Hotels’ management told to show respect to Seychellois |22 May 2015

The Minister for Tourism and Culture Alain St Ange has asked the heads of foreign hotels’ management in Seychelles to ensure that Seychellois people are respected.
The minister was speaking during a recent visit to Fregate Island.

“We have no problem having foreigners managing hotels here, but through your leadership, your management staff must respect the Seychellois people. This is crucial for us to be able to move forward. We have to work as a team, a united team,” Minister St Ange said.

This follows reported incidents of Seychellois being mistreated in some hotels managed by foreigners.

The visit to Fregate Island Private Seychelles on Friday last week was part of Minister St Ange’s ongoing door-to-door visits to all licensed hotels in the country. So far the minister has covered hotels on Praslin, Silhouette and part of North Mahé.

On Fregate, Minister St Ange and a delegation comprising the principal secretaries for tourism and for culture, Anne Lafortune and Benjamine Rose respectively, Seychelles Tourism Board chief executive Sherin Naiken, chairman of the Seychelles Chamber  of Commerce and Industry Marco Francis and other tourism officials, were greeted by the hotel’s managing director Wayne Kafcsak and his management staff and were taken on a guided tour of the island and its facilities.

Minister St Ange said the aim of his hotel visits is to familiarise himself with what is happening at the different establishments, meet staff and talk about their working conditions and their challenges, see and witness the success, the deficiencies the hotels are facing and also inform hotels on the new grading system which will be introduced as from 2016.

Led by Mr Kafcsak, the delegation in the morning were guided on a tour of the different sites on the island such as the agriculture sector.
The delegation learned that the island is self-sufficient in the production of fruits and vegetables, the surplus of which are shipped to Mahé to be sold.

Mr Kafcsak also said that they will be embarking on an ambitious project of growing strawberries, which other locals will have the chance to taste as surplusses will be sent to Mahé.

The delegation visited environmental sites of which one area, the Riviere Bambou, was cleared of bamboos and endemic plants are being planted instead, mostly by guests in remembrance of one of their happy celebrations (weddings, honeymoons, among others).

The delegation were informed of the explosion in the number of land tortoises mostly everywhere on the island, amounting to around 3000.

The rat free island is in full nesting season with migrated birds everywhere and it was said that the Seychelles magpie robin is also rejuvenating well on the island.

The island is also commonly known for other insects, amphibians and reptiles such as scorpions, big lizards, giant millipedes, frigate beetles, among others, wandering freely among the island’s well preserved nature.

The area housing the desalination and electricity plants and the recycling area were also visited, followed by a visit to two luxury villas and the main spa. Fregate Island Private Seychelles has sixteen villas and one presidential suite. The construction of other villas is in the pipeline. Mr Wayne Kafcsak told the delegation that 4.5 million euros have been invested in the renovation of the island’s luxurious tourism products, conservation of its environment and sustainability.

Later in the afternoon Minister St Ange and his delegation met some hotel staff at the laundry area where he had the chance to interact with them.
The minister expressed his total satisfaction with the management and staff for the good work that is being done on Fregate and which has earned the island several international stars for its services.

He noted that if Fregate is as good as it is, it is because of its workers as they are its backbone.
He also elaborated on the need for hotel managers to incorporate the Seychellois creole touch in their establishments because that will differentiate us with other destinations.

“Fregate doesn’t stand by itself. It is part of Seychelles and Fregate must work to remain part of the Seychelles tourism industry. This is why you have to work hard to look at staff welfare just as you have to look at the tourism welfare. You have to accommodate the two together. To have a good working atmosphere, staff has to be happy. This applies to all heads of other hotels,” he said.

He also spoke of his open door policy and told staff that when they come to Mahé, they could barge in any time to talk privately on their grievances so that he could relate their matters to their heads.

This, the minister said, also applies to other individuals working in other hotels.
Mr Kafcsak expressed his satisfaction with such visits and gave his total support to the Ministry of Tourism and Culture’s initiative to introduce a hotel grading  system.

“If a hotel says that it is a 5-star hotel or a 4-star or a 3-star it really should be that.  Seychelles competes worldwide with so many other destinations that people have a certain expectation for good delivery of service and standard. Here at Fregate we try to do better than our competitors in the Indian Ocean,” he said.

On staff welfare, Mr Kafcsak said that they try very hard to make everybody happy because they are running a luxury service and that people should be happy when working in a luxury environment.
“In addition to renovating rooms we’ve really worked hard on staff facilities, staff housing, trying to improve on things such as internet, telecom facilities so that people can communicate back home,” he noted.

Fregate Island Private Seychelles is being managed since 2013 by Oetker Collection which is part of the Oetker Company based in Germany. It has a staff of 180 of whom half are Seychellois.
The accompanying photos show Minister St Ange viewing the hotel’s facilities and interacting with staff.