There Are No Bad Times at Palmeras
Varadero – In this main Cuban resort town, there are accommodations that have no bad times. In the select group is always Palmeras, the legendary lodging born from the first joint venture to emerge in the country.
It is enough to glance at its Facebook social network profile to notice the recurring praise for this giant of the hotel industry, which continues to be a Sol, even though it is no longer operated by the Spanish chain Meliá.
Perhaps that is why it is not surprising to see it among the winners of the Quality Leader status, awarded a few days ago by the delegation of the Ministry of Tourism (MINTUR) in the western province of Matanzas.
«It is the collective, with its work, dedication, and professionalism, the central axis of this recognition,» published on his Facebook profile Arnaldo Díaz Hiedra, general secretary of the union bureau.
He attributed the laurel to the «high level reached in the provision of hotel service in an integral way, backing for very good repeat-guest percentages and client evaluation in surveys, opinions, and social networks.»
Arnaldo himself has associated on several occasions the success of the accommodation with teamwork, systematic control, accurate management, and a highly professional collective — results that 16 times earned it the superior category of National Vanguard, the highest merit granted to entities with excellent fulfillment of economic and union efficiency.
The distinction has defined the collective since its inauguration on May 10, 1990. Giving oneself to the client was born with its founders, and fortunately for the hotel, those who arrive later inherit it. It is not by chance, then, that quality always wants to go to Palmeras.
Palmeras’ performance is to be revered in an extremely demanding sector like the travel industry, where the perception of the experience inexorably passes through the subjectivity of the service recipient.
In accommodations, the heart of leisure activity, it is even more complex to satisfy clients’ expectations — something that should be the rule and not the exception in any world destination. In Cuba’s, for now, the latter usually outweighs the former.
Mediated by external factors and their notable repercussion inside the hotels, we know well that today the practice of tourism in the Greater Antilles is an extremely complicated exercise.
If in that reality of energy problems or supply shortages to meet standards there are accommodations that, like Palmeras, manage to please — and moreover normalize it — it is at the very least admirable.
