St. Kitts Marriott welcomes new General Manager

By VonDez Phipps
Reporter-SKNVibes.com

St. Kitts Marriott new General Manager,Flor van der Vaart

The event drew staff, business partners and regular customers from the world over and also local dignitaries and stakeholders to acknowledge and congratulate van der Vaart for accepting the call of service on the island.

Van der Vaart said from living in Aruba, he was submerged into tourism and having worked there in various capacities, it quickly became apparent that he was going to find a career in the hospitality industry. He added that at a certain stage he wanted to start sharing the knowledge he had gained with those around him as he wanted to be a part of the joy of catering to other people’s needs.

“Five years ago, I joined the Marriott and this company gave me the opportunity to grow quickly into a General Manager in Aruba. It also offered me the chance to come to St. Kitts and I gladly grasped the opportunity. When I came to the island, I was completely enchanted by its beauty and the friendliness of the people.

“Even though St. Kitts has only begun aggressively pursuing the hotel and tourism industry for about 5 years, it is amazing to see how quickly people understand what tourism is all about. The culture here is very welcoming and it does enchant whoever really wants to be embraced by it and it makes my job so much easier.”

Van der Vaart explained that recent times have brought worldwide financial concerns and that the region is bracing itself for when it actually strikes. He underscored that the staff should ensure that guests are treated with utmost respect and dignity, and that all should be more thankful when tourists choose St. Kitts and the resort in particular.   ~~Adz:Right~~

He noted that the island should not take the tourism product for granted as he opined that “the moment we do, we lose. It is never us against them; it’s always us for them. It is very important that everybody understands that”.

The new General Manager also stated that he wants to change the general satisfaction scores of the resort given by its customers as he thinks that it is not reflecting the standard of service that the hotel is truly capable of providing.

“I am the General Manager; I have different responsibilities but I am not worth differently. We are all the same; we are all working as pieces of the puzzle to make the picture whole. I try to listen to the staff to identify, understand and meet its needs. In this industry we don’t build cars and we don’t sell t-shirts; we sell attitudes, smiles and experiences. Through this, we build a good team and we build trust.”

“There are many ways that lead to Rome,” he added, “but we have to get there together and do it as one big St. Kitts family and I am certainly going to be part of that success.”