As long as you keep delivering the best tourism service there is and investing in your people, you can make it.
These are the inspiring words from Tanoa Plaza Suva Hotel general manager, Mere Rakoroi.
The hotel is a finalist and looking to win another award at the 2014 AON Fiji Excellence in Tourism Awards under the Accommodation Quality category.
Last year, it beat the odds as it was the only property in the city to scoop the award compared to those aptly situated in outer islands basking in the sand, sun and ocean.
This year it is looking to do the same.
Soon after it won the award, Tanoa Plaza has put strategic plans in place to ensure the hotel stays on track with customer service and satisfaction.
“Our main focus is our people. When you have the right people with the right attitude, there’s no two ways about what you can achieve,” Ms Rakoroi said.
“There’s more details to supervision and mentoring conducted by the department heads to look into the staff training or any need that they actually do.
“For the product, we’ve done renovations with the pool. We’ve just got new Pacific Green furniture and we’ve started upgrading the lobby as well. It was happening soon after we won the award.”
But aside from the positive changes it’s adopted, the hotel faced a slight setback the past year when a handful of its staff resigned to join the new Grand Pacific Hotel.
While it was challenging, the management team were able to mitigate by replacing the old staff with new ones, Ms Rakoroi said.
“We were very proactive. We took on this succession planning and amazingly they have done a really good job,” she said.
“Within four months of their employment we started getting positive feedback for customer service.”
And if given the opportunity to win again, Ms Rakoroi said: “I believe that it’s another great milestone not only for me but for our Tanoa Hotel Group.
“We have invested a lot with our people and worked hard on training and development of our people, and after 11 years being in the hotel, it has grown so much.
“YP Reddy (founder) & his family with their never-ending support all this years, have indeed played a major part in our lives not only at work but at home too.
“I promised breaking through barriers in our tourism industry and we will continue to do this, therefore My loyalty is with the YP Reddy Family.”
by Ranoba Baoa, SUVA
Fiji Sun: Saturday, 31 January 2015
