PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos Islands; Friday, May 22nd 2009 - The Turks and Caicos Tourist Board along with the Turks and Caicos Hotel and Tourism Association have once again demonstrated the strength of teamwork.
On Tuesday, May 19th, the two well known tourism entities of these ‘Beautiful By Nature’ Turks and Caicos Islands came together to deliver the refreshing, motivating and educational PROMISES Workshop to a group of twenty-one hospitality workers at the newly opened Gansevoort Turks & Caicos, A Wymara Resort.
PROMISES is an eight (8) hour workshop which focuses on customer service behavioural training and improving tourism knowledge of frontline staff to make them better service ambassadors. This week's workshop welcomed a cross-section of workers ranging from housekeepers, housemen and house keeping supervisors, waiters and waitresses, reservations personnel and front desk agents, to an airport representative and other tourism professionals. These personnel represented companies that include Comfort Suites, Ocean Club, West Bay Club, The Sands, Grace Bay Club and The Alexandra.
Hon. Wayne Garland, Minister of Tourism, warmly welcomed the group of participants as he wholeheartedly endorsed PROMISES. He reminded each attendee of the importance of delivering excellent service to the destination’s visitors and other customers, and encouraged them to commit to personnel development while excelling in their areas of expertise.
The day’s trainers were Ms. Blythe Clare and Ms. Dara Thomas, Training and Assistant Training Manager with the Turks and Caicos Tourist Board, assisted by Ms. Desiree Adams, Trainer with PROMISES. From all accounts the group of participants were enthusiastic about the PROMISES Workshop, openly sharing their experiences and attentively capturing all the new information delivered throughout the day.
“We are extremely pleased with the success that PROMISES has been achieving since it was launched in 2007,” remarked Ms. Clare. “To date, we have trained well over two hundred personnel within the Turks and Caicos Hospitality Industry including taxi drivers from Grand Turk and Providenciales, and public and private sector frontline employees. Although the task is great, and we are constantly challenged with getting organizations onboard, we intend to impact the lives of every service worker in the destination through this extraordinary program – TIDES: Together Individuals Delivering Excellent Service,” she continued.
TIDES is an advanced version of the TCI Host Training Programme which enhances the Turks and Caicos visitor’s experience by raising the level of customer service to complement Turks and Caicos’ position as a premier luxury holiday and investment destination. The program recognizes that the human resources are the foundation of the destination's tourism economy and must be consistently developed to provide the expected level of service to visitors and residents.
For further information on TIDES PROMISES for frontline personnel, managers, supervisors and staff please contact the Tourist Board’s Training Unit on 649 941 5376.
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