J.W. Marriott, head of Marriott Corporation, says if you take care of the associates (employees), they’ll take care of the guests. At Marriott’s Waiohai Beach Club, they must take very good care of the associates. Not only was the 2004
J.W. Marriott, head of Marriott Corporation, says if you take care of the associates (employees), they’ll take care of the guests.
At Marriott’s Waiohai Beach Club, they must take very good care of the associates.
Not only was the 2004 associate-experience survey tops in the company, with 98 percent of the associates saying they love their jobs, but the guest-satisfaction rating of 94 percent was second-best among Marriott Vacation Club International’s 47 resorts around the world.
The end result was that Marriott’s Waiohai Beach Club was recently named the Marriott Vacation Club International (MVCI) 2004 Resort of the Year, leaders at the Po‘ipu resort announced.
General Manager Edgar Gum accepted the award on behalf of “Waiohai’s ‘ohana” from Steve Weisz, president of MVCI, at the General Managers’ Conference, MVCI (Marriott Vacation Club International) Customer Experience Awards Banquet, held at the Sea World Renaissance Hotel in Orlando, Fla.
This award recognizes the top MVCI resort worldwide. In order to be considered as a viable contender for resort of the year, the property must consistently rank tops in guest-satisfaction surveys, associate-experience surveys, financial results, and MVCI’s “Spirit To Serve,” community-service initiative. Gum said the resort scored high in all categories. “It’s very high, of course,” he said of guest satisfaction.
Do all the numbers add up to Marriott’s Waiohai Beach Club being a good place to work? “Most definitely,” Gum said. “I would think so.
“It reflects that our people are very happy here.”
In the category of community service, associates excelled in community involvement that in the Marriott scheme of things is called “Spirit To Serve,” Gum continued.
Associates participated in Kauai United Way events, Habitat for Humanity building projects, Children’s Miracle Network efforts, the Koloa Plantation Days Parade, Mayor Bryan J. Baptiste’s endice campaign, and many other events, Gum said, creating a large picture of “community service as a whole.”
While not allowed to talk specific financial results, the final category, Gum said, “Basically, we had great financial results in 2004.