Having worked in the hotel industry for more than 15 years, including 10 in the Virgin Islands, I feel I have to make some comments on your Op-ed commentary "A Tale of Two Hotels."
First and foremost, many of the local people that I had the pleasure of working with in the hotel industry here understand what the term "hospitality" means. They practice it in their own homes by saying "please" and "thank you" and by showing guests in their homes sincere hospitality from their hearts. It is something you can teach, but you have to have a sincere desire to want to please others and make them comfortable — they same way that we would all like to be treated.
One of the biggest problems here, as stateside, is that these days we all want something for nothing. We all want to "be a millionaire" and not have to work for what we get. Many of the local people that I worked with in the resort industry, had worked hard for years to raise their families and make a good life for themselves in the Virgin Islands.
These people would go out of their way to make visitors to our islands feel comfortable so that they would want to return — and thereby also spread their hospitality back to the mainland, as the guests would tell others of their great experience in the Virgin Islands so they would want to come here, too.
Unfortunately, it appears that the majority of us have grown selfish. Today, we get instant gratification shoved in our face everywhere. Because companies want cheaper labor and bigger profits, training and rewarding the hard worker may not be a priority, and we forget to praise the positive and reprimand the negative. As a parent, I realize that it takes a lot more effort to enforce rules and stick to your guns then to just "let it slide this one time." Management in the hotel industry here, as well as stateside, needs to understand that training is an everyday undertaking. We must nurture our employees, like our children, every single day!
I was once a visitor in Tanzania, a very poor country with a lot of unemployment and problems — which one could say is motivation in itself for people there to work hard for their wages. But at the hotel where I stayed, I was amazed at the local staff's ability to anticipate their guests' needs and meet them in a swift and unobtrusive way. I asked the general manager of this lovely hotel what his secret was, noting that I worked in the industry myself. He said, "I must train and re-train every single day — reward when they do it right and show them the faults and correct when they do it wrong."
Every single person who comes into contact with a visitor to our islands has the opportunity to make that person feel that he or she is truly a welcome guest — or an intrusion in our day. Think of the difference we could all make — hotel employees, taxi drivers, restaurant wait staff, shop employees, trash collectors, police officers, even the children who stand in public areas and curse at their friends instead of smiling and saying "please" and "thank you."
Hats off to those who do make a difference and who keep on trying.

Editor's note: Barbara Seiler worked more than five years in the hospitality industry on the mainland before moving to St. Thomas and taking a position with the Stouffer Grand Beach Resort. She remained with that property, now the Renaissance, for 10 years before leaving last year.

The two stories that follow are true. The names have been omitted to protect the not-so-innocent. Read them carefully, because there will be a quiz at the end.
Hotel No. 1:
A guest checked into the hotel the evening before the first of a series of meetings. He called the front desk and asked for a 7:30 a.m. wake-up call and hot coffee to be delivered at 7:45. He got his wake-up call at 7:40, and 10 minutes later his coffee arrived, lukewarm. The guest informed the bellman that his wake-up call had been late and that his coffee was cold. The bellman immediately apologized and was back with hot coffee in two minutes. The bellman then proceeded to "blast fax" everyone on the hotel staff to let them know that this guest had had two problems.
When the guest arrived in the lobby to go to his meeting, the hotel manager was there to meet him. He apologized for the late wake-up call and the cold coffee and told the guest that the hotel had taken the liberty of calling a car service to make sure that he got to his meeting on time. Upon the guest's return that afternoon, another hotel manager greeted him, acknowledged the problem the guest had had in the morning, again apologized, and said that the hotel was removing the charge for the movie he had watched from his bill. When the guest checked out, the desk clerk also acknowledged the problem and assured him that the hotel would take every step to prevent a recurrence because it valued the guest as a customer.
Four months later, the guest returned to the hotel. When he checked in, the desk clerk acknowledged the previous slip-ups and said, "Please let us know if there are any problems." The guest has become a walking advertisement for the hotel, all because of a late wake-up call and a cold cup of coffee.
Hotel No. 2:
A guest checked into the hotel. When he got to his room, the air-conditioning was not working properly, and the room temperature was 86 degrees. He called the front desk and informed them. He was told someone would be sent to check it. He also requested a table, since the room lacked a writing desk. Three hours later, he called the front desk to say that no one had shown up in response to his earlier call. The desk clerk sounded exasperated, although it was not clear whether she was annoyed at the guest or the maintenance department. One hour later, a beat up folding table was propped up in the hallway outside the room. The air conditioning had not been checked. The guest went to the front desk, and the desk clerk, remembering the problem, found a maintenance man and sent him to the room.
The following morning, and on each ensuing morning, a pitcher with milk was set out for the continental breakfast in the restaurant. As the pitcher was emptied by guests, staff would walk past it avoiding all eye contact with either it or the guests in the area. Only when a guest took the empty pitcher and requested milk did a staff member silently take the pitcher and disappear into the kitchen, often for up to five minutes, leaving a line of people waiting for milk. This scenario was repeated day after day.
One afternoon, a young woman with her infant and mother were checking in. They had the full range of baby support items and two huge suitcases. The young mother said that they had had a "bad day." The desk clerk assigned them to a room on the third floor at the far end of a wing. They began to drag the suitcases, the baby and the baby items away from the check-in desk. The guest (from the beginning of our story) told them that the hotel could deliver their bags to the room. The desk clerk, looking at them, said nothing except to confirm that the hotel could provide this basic service.
Four months later, the guest was back in town and checked in — at another hotel.
The Quiz:
Based on the information above, identify which of these hotels is in the Virgin Islands.

Editor's note: Dr. Frank Schneiger is president of the Human Services Management Institute, a consulting firm. He has served as assistant commissioner of health for the City of New York and founded Comprehensive Medical Management Inc. He is the author of "Cutting and Coping," a how-to guide for managing retrenchment. He has worked with V.I. agencies since 1975, most recently as consultant to United Way of St. Thomas/St. John. He is one of the founders of the St. Thomas/St. John Youth Multi-Service Center.
Readers are invited to send comments on this article to source@viaccess.net.

Having worked in the hotel industry for more than 15 years, including 10 on St. Thomas, I feel I have to make some comments on your Op-ed commentary "A Tale of Two Hotels."
First and foremost, many of the local people that I had the pleasure of working with in the hotel industry here understand what the term "hospitality" means. They practice it in their own homes by saying "please" and "thank you" and by showing guests in their homes sincere hospitality from their hearts. It is something you can teach, but you have to have a sincere desire to want to please others and make them comfortable — they same way that we would all like to be treated.
One of the biggest problems here, as stateside, is that these days we all want something for nothing. We all want to "be a millionaire" and not have to work for what we get. Many of the local people that I worked with in the resort industry, had worked hard for years to raise their families and make a good life for themselves in the Virgin Islands.
These people would go out of their way to make visitors to our islands feel comfortable so that they would want to return — and thereby also spread their hospitality back to the mainland, as the guests would tell others of their great experience in the Virgin Islands so they would want to come here, too.
Unfortunately, it appears that the majority of us have grown selfish. Today, we get instant gratification shoved in our face everywhere. Because companies want cheaper labor and bigger profits, training and rewarding the hard worker may not be a priority, and we forget to praise the positive and reprimand the negative. As a parent, I realize that it takes a lot more effort to enforce rules and stick to your guns then to just "let it slide this one time." Management in the hotel industry here, as well as stateside, needs to understand that training is an everyday undertaking. We must nurture our employees, like our children, every single day!
I was once a visitor in Tanzania, a very poor country with a lot of unemployment and problems — which one could say is motivation in itself for people there to work hard for their wages. But at the hotel where I stayed, I was amazed at the local staff's ability to anticipate their guests' needs and meet them in a swift and unobtrusive way. I asked the general manager of this lovely hotel what his secret was, noting that I worked in the industry myself. He said, "I must train and re-train every single day — reward when they do it right and show them the faults and correct when they do it wrong."
Every single person who comes into contact with a visitor to our islands has the opportunity to make that person feel that he or she is truly a welcome guest — or an intrusion in our day. Think of the difference we could all make — hotel employees, taxi drivers, restaurant wait staff, shop employees, trash collectors, police officers, even the children who stand in public areas and curse at their friends instead of smiling and saying "please" and "thank you."
Hats off to those who do make a difference and who keep on trying.

Editor's note: Barbara Seiler worked in the hotel industry for more than five years on the mainland before moving to St. Thomas to take a position with the Stouffer Grand Beach Resort. She remained with that property, now the Renaissance, for 10 years before leaving a year ago.

Having worked in the hotel industry for more than 15 years, including 10 on St. Thomas, I feel I have to make some comments on your Op-ed commentary "A Tale of Two Hotels."
First and foremost, many of the local people that I had the pleasure of working with in the hotel industry here understand what the term "hospitality" means. They practice it in their own homes by saying "please" and "thank you" and by showing guests in their homes sincere hospitality from their hearts. It is something you can teach, but you have to have a sincere desire to want to please others and make them comfortable — they same way that we would all like to be treated.
One of the biggest problems here, as stateside, is that these days we all want something for nothing. We all want to "be a millionaire" and not have to work for what we get. Many of the local people that I worked with in the resort industry, had worked hard for years to raise their families and make a good life for themselves in the Virgin Islands.
These people would go out of their way to make visitors to our islands feel comfortable so that they would want to return — and thereby also spread their hospitality back to the mainland, as the guests would tell others of their great experience in the Virgin Islands so they would want to come here, too.
Unfortunately, it appears that the majority of us have grown selfish. Today, we get instant gratification shoved in our face everywhere. Because companies want cheaper labor and bigger profits, training and rewarding the hard worker may not be a priority, and we forget to praise the positive and reprimand the negative. As a parent, I realize that it takes a lot more effort to enforce rules and stick to your guns then to just "let it slide this one time." Management in the hotel industry here, as well as stateside, needs to understand that training is an everyday undertaking. We must nurture our employees, like our children, every single day!
I was once a visitor in Tanzania, a very poor country with a lot of unemployment and problems — which one could say is motivation in itself for people there to work hard for their wages. But at the hotel where I stayed, I was amazed at the local staff's ability to anticipate their guests' needs and meet them in a swift and unobtrusive way. I asked the general manager of this lovely hotel what his secret was, noting that I worked in the industry myself. He said, "I must train and re-train every single day — reward when they do it right and show them the faults and correct when they do it wrong."
Every single person who comes into contact with a visitor to our islands has the opportunity to make that person feel that he or she is truly a welcome guest — or an intrusion in our day. Think of the difference we could all make — hotel employees, taxi drivers, restaurant wait staff, shop employees, trash collectors, police officers, even the children who stand in public areas and curse at their friends instead of smiling and saying "please" and "thank you."
Hats off to those who do make a difference and who keep on trying.

Editor's note: Barbara Seiler worked in the hospitality industry for more than five years on the mainland before moving to St. Thomas to work at the Stouffer Grand Beach Resort; she stayed with the property, now the Renaissance, until a year ago.

Car rental owners are invited to attend a public hearing scheduled for St. John at 7 p.m. on tuesday, May 9, at the Legislature Conference Room.
Rental companies and the public are invited to discuss the rental issue. The hearings will determine whether the current limitations are sufficient on each island.

Car rental owners are invited to attend a public hearing scheduled for St. John at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 9, at the Legislature Conference Room.
Rental companies and the public are invited to discuss the rental issue. The heearing will determine whether the current limitations are sufficient on each island.

Car rental owners are invited to attend a public hearing scheduled for St. Croix at 7 p.m. on Friday, May 12, at the Legislature Conference Room.
Rental companies and the pbulic are invited to discuss the rental issue. The hearings will determine whether the current limitations are sufficient on each island.

Car rental owners are invited to attend a public hearing at 7 p.m. on Friday, May 12, at the Legislature Conference Room.
Rental companies and the public are invited to discuss the rental issue. the hearings will determine whether the current limitations are sufficient on each island.

Car rental owners are invited to attend a public hearing at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, may 10, at the Legislature Conference Room.
Rental companies and the public are invited to discuss the rental issue. The heearings will determine whether the current limitations are sufficient on each island.

Car rental owners are invited to attend a public hearing scheduled at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, may 10, at the legislature Conference Room.
Rental companies and the public are invited to discus the rental issure. The hearings will determine whether the current limitations are sufficient on each island.