Small hotels take charge

While some might be concerned about it, the Caribbean chapter of the Inter-American and Caribbean Network of Small Hotels believes that this will enhance the product that it offers and aid in its further growth and development.

The vice president (Caribbean) Denise Aleong-Thomas said in an interview with Newsday, “With the advent of Sandals, I think that is a great opportunity for sm all hotels to motivate us.

To help us to raise our game in terms of standards and quality.” The network is set to host its fourth encounter in TT. The first being held in Costa Rica in 2013.

The event takes place tomorrow and Friday at the University Inn and Conference Centre, St Augustine Circular Road, St Augustine. Its theme is Sustainability, Marketing and Competitiveness of Small Hotels. The network, she added, represents the small lodging facilities with one to 75 rooms. The organisation represents the small facilities within the 35 countries represented by the Organisation of American States (OAS).

Its base is composed of small lodgings from Latin American, South American, Central American, North American and the Caribbean region.

Participants attending the two-day event are expected to come from Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Honduras, Ecuador, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Columbia, Panama and Guatemala.

With the falling oil prices and TT’s drive to broaden its economic base, the tourism sector has been viewed as a viable means by which to do so. It was reported that the region has had major growth in the industry. The Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) said in a 2016 article by www.trbusiness.com that the Caribbean outperformed every other major tourism region in 2015. The February 2016 report said, “Management says 2015 was the second consecutive year that the region has outperformed the rest of the world and the sixth consecutive growth year for the Caribbean.

“Hugh Riley, CTO secretary general said tourism grew around seven percent to 28.7 million visits, much higher than the projected four to five percent and way above the global World Tourism Organization rate of 4.4 percent.” The Oxford Business Group (www.oxfordbusinessgroup.com) in a blurb to an interview with Tourism Minister Shamfa Cudjoe, noted, “As Trinidad and Tobago continues to feel the impact of lower energy receipts, the tourism sector is emerging as a strategic development priority. Elected in September 2015, the government of [Dr] Keith Rowley is placing a renewed emphasis on economic diversification to help the TT$175.99bn (US$27.1bn) economy weather the downturn in the global energy market. Tourism, along with agriculture and manufacturing, has been identified as strategic in that quest. Despite the recessionary environment, TT saw an upsurge in visitor arrivals – which increased by 6.6 percent in 2015 to reach 439,749 visitors – highlighting the sector’s resilience.

The US accounted for 39 per cent of international arrivals, followed by Canada (13%), the UK (9%), Scandinavia (2%), Germany, Austria and Switzerland (2%), India (1%), the Caribbean (18%) and the rest of the world (16%).

To accelerate growth a number of efforts are underway to raise the profile of key tourist sites, improve service standards and develop human capital.” Aleong-Thomas, also the immediate past president of the Small Tourism Accommodation Owners of Trinidad and Tobago (STAOTT) said, “The objective of the network is to collaborate among small hotel owners and operators to share best practices, to share experiences in the area of sustainability and marketing and innovation for small hotels.” “The thing about it is, small tourist accommodations comprise 80 percent of the room stock within TT. The preference for guests, for example, within the marketplace for tourist accommodation, most people are going for the non-traditional hotel accommodation like the bed and breakfast facility, the self-catering facilities, the boutique hotels, the inns etc.” She said in that way the small hotel industry would become competitive not just among themselves but competitive within the entire marketplace.

While Aleong-Thomas said, the small hotels were unable to compete with Sandals or any of the other bigger brands, it also provided an opportunity for the small hotels “[to] create unique branding.” She said smaller hotels give tourists an opportunity to experience the destination, “in a more intimate and personalised way. Actually it creates that memorable experience a tourist would like to have when they go to a destination.” Small hotels, she added, were snug in the middle of communities and therefore allowed for the further growth of community tourism.

Among topics to be discussed at the event are community tourism, sustainable tourism through agriculture, tourism product versus hotel room and marketing through festival tourism.

Minister of Tourism, Shamfa Cudjoe, is scheduled to deliver the feature address tomorrow.

St Lucia’s Minister of Tourism, Dominic Fedee, is also expected to attend.

It is the aim of the small hotels to sell a unique packaged product, Aleong-Thomas said. “So that when someone comes to our property or destination we are not just offering accommodation but everything else that goes with the destination. I see our role as a major role. I see our role as being the driver of diversifying the economy.

When we market our properties we are not just marketing the particular property or hotel, but the destination as well.” The small hotels, she said, were not afraid of losing business to Sandals. In fact, Aleong-Thomas said, it might work in its advantage since, “not all tourists wish to stay at large spaces.” She said the small hotels’ main resource was the human resource.

In recessionary times, she added, the small hotel also provided a unique experience at a more affordable rate.