Tradewindswaymagazine flipbook issue1 volume1

The TRADEWINDS issue 1. 2016

KEITH SPEAKS Welcome to the TradeWinds Way Magazine!

We hope you enjoy receiving this magazine that celebrates life at TradeWinds. We’ll deliver an issue right to your home several times a year. Please feel free to share this with your friends and family, especially if you are one of our team members that is recognized as a star this time!

Thanks for all the hard work that you do for TradeWinds, and thanks for sharing the fun and the good times away from the property, too! Enjoy!

Don Wooldridge Vice President Culture Development & Training

INSIDE

We have just closed out the best year in the history of our company. Thank you very much! This magazine is just one way we intend to celebrate YOU in 2016.

Our primary focus for 2016 will be how to make the Employment Culture at TradeWinds Island Resorts the best in the business.

With Don Wooldridge working full-time as our VP of Culture Development & Training, we rolled out the service training series titled The Culture That Rocks to all our team members. Our follow-up meetings were awesome and survey results told us the areas of the company needing the most focus. Thanks for participating!

You continue to score us low on “Communication” on the Employee Opinion Survey, so we are taking a giant step to fix that. We will have our own TradeWinds Way App for all mobile devices and a website for computer users. Every employee can have full-time access to all the happenings of our company as well as important information needed to do our jobs like rock stars. The rewards for those who participate fully in this incredible new initiative will be fantastic. We are going to have lots of fun with it!

We could not be this successful without the fantastic empowerment efforts, excellent service, and the genuinely authentic “can-do” attitude displayed so consistently by you, our over 1,100 dynamic employees and managers. YOU are what drives our success!

So thank you for being you. And thank you for making TradeWinds Island Resorts the best place in Florida to work… and vacation!

3 Coming Soon 4 Celebrating the Season in Style 5 Celebrating Our Best & Brightest 6

Get to Know Elda

Keith Overton, CHA President, TradeWinds Island Resorts

7 Employees & Managers of the Month 8

I Love My Job!

11 The TradeWinds Way 12 Hotel with a Heart 13 Milestone Anniversaries and Employee News 14 At Work & Play 16 Guest Comments Recognize TradeWinners!

The TradeWinds Way magazine is produced and published by the Marketing Department of TradeWinds Island Resorts. 5600 Gulf Blvd., St. Pete Beach, FL 33706 | 727.363.2215 | JustLetGo.com © 2016 All rights reserved. Printed in the USA

Coming Soon to a Beach Near You

Perhaps the most exciting news is that we plan to begin the development on what we call the Coral Reef site. Hopefully we will get started on Phase One in August or September. Still subject to City approval, there will be a new 800 car parking structure, a ground-floor building for shops, and a building with guest rooms called the Sugar Sands building.

We should all start calling this building the “Sugar Sands” (as the Coral Reef timeshare building will still remain there.)

Sugar Sands Phase One includes about 200 hotel rooms, which we will rent to our traditional resort guests as they are being sold into the Bluegreen Vacation Club over time. This is similar to the plan we’ve done with the Breckenridge building.

We also plan to relocate the Bluegreen Sales Center to the Sugar Sands building. This will allow us to convert the

existing Sales Center off the Grand Palm Colonnade to more meeting space for groups, and offices will be closer to their clients for Group Sales and Convention Services.

Subject to our ability to adhere to the preliminary capital budget, we also hope to redesign, expand and relocate Body Works spa and fitness center to the designated retail space planned for Sugar Sands. Plans to move the reservations call center and to develop a new employment and training facility within the Sugar Sands building are part of our discussions, too. So we need to watch our budget dollars!

We have selected the architectural firm and they should have preliminary plans and renderings completed by June, so stay tuned for more updates!

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Celebrating the

Season in Style ANNUAL HOLIDAY PARTY Employees were treated to a lavish buffet, live music, karaoke, and an exciting casino night at the annual Holiday Party in the Island Ballroom and Grand Palm Colonnade.

