Overwhelming majority of Marriott’s employees are Guyanese- Brassington

Last Updated on Thursday, 5 February 2015, 1:59 by GxMedia

Chairman of Atlantic Hotel Inc., Mr. Winston Brassington, on Wednesday stated that the majority of persons being recruited to work at the Guyana Marriott Hotel are Guyanese and that recent public criticisms about the hiring of workers have “no basis in fact and are absolutely without merit.” 

In an apparent reaction to claims by the Alliance For Change (AFC) political party that the Marriott-branded hotel would not create additional employment for Guyanese and that the new hotel’s management has been poaching staff from other hotels, Brassington produced figures to prove his case.

In a statement, Mr. Brassington noted that, of the total number of 239 staff engaged to operate the hotel chosen from just under 3,500 applications received, 228 are Guyanese. Ninety of these staff are in training and 60 more will start next week to be followed by the remainder.

Mr. Brassington pointed out that less than five percent of the total staff engaged are from overseas.

The AHI Chairman said that, of a total complement of 29 management staff engaged, from 922 applications, 20 are Guyanese, five of whom were recruited from overseas and have returned home. He said that, of the nine non-Guyanese management staff engaged from overseas, four are food and beverage specialists not available in Guyana.

Mr. Brassington said that 691 applications were received for supervisory staff, from whom 30 have been engaged, all of whom are Guyanese and only five of whom previously worked at another hotel in Guyana.

Mr. Brassington disclosed that one thousand 1,862 applications were received for non-management positions and, of the 180 staff engaged, 23 were from other hotels in Guyana.

With its recruitment programme all but complete, Mr. Brassington noted that, from a total of 3,475 applications received, a total of 223 positions are recruited from Guyana, of whom, 30 have worked with other hotels in the country.

Mr. Brassington said that the salary scales offered for staff recruited from Guyana are comparable with those generally paid in the hospitality sector here for similarly qualified and experienced staff. He reminded that, in setting salary levels for recruitment, the Marriott management has a contracted obligation to the principal owners of the hotel to deliver a profitable hotel.

Mr. Brassington observed that the hotel was already delivering on its promise to create new employment in Guyana and it is patently ridiculous for anyone to claim otherwise. The hotel will open with 239 new employees. This number will be approximately doubled when the Casino and Restaurant Entertainment complex comes on stream.