Page 9 - aruba-today-20210129

A9
LOCAL Friday 29 January 2021

ATSA elects a new board of directors for 2021

EAGLE BEACH — The Aruba Time Share Asso- The two newly elected board members will be
ciation, ATSA, is proud to introduce two newly replacing Ursell Arends, La Quinta, and Freddy
elected board members Bob Curtis of Casa Del Albertus, Paradise Beach Villas, who are step-
Mar and Jessica Franken of La Cabana Beach ping down as board members, while remaining
Resort & Casino. association members. They both reported they
will be participating in some new private and
The announcement was made by chairman of professional ventures in 2021.
the ATSA board, Luigi Heredia, of Costa Linda Ursell Arends, the former president of the as-
Beach Resort. sociation served as a board member in 2020.
The ATSA resorts, says Heredia, were among the In his role, he was responsible for the voice of
least affected by the pandemic, and they con- the association to be continuously heard, mak-
tinue to register average occupancies above ing sure the association remains a relevant, vi- Jessica Franken, Assistant General Manager, La
the 50% mark, and their members are returning brant force in hospitality. Under his leadership, Cabana Beach Resort & Casino, got involved
to visit the island despite restrictions. the University of Aruba is currently completing with ATSA, since its inception. She is returning in
Vacation Ownership, formerly known as the a project conveying the message that the va- 2021 at the secretary of the board. “We focus
timesharing industry is in its fifth decade here cation ownership industry offers solid opportuni- on staying in close contact with our guests,” she
and plays a major economic role with about ties in hospitality, here. The project will appear says, “to help the resort and ATSA generate rev-
forty (40) percent of Aruba’s total hotel ac- in the form of an education book, in the very enues required to keep the island’s economy
commodation inventory consisting of timeshar- near future. Arends will be devoting his time to afloat. Our loyal owners, are an important part
ing units. Thanks to loyal owners, the sustained upgrading and improving the La Quinta vaca- of the island’s recovery. They frequently say
year-round high occupancies of the sixteen tion product and participating in a local politi- they feel safer here, than at home.”
(16) timeshare Resorts on the island is often the cal party, RAIZ. The ATSA 2021 board consist of Chairperson Lu-
envy of all other competitors. Bob Curtis, General Manager, Casa Del Mar, igi Heredia, treasurer Jurgen V Schaijk, Secre-
The industry concludes Heredia, is now focused joined ATSA in 2014, when he became the tary Jessica Franken, members Bob Curtis and
on maintaining its employees, helping them general manager of his resort. He will be serv- Sulaika Kelly, Playa Linda Beach Resort.
through the crisis, complying with government ing on a number of ATSA committees, such as Among ATSA’s Community Projects in these dif-
payments, designed to support the public sec- Hurricane and Calamity preparedness, and de- ficult time is the support of the Red Cross Aruba,
tor and safeguard community projects. Similar vote his time to upgrades and improvements at with a five-year commitment. Also most impor-
to all other businesses, the industry would also Casa del Mar, which is doing very well under tantly, ATSA collaborates with CEDE ARUBA on
like to see flexibility introduced into labor laws the circumstances, with members coming on an Individual Giving Based Fundraising. ATSA
and a better, more efficient reset, of the public vacation regularly, and even buying additional and CEDE ensure the funds go where they are
sector on the island. weeks, he reports. really needed. q

The Hilton Aruba, giving back to the community

Continued from Page 8 she stated. She also praised poