Manchebo Beach Resort, Aruba
Full service, 14-acre, European style beachfront resort with 71-rooms, 3 restaurants and 80 staff; flagged as Best Western. Recruited to control costs and increase share by developing a market position in the US.
Director of Operations/General Manager Aug 1994 – Jan 1998
• Improved bottom-line performance from a negative to a positive cash flow within 14 months.
• Responsible for preparing, presenting and defending annual sales forecasts and budgets and ultimately maintained forecasts to <1% variance.
• Developed and implemented successful marketing plans for the US, South American and European markets.
• Created new sales collateral. Introduced new distribution channels. Opened up new markets and recovered lost business from others. Expanded local and corporate business in room sales (8%) and function sales (90%).
• Represented resort both on and off island in hotel and restaurant associations. Actively supported AHATA & AGA (hotel & restaurant associations) joint marketing ventures and projects.
• Team leader for on-property management to elevate service standards, increasing guest satisfaction scores by 60%.
• Initiated employee training and development curriculums, authored personnel policies for 80 staff members and instituted guest recognition and return programs.
• Supervised a $1.4M renovation while achieving increased occupancies and ADR. Initiated an environmental program which decreased costs by $17,000 in 8 months
• Uograded ratings of the American Atomobile Association (AAA) and Service Measurement Systems scores.
Best Western Directors' Quality Award, 1997
"With her extensive Sales & Marketing background, the international representation of this long-favored resort on Aruba was given a boost by her personal involvement in tradeshows, operator presentations and agency face calls. At the same time, her outgoing personality and hands-on approach to the daily operations of the resort resulted in property structure improvement, implementation of SOP's, new revenue centers and an increased morale amongst the entire staff." --Martin van Halteren, General Manager, Best Western Talk of the Town Resort, Aruba |
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