Page 17 - AHATA

LOCAL Tuesday 13 February 2018
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Hotel Hustle

Column by: Shanella Pantophlet

Blizzards, Hurricanes and Politics!

Oh my!

Winter is upon us, well not us but our clientele from countries that have actual
winter. It is one of my favorite seasons for the fact that colder weather usually
has people yearning to be in a warmer climate and everyone should em-
brace their inner snowbird! Especially when it’s -2 outside before you factor
in the wind chill. Winter being in full swing is great for hotels, but it means we
have to be more attuned to the weather in other places because this can
affect our business. Every year between the months of December and Febru-
ary I start watching the weather report, waiting for Lonnie Quinn, to roll up his
sleeves, get on his serious face and give a blizzard warning. Why? Because
blizzards mean flight cancellations and rebooking rooms and it’s important
to know ahead of time what the weather is going to be like to ensure we
can handle the influx of business and accommodating to our guests during
a stressful time.

Once winter is over and summertime comes around then it’s the Caribbean’s turn to worry. We start looking at the predictions for the impending
hurricane season which runs from June to November. Last year the outlook was not great and it proved to be one of the most destructive hur-
ricane seasons in recent memory. A lot of Islands including popular destinations such as; Puerto Rico, who are still without power in many parts
almost a year later, and St. Maarten, who are luckily managing to rebuild quickly, even opening a new hospital recently, were hit very hard.
Other places such as the Island of Barbuda were almost wiped off the map. I encourage anyone reading to check out the before and after the
hurricane, NASA images of these places to get an idea of how hard they were impacted.

If all of that isn’t enough we’ve also, especially in Aruba over recent months, had to become very politically aware. If you don’t already know,
the situation in Venezuela has taken an even more negative turn with the country’s president shutting down air and sea borders with Aruba,
Bonaire and Curaçao. In so doing not only stranding locals who were there, but many Venezuelans who were vacationing on either of the three
Islands. As I’ve mentioned before, Venezuela counts as Aruba’s second largest tourism market. A market that traditionally would pick up during
the months that the American market would slow down.

Being brutally honest weather events help, because if there’s flights cancelled due to a Blizzard or a Hurricane, resorts profit through the rentals
of additional nights. Aruba has certainly benefited from some of its main competitors being knocked out of contention, as evidenced by the
Wednesday afternoon commute through downtown when there’s 3 or 4 cruise ships in port. The issues with Venezuela though, are most likely
to have a negative impact in the long term if things don’t change. Looking to the future Aruba and it’s hoteliers will need to find a more stable
market to replace that one, but we are creative, adaptive and know how to keep people wanting to come back to our tiny paradise and that
positive word of mouth about the Island, it’s people and the resorts is what will keep our tourism industry strong.q

Aruban born and bred Shanella Pantophlet is passionate about
tourism. That is the world she studied and works in, so we might
as well call her a specialist. Luckily for Aruba Today Shanella also
loves to write. And together with the fact that the majority of our
readers are tourists, we found ourselves a perfect combination for
a column: Hotel Hustle.