Adrian Loveridge - Hotel Owner
I was recently castigated in a public forum by a senior member of the Barbados Tourism Authority over a question I posed, concerning the Dallas/Fort Worth/Barbados flight being reduced from three to just one flight per week. The criticism was that I should have sought clarification from the BTA first. In an ideal world, perhaps this argument has merit, but the BTA employs over 130 persons and there is, some may say thankfully, just one of me.
Trying, again, desperately to focus on the message rather than drag individual personalities into the equation, it graphically highlights just how fragmented communication is currently, between the tourism stakeholders and the national marketing agency. We in the private sector have to better articulate that there is a cost and a consequence to receiving delayed policy decisions. Second guessing and speculation cannot be an option.
As soon as conclusions are made, in which case our guests, and I suspect others, are directly effected, to the point where we could literally lose a substantial number of hotel room nights. Surely then it is only logical to disseminate to all that it may involve. We would then, have adequate opportunity to contact our guests and soften the blow, perhaps even offering one additional night’s lodging on a complimentary basis, rather than the negative financial implications it would bring.