Celebrating Our

Best & Brightest ANNUAL AWARDS CEREMONY

MANAGER OF THE YEAR

EMPLOYEE PARTNER OF THE YEAR

FIRST PLACE

FIRST PLACE

Tiffany Green, RedBeard’s Sharktooth Tavern, won a Trip plus $300 spending money

Kat Watters, Guy’s Gulfside Grill, won a Trip plus $300 spending money

MANAGER OF THE YEAR FINALISTS

CORPORATE: Jenna Arnal, Catering Sales

FRONT OF THE HOUSE: Jennifer Northcott, IG Front Office

BACK OF THE HOUSE: Dan McLaughlin, IG Housekeeping

MIKE LUMPKIN SAFETY AWARD

Mark Martin, Food and Beverage

EMPLOYEE PARTNER OF THE YEAR FINALISTS

CORPORATE: Arianna Stump, Sales

IG FRONT OF THE HOUSE: Rachel Perny, Concierge

IG BACK OF THE HOUSE: Shanda Brown, Housekeeping

IG FOOD & BEVERAGE: Everest Bilimani, Banquets

GUY HARVEY OUTPOST: Natasha Kondi, Housekeeping

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Get to Know Elda Where did you grow up?

Where do you like to vacation?

I grew up in Fier, Albania and I spent most of the summers in Sotire, a beautiful village in the mountains where my grandparents lived.

I like to experience different places and cultures, but often I end up going back home. It’s great exploring my home country with my kids. And they love it too.

Why did you come to America?

Albania was going through the transitions of changing from a communist-socialist government. With the transition came instability and no clarity for the future of the younger generation. Also a big influence was the fact that we had opportunities to move out of the country, something that prior generations were not privileged to do.

What was your first job?

Elda Vaso TITLE Director of Accounting

My first job was at TradeWinds.

20 years ago, right after I finished University of Tirana in Albania, I moved to St. Petersburg. I had no work experience and actually no experience about the way of life in general in this country. I was welcomed at TradeWinds and started working in Housekeeping. And here I am 20 years later, still at TradeWinds!

PREVIOUS TITLES Housekeeping Room Attendant, Accounting Assistant, Staff Accountant, Assistant Controller, Financial Controller

What was one of your first memories of TradeWinds?

WHAT YOU DO Responsibilities include financial reporting, banking, budgeting and leading the Accounting team

What is your favorite movie or book?

I still remember clearly the morning meetings and my room sections in the Breckenridge building.

I can watch over and over again “Finding Nemo”. Also “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” is one of my favorite movies. I always have a book on my nightstand, and if I have not fallen asleep reading “Captain Underpants” to my son when I put him to bed, I will manage to read a few pages of my own book. “To Kill a Mockingbird” is what I’m reading now. My daughter suggested it.

What’s your favorite food?

It’s hard to pick, but if I have to choose one - Greek food will be my choice.

Who do you admire?

My role models are my parents.

They built a strong loving family and it’s my hope I can do the same. I admire Mother Teresa. She devoted her life to the service of others.

What do you like most about your job?

The people that I work with.

It’s a privilege to be part of the TradeWinds family.

What advice would you give to someone looking to advance his/ her career?

It’s common to hear “do what you love and you’ll succeed.” My advice is “do your best, and a little more, every moment and the doors of opportunity will open.”

What’s the most valuable piece of advice you’ve ever received?

A quote from the movie “Finding Nemo”. It’s a question and answer from Dori with powerful advice: never give up.

When life gets you down do you wanna know what you’ve gotta do?

Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming.

employees & managers of the month JANUARY EMPLOYEES OF THE MONTH Logan Christopher, IG Front Desk: Logan consistently delivers top notch guest service.

He is mentioned positively in many guest reviews and consistently demonstrates a “rockin’ ” guest experience.

Mark Kleineidam, Bermudas Chef: Mark assisted with an employee Issue with the manager on duty. He is always a team player and goes above and beyond.

Denise Lang, Bermudas Server: Denise Lang is always willing to help out with other outlets, especially when they are short staffed. She also helps in Beef’s and in Room Service.

Viviane Louis, IG Housekeeper: Viviane goes above and beyond! She is always willing to help fellow coworkers and her manager has received calls from guests commending her attitude and conduct.

JANUARY MANAGERS OF THE MONTH Carlos Aquilar, IG Housekeeping: Carlos epitomizes the Jim Knight theories. He is dynamic, the hardest worker, stabilizes the managers when the pressure is intense and offers an ear that employees are comfortable with.

Wendy Yoder, Marketing: Wendy planned the “I LOVE MY JOB” commercial on very short notice and was able to coordinate large groups of people to make it a success.

Hassan Ziad, Bermudas/Beef’s: Hassan’s dedication is truly an asset to the company. He is consistent and has become a true leader and the backbone as the PM manager in Bermudas.

Karen Koshman Marks, IG Room Service: Karen always steps up to helps out with other shifts and always goes above and beyond in her daily duties. She is the anchor at Room Service.

Michael Kurant, Activities: Mike mans the Paddleboats and even in slow times he finds ways to enhance the area and interact with guests. He is very friendly, even engaging those just passing by.

Vinh Luong, IG Housekeeping: Vinh has never turned down a request asking to service a room, clean up a spill, or anything else you can imagine.

Karole Moore, Engineering: Karole provides professional conduct, keeps everything in order, offers incentive to work, and basically is “Mother” to the entire department. She is the “TradeWinds Way”.

Susan Powell, Engineering: Sue has been covering work while Lilo has been out on FMLA. Besim Qose, IG Housekeeping: Besim has been outstanding with his dedication and engineering skills. He is always willing to help with any projects, repairing drapes and shears during general cleaning.

Eva Smith, Human Resources: Eva did a great job handling the 401(k) audit this year, doing 98% of it on her own.

Indra Treimanis, Reservations/Revenue: When GLFSB’s were mistakenly deleted from our booking engine, Indra stopped her whole day to get them back in: a HUGE process!

FEBRUARY EMPLOYEES OF THE MONTH

Albana Veizi, IG Housekeeping: Albana has been outstanding with her supervisor role during general cleaning and conversion and with outside projects.

Angel Bordeaux, Revenue/Reservations: Angel had to repackage all the groups for 2016 after resort fee went to $45. This created a lot of extra work onto her daily duties.

Michael Ward, IG Housekeeping Office: Mike is outstanding, filling in for the absences of office managers while still maintaining his own responsibilities.

Myren Branesky, Bell Staff/Valet: Myren consistently exhibits a more than positive attitude. He is the embodiment of a culture proven by his recent TradeWinds mention, and a true leader.

FEBRUARY MANAGERS OF THE MONTH

Odaise Espinaco, IG Public Areas: Odaise is always hard working and goes the extra mile.

He takes pride in his job and is detail oriented.

Gregory Gottschalk, Banquet Chef: Greg took over the deli production with true chef awareness and owned all the production every day. When he saw an area we could improve, he brought them up to the manager and chefs.

Richard Hawk, Flying Bridge Server: Rich steps up to the plate whenever he is needed. He uses good judgement while working, is helpful and a great teacher to new hires.

Thomas Reynen, Bell Captains: Tom consistently pushes his staff to be the epitome of guest service as evidenced by him staying well into the night assisting with the Breck water outage.

Younes Taghzout, IG F&B Managers: Younes has done an excellent job overseeing Palm Court and Bermudas and developing a new training program with Jonathon. He’s put in extra hours and helped in the price changes and menu development.

Tyson Walters, RumFish Grill: Tyson has a professional, positive attitude and puts the restaurant and guests first. He often works on his days off to ensure success and always fills in as needed.

Florine Whitfield, IG Housekeeping: Florine has done an outstanding job with Bluegreen scores and her service to the guests.

MARCH EMPLOYEES OF THE MONTH Tracy Daniels, Pizza Hut: Tracy went out of her way to help with all of the recent Job Fairs.

Rafael Hernandez Travieso, Banquet Stewarding: Rafael has incredible pride in his duties, many times on his knees cleaning the stairs, carpet spots, and black markings from luggage carts. He makes suggestions all the time for the best maintenance of the lobby and restrooms.

April Love, GHO Front Desk: April helped out some guests when one of them had to go to the hospital. She assisted in providing cabs, meals and moved them to a ground floor room.

Kevin O’Hanlon, Guy’s Gulfside Grill: Kevin is conscientious, flexible, and never visibly stressed out. He embraces the BIG picture and his role in it, and is a fabulous trainer of new employees.

Samantha Ousley, Bermudas Chef: Samantha has taken full responsibility for food quality scores for breakfast, and makes sure we are 100% ready each day. She has grown from a beginning level line cook to a counted-on leader of the kitchen team.

Leslie Roberts, Banquet Chef: Jon Leslie has done a great job over seeing the omelet station at Palm Court Sunday Brunch. He is always getting positive comments from the guests.

Amanda Watkins, Deli: Amanda is a bundle of positive energy and her upbeat personality is “Rock Star” status. In a few short months she has been promoted and taken over as trainer.

She keeps her cool and helps her teammates become better employees, and better people.

MARCH MANAGERS OF THE MONTH Don Engels, GHO Housekeeping: Don has been a great team player filling in all areas: even office and grounds. He has that “can do” attitude and has been going above and beyond Jennifer Northcott, IG Front Office: Jennifer worked tirelessly during the East/West conference, accommodating their every need.

Her demand for perfection and desire to supply every guest with a flawless experience sets an example for everyone.

Matt Ouimette, Banquets: Matt has been doing a great job owning banquets while we are looking for a new banquet chef.

Jim Rausch, Convention Services: Jim is the epitome of our culture. Several people with ASCA wrote complimentary things about him.

That’s because he has spent seven years building strong relationships with them.

Chris Serfustini, Marketing: Chris stepped up to the plate after a team member’s departure. He displays an inordinate amount of teamwork, willingness to help, patience, and positive attitude.

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To the stars of I Love My Job Because Campaign,

It was still a little bit cool the morning we all trekked out to the beachfront and yelled “I love my job!” while a drone camera flew overhead. Many thanks to Liz Baldwin, Lauren Currie and the Beach Team who had already been super busy with a last-minute request to spell out the message with blue beach towels packed into trenches dug in the sand.

Thank You!

Tamika, Hostess

So what was it all for? It was the kick off to TradeWinds’ world-class employment campaign that started in January. Because of our early start, we were more prepared than ever before with a fully-trained team, eager to serve our guests for Spring and Summer. The campaign continues through June.

These enthusiastic TradeWinds team members shared their feelings about working here at TradeWinds. You might have seen them in TV spots on the local CBS, WFLA Great 38 stations and Bright House Cable.

The campaign included shows like NCIS, Family Feud and The Walking

Services Kat, Guest

Tyson, Che f

Dead and ESPN Sports. Voices were heard on local iHeart Radio. Ads ran in Paradise News, Beach Life, Tampa Bay Times, Creative Loafing & The Weekly Challenger.

a live DJ for a couple hours!

The campaign itself accounts for about 25% of our applicant traffic and nearly 42% of our hires so far this year. Way to go, HR!

A new website, ILoveMyJobBecause. com, was created and you can catch your fellow team members in the 90-second video there. Thanks to all who contributed, even those that may not have made the “final cut” due to time limits. We couldn’t have done it without you all! Carlos and Nelson Aquilar, Everest Bilamini, Katie Cumby, Tiffany Green, Sasha Hasic, Tamika Isidore, Josephine Liu, Tommy Sapp, Matt Szukics, Audrey Terrial, Shernette Thompson, Tyson Walters, Kat Watters, Elaine York and Gary York.

The company stepped up also: no hourly employee makes less than $10 an hour to start; more than $2.4 million was allocated for increases; and nearly 300 people were transferred or promoted and 60% of our managers have been promoted from within! TradeWinds was one of only 3 local hospitality companies to make the Tampa Bay Times Top 100 Workplaces in 2016, ranking #13 in the large company category.

The Human Resources Team held one huge Job Fair in The Pavilion over the span of two days in January.

Over 400 candidates came in and we hired 88 workers. Two more job fairs were held, our most recent one was advertised on 93.3 FLZ. We even had

A big shout out also goes go to Travis’ Magical Marketing Team for spearheading the initiative in record time: especially Sean Godonis who created the TV spots and billboards, Wendy Yoder who coordinated the video shoot, and Cathy Claesson who planned and placed the media buys.

eepin g k e s u o H , e t Shernet

Everest, Banquets

Tiffany, Ba rtender

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behind the scenes I love my job because...

The TV Dream Team video crew charged into the normal workday, and our employee partners stopped their daily tasks for interviews, make-up, coaching and “Take 2, Take 3”. Also thanks to those who came in on their day off, spruced up the beach, interrupted set-ups, lit all the fire tables and rearranged the SandBox furniture. It takes the whole team to say “It’s a wrap!”

Referral Bonus Program The Referral Bonus Program awards current employees with up to $150 for each new employee they refer. There is no limit to how many new employees someone can refer. And, there are virtually no stipulations. The new employee just needs to start work (the current employee then gets $50), and work here at least 90 days (at which time the current employee gets $100).

This “chain” of referrals that started in February 2015 is kind of neat! Tyson Walters referred Terry Kerr who started on Feb 5, 2015. Terry referred Garcia Smith just 15 days later. Garcia referred Jermaine Johnson (June 1) and Marvin Brooks (Nov. 20). Jermain referred Devon Barrett (Aug. 17) and Marvin referred Marquis White (Feb. 2, 2016). Tyson, just look what you started!

At TradeWinds, our culture is one based on caring. We encourage our team members to go above and beyond for our guests and for each other. It’s “The TradeWinds Way!” Here are a few examples.

A SWEET GESTURE When a trip to TradeWinds just isn’t complete without a child’s favorite flavor of ice cream, Jeremy Nizzia found a way to make this kid’s vacation extra cool.

Many of our guests come here year after year, and they have high expectations for each stay. Unfortunately for us, sometimes circumstances change and how we handle those changes are very important to the overall guest experience.

GOING TO THE HIGHEST HEIGHTS When a groom needs help with his wardrobe on his wedding day, a couple of TradeWinds employees are there to extend a helping hand.

We host hundreds of weddings here and, as you can imagine, sometimes crazy things happen. In a recent wedding, the groom forgot his belt. He yelled up to the groomsmen who were on the walkway of the 6th floor, and one of them threw his belt down. As luck would have it, the belt landed in a palm tree!

A STITCH IN TIME Sometimes during vacations, unplanned events take place. Like the scene from a popular cartoon movie, one TradeWinds employee is there to patch things up for one of our youngest guests.

Concierge Rachel Perny spotted a little boy in the lobby carrying a stuffed animal with a bandage. Vacation travel and lots of love had taken its toll! Rachel, a concierge well-versed in granting unusual requests, searched out matching thread and needle, and stitched up the toy animal’s “wound,” saving the day!!

Jeremy Nizzia of our Pizza Hut Express® and Ice Cream Shoppe handled one example perfectly. There was a young boy who came to TradeWinds a prior year, and really liked a specific flavor of ice cream we had. This year during his visit, we didn’t have that flavor. Jeremy got in his car, drove to the manufacturer, and brought the ice cream back for the child the next day. That’s what The TradeWinds Way is all about!

TradeWinds Engineers Bob Wallace and Keith Nelson were walking by and realized the belt is stuck 60 feet in the air. They ran to get an extension pole to reach all the way up to the tree, latch onto the belt, and deliver it to the groom. Luckily, everyone was on time and nobody at the wedding knew anything about the situation, thanks to a little help from Bob and Keith.

Another instance of The TradeWinds Way also involved one of our Concierge and a child’s toy. Somehow Jake the Pirate, purchased in Orlando prior to arriving at TradeWinds, disappeared and his “captain” was very dismayed. The Concierge drove to a Disney® store, bought a new one and as the story goes, presented the youngster with Jake who had “just returned from his own vacation.”

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Community Outreach

HOTEL heart with a

tradewinds

employees serving up joy

When TradeWinds dishes up dinners at the Ronald McDonald House, it’s hard to say who enjoys them the most: the residents or the servers!

The Food & Beverage Team has been spearheading dinner service once a month for about 10 years now, and it’s something they just love to do. The residents love the food (of course!), but it’s the smiling faces and caring attitude that really touches their hearts.

Ronald McDonald House is a temporary home-away-from-home for families of children who are hospitalized. “When you think about what these families are going through, you just want to do whatever you can to provide a little help, and brighten their day any way you can,” said Mark Martin. “But honestly, we are the ones who come away with a really good feeling.”

Here are just a few of the TradeWinds folks who have helped over the years: Jeff Fredrickson, Mark Martin, Lori Christiano, Bob MacLeod, Grace Fredrickson, Tracey Daniels, Nancy Hoffman, Sarah and Jeremy Nizzia, LouAnn Jordan, Debra Davies.

MILESTONE ANNIVERSARIES 34 years

Dean “So much has changed, but much is the same. When we opened TradeWinds back in ’86, our focus was on personalized service and a professional staff; hopefully that will never change!”

JANUARY, 2016 Dean Fortune, Resident Artist, Renovations 34 years Pauline Tomlin, Laundry, 10 years Arthur Mackwell, Banquets, 10 years Sofia El Missaoui, GHO Housekeeping, 5 years.

FEBRUARY, 2016

36 years

30 yea

30 years

rs

Donnie “I remember the Brown Derby (where RumFish Grill is today) and a laundry chute next to Room 1822. I’ve worked laundry, grounds and now houseman. A lot has changed, but I still love what I do!”

Margarita “I started as a Concierge with a white blouse and pink bow; the first uniforms! Banquets is my life; my staff is my family; it fulfills my heart.”

Patti “I can hardly believe 30 years ago today I walked behind the front desk at 3:00 pm to start my shift. I’m still here, but now in the Revenue office. Life is good at TW!”

Donnie Robinson, GHO Housekeeping, 36 years Margarita Yepes, Banquets, 30 years Carlos Sarmiento, IG Engineering, 20 years Josephine Liu, Beakers, 10 years Brian McCracken, GHO Engineering, 10 years Sandra Tarabocchia, Banquets, 10 years Jill Suphasri, Guy Harvey Outfitter Shop, 10 years George Bentley, Convention Services, 5 years Jorge Medina, Bermudas Kitchen, 5 years Phuc Nguyen, GHO Housekeeping, 5 years

MARCH, 2016 Patti Pierce, Revenue/Reservations, 30 years Paul Reed, Flying Bridge Chef, 5 years Linda Lawhead, Flying Bridge, 5 years Mary Roth, Perks Up, 5 years Tanya Johnson, IG Front Desk, 5 years Damien Wick, IT Systems, 5 years Audrey Terrell IG Housekeeping, 5 years Sophia Dery, IG Housekeeping, 5 years

EMPLOYEE NEWS Everest and Rediana Bilomini, banquets, welcomed Klevis on Dec. 12.

Arianna Stump, corporate, welcomed Kendall Rae on Feb. 9.

Sasha and Cristy Hasic, banquets, married at TradeWinds on Oct. 18.

Chris and James Allen-Mills, married at TradeWinds on Feb. 18.

Georgie Francis, landscaping, retired April 4 after 19 years of service in landscaping.

Daniel “Buster” Davis, housekeeping, passed on Feb. 25. He and his wife worked here more than 30 combined years.

Ashman Cooke, banquets, welcomed Maliyah Anya on Mar. 16.

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at Work & Play Serious work means you need some serious play, too! On the job, off the job, there’s always something to laugh about, and someone to lighten your mood!

Chef Tommy and Aaron get cooking with Day 1 Team of the Iron Chef Competition.

International Women’s Day was reason enough for “the girls” on Margarita’s team to have some fun.

Marketing gets down to some intense shuffleboard competitions (and Travis wears Rudolph antlers).

Matt and the Reservations team head to the Beach Escape!

Kate is super proud of the Laundry team and 1600 days without an accident!

Alexa, Kacie, Meg and Chad show the RumFish Grill prowess at the Savage Race!

Island Grand Front Office hits the lanes bowling.

Chef Thomas Mandzik’s selfie with the Prez.

(James photo bomb!)

Tom Reynan is a winner with this trout at the Canterbury Cup.

A great way to start the day: Housekeeping’s Clean Team breakfast.

The Engineering A-Team definitely shines with the right Attitude!

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5600 Gulf Boulevard St. Pete Beach, FL 33706

Guest comments recognize TradeWinners!

Diana Wood at GHO Front Desk: way to reel ‘em in!

“Such a perfect experience! We actually had reserved at another place on the beach, but were so unhappy with it that we decided to see if there were any reservations here. We were so stressed out when we walked in, but we were greeted by Diana and everything started looking up. She was the sweetest, most helpful person, and we felt our stress melt away in her presence.”

Jenn Wabe at Awakenings, Tiffany Green at Sharktooth Tavern and the HR Team.

“Every time I got into an elevator with a staff member or passed by whilst walking the grounds, each one greeted me with a warm smile and engaged in conversation that never seemed rushed. Strong examples of this are Jenn at the coffee bar in the morning and Tiffany at night in the Shark bar.

Kudos to the HR talent manager for clearly hiring great people and building the team the right way. Anyone can be taught a task but authenticity is something one truly has or doesn’t and the aforementioned two staff, as well as others I’ve met during my stay, have plenty of it. Well done!!”

Five star review for Engineering star Atanas!

Redona and Eriselda are Five Diamond!

“Fantastic Special Experiences for the whole family! Atanas AC5 did something special for our family. He took notice of my kids in nature and offered us a special behind the scenes tour of the Guy Harvey aquariums. This included setting up a time to meet the family, walking them from the Island Grand over to the Guy Harvey Outpost and then introducing us to Captain Tim for a special tour of the aquariums.

He went above and beyond and worked hard to give us a special experience. Thank you Atanas. He was also incredibly warm, friendly and welcoming each time we saw him throughout the trip. It was a great vacation with 4 and 6 yr old kids.”

“I just wanted to give an incredible review for … the ladies working at the Pizza Hut/Ice Cream Parlor. Redona and Eriselda were the nicest and friendliest people I met at the resort. They were patient to my children and just seemed to really enjoy being there. I would encourage everyone to visit the ladies at the ice cream parlor and see what true customer service is.”

Empower them! This example came from Aaron Grassman – a proud manager.

“Marko Ivanovic noticed a guest coughing and did not look so good. He asked if she was ok and if we could do anything.

She stated that she could use some cough drops. Marko went to the Deli, picked up cough drops, Gatorade, and a get well card.

He placed the items in the room along with a TripAdvisor card with his name. I thought that the card was an awesome added touch!”