary project, the Marriott Group for being patient and resilient despite the various challenges and Republic Bank (Trinidad and Tobago) for seeing the merit of such a project and contributing to the financing arrangements.”

The Marriott Hotel has attracted fierce controversy here on variety of fronts and the special purpose company set up to steer its development is now the subject of court action.

Invitations have been issued for Thursday’s opening. The hotel was originally supposed to open last year.