WITHOUT basis in fact and absolutely without merit, was the retort by Chairman of Atlantic Hotels Inc (AHI), Winston Brassington, in reaction to a recent Alliance For Change (AFC) salvo against the US$58 million Marriott Hotel Project nearing completion in the vicinity of the Kingston seawalls in Georgetown.The AFC in a recent public missive against the project claimed that there were no jobs being created for Guyanese as was intended, but according to Brassington, more than 95 per cent of the staff engaged was Guyanese.

Brassington yesterday sought to clear the air when he provided the employment data thus far as it relates to the operations of the Marriott Hotel when it opens its doors.
According to Brassington, a total of 239 people had been engaged to operate the Hotel. This batch of personnel according to Brassington, was recruited from an application pool of 3,500 persons.
It was made clear that of the 239 persons engaged as staff for the Marriott, 228 are Guyanese. This, according to Brassington’s statement, reveals that 95.3 per cent of the persons engaged to be staff at the Marriott Hotel are in fact Guyanese.
“Less than five per cent of the total staff engaged are (sic) from overseas,” according to the missive released by AHI and attributed to its Chairman, Brassington.
Of the persons engaged thus far, 90 of these staff are in training and 60 more will start next week to be followed by the remainder.
According to AHI, 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.
Brassington said too that, of the nine non-Guyanese management staff engaged from overseas, four are food and beverage specialists not available in Guyana.
The AFC in its recent public statement had threatened to “revisit, review and if necessary impose sanctions concerning the Georgetown Marriott Hotel Agreement with the Government of Guyana and Atlantic Hotels if it forms the next Government.”
The Opposition party which controls just seven of the 65 seats in the National Assembly had accused the hotel of reneging on its agreement to create new jobs for Guyanese and was in fact now “poaching employees from other hotels offering more than 50 per cent hike in salary.”
The AHI Chairman however, in responding to the AFC, drew reference to the recruitment statistics which revealed that 691 applications were received for supervisory staff, from whom 30 have been engaged.
All, he said, are Guyanese and only five of whom previously worked at another hotel in Guyana.
“1,862 applications were received for non-management positions and, of the 180 staff engaged, 23 were from other hotels in Guyana,” according to AHI.
With its recruitment programme all but complete, the nation’s first ever Marriott Branded Hotel is now another step closer to its gala opening in a matter of weeks.
With its sod turning ceremony held in the last quarter of 2011, the Marriott Hotel which is in its final stages of construction at the Kingston, Georgetown site has been the subject of numerous criticisms over the years, some of whom have questioned its viability.
AHI has on more than one occasion however, defended the project as sound and refers to the Feasibility Study which was undertaken by a reputable U.S. Based Evaluation/Consultancy Firm, of which an extract was made publicly available.

The Georgetown Marriott Hotel Project entails the construction of 197-rooms that will meet the Marriott International Standard for a five star hotel. The hotel will be managed and operated by the Marriott Worldwide chain of affiliates.

A second component of the project entails the construction of a 29,000 square feet entertainment complex that will house a casino, restaurant and nightclub all of which will be privately operated, separate and distinct from the hotel and its operator.

(By Gary Eleazar)