Completed Projects

Project: Providing Technical Assistance to small and medium-sized hotels in the Caribbean, to help them meet International Standards and position their businesses for long-term profitability and success.

Overview

C-TRADECOM provided expert consultants and logistical support to a two-day seminar, which was designed to help small and medium sized hotels understand and meet International Standards for product and service quality. The seminar, which was attended by forty hotel owners/managers from OECS countries and Trinidad & Tobago, was held January 15-16 in Port of Spain Trinidad. The three C-TRADECOM experts (Warren Binder, President of the U.S. based firm, Creative Travel Consultants; Nadine Rankin, of the U.K. based Management Consulting firm, AMG Ltd; and John Bell, President of the International Hotel & Restaurant Association) provided in-depth professional guidance to the hoteliers for improving their competitiveness and profitability. Seminar topics included:

• A review of critical issues effecting small and medium-sized hotels;
• Guidelines on how small hotels can find appropriate Tour Operators to position and sell their product/services effectively;
• How to negotiate effective Sales Contracts with Tour Operators;
• Understanding consumer expectations and strategies for exceeding them;
• How to define specific hotel product and identify appropriate niche markets;
• Suggestions on how to develop a Marketing Plan, how to calculate “break even” cost and an introduction to “Yield Management” strategies;
• Understanding how to be more competitive and how to meet International Standards;
• Evaluation of hotel websites (case studies presented) and recommendations for improving design, functionality and overall effectiveness;
• Review of options for increasing visibility and building credibility in the marketplace;
• Extensive Q & A, which was used to address participants issues and specific business concerns.

The seminar sessions were designed to facilitate interactivity among the attendees and relied heavily on open discussion and question/answers. The consultants provided comprehensive workbooks to each participant for use during and after the event. Marie-Louise Norton-Murray, Director of Private Sector Development Services of CDN MANAGEMENT SERVICES LIMITED, managed the seminar. CDN also provided seminar planning logistical support.

Assistance with travel cost for the participants was provided by the USAID sponsored Caribbean Regional Intern/Scholarship Program (CRISP). Several of the seminar attendees were referred by the USAID funded Small Tourism Enterprise Project (STEP), which has been active in tourism development throughout the Caribbean since 2000.

This seminar was the product of more than six weeks of strategic planning and coordination among various sponsoring organizations. “The attendees were very active and expressed great appreciation for the opportunity to discuss the challenges of the current marketplace and various approaches for addressing them effectively” according to C-TRADECOM representative, Earlyn Shuffler. “Participants also took good advantage of the opportunity to network with the consultants and other attendees,” said Shuffler.

Results and Next Steps

Participants expressed a high level of satisfaction with the course content and strongly recommended that this type of training seminar would be of tremendous help to small hotel owners/managers throughout the Caribbean. Mr. John Bell (President of the International Hotel & Restaurant Association) endorsed this idea and further suggested that the program could be offered throughout the Caribbean as well as other countries with a “small and medium-sized hotels” sector.

The attendees agreed to participate in an evaluation survey, which will be completed within six months. The survey will provide feedback on how participants benefited from the seminar and document any business results that they attribute to the knowledge gained from the seminar.