Tourism: A style to copy.

If a group can appreciate the exact value of its workers, of what they represent in the daily tourist processes and in that category called quality, it is the Royalton Hicacos Hotel, one of the jewels of the Cuban leisure industry.

If there is a collective that can appraise the exact value of its workers, of what they represent in the daily life of tourism processes and in that category called quality, it is the Royalton Hicacos Hotel, one of the jewels of the Cuban leisure industry.

«We have a clear concept here: No results are possible without men and women, busy in every job position. No responsibility is small. Everyone matters,» Amaurys Echevarría, secretary general of the union bureau at the facility managed by Cubanacán and the international company Blue Diamond, assures with genuine sincerity.

That is why one of the initiatives with the greatest impact in recent times consists of putting a face to the day-to-day life of the Royalton Hicacos. It involves the publication of a photo of the workers, according to the function they perform, on the Amaurys Facebook page.

The idea came out on the occasion of the Third National Conference of the Hotel and Tourism Workers Union (SNTHT). We saw it as an ideal moment to socialize those who lead us to triumph, to success and to move towards that goal called excellence, to which we aspire in spite of difficulties that teach the resilience of our people, a response to adversity, worthy of commendation. As a reward, this detail stimulates and much, recognizes the union leader.

After the publication of the photo of waitresses, sales clerks, receptionists or butlers, there are tourists who thank them and leave their messages of appreciation or their own family or friends.

For Amaurys, the pretexts abound, when the occasion advises to ponder the dedication, the example, the innovation.

We know that they deserve everything, absolutely everything, for the unreserved response given when they are needed and in the way they respond to fulfill what they have to do, whether at work or contributing to a donation for the home of children without family support, or extending their arm to donate blood.

What is admirable at the Royalton Hicacos is just that. How people put aside their dissatisfaction because «the client should not pay the consequences of a complaint without a solution that affects us», a butler confessed to me, but not before warning that sometimes the annoyance can be transferred to the guest, intentionally or not, and that is very dangerous, because it undermines the quality of service and in the medium term the reputation of the hotel.

And that is a truth as deep and long as Varadero beach. At the Royalton Hicacos, impossible to ignore, they have not been able to benefit from the wealth created with efficiency and satisfaction of the plans, the so-called profits known as Stimulation Fund, according to the Foreign Investment Law, which establishes the labor regime in the mixed modality. They did not receive any income for this concept in 2023 and the scenario may be repeated in 2024.

However, the results continue to be lodged in the facility and this enhances the value of each success. The Royalton once again merited the superior category of National Vanguard and, a little earlier, the 85th anniversary flag of the founding of the CTC, in January 1939.

Maintaining the desire to do well every day, high occupancy rates and good references on websites where guests give their opinion, is the purpose of managers and workers, led by a union at the base that knows how much the country demands foreign exchange income from tourism.

That and honoring commitments to the organization. We have already paid the union dues for the year and the contribution of money to the Homeland, something we also applaud our people, who did it as a salute to the victory of Playa Giron, May Day and the Third Conference.

Amaurys is in a hurry. Everything is ready to read the call for the celebrations for the International Workers’ Day and that has generated a movement everywhere. There are posters with the date and even the baker Bárbara Montalvo has put on her delicious cakes the logo of the 22nd Congress of the CTC and May Day, «Por Cuba, Juntos Creamos» (For Cuba, Together We Create).

Oh, he tells me, «it’s also time for the emulation check for the first quarter of the year. We won’t let anything go unnoticed», and the script will be reviewed again to ensure that no one is missing among those recognized as outstanding.

The Royalton’s style is not exclusive to Varadero, nor is it exclusive to tourism in these premises. However, other sectors should stay in these ways of honoring their workers, so that there are results, they are sustainable and the production of goods grows.

Photos: Taken from Amaurys Echevarría’s Facebook.

Written by Eva Luna Acosta Armiñán.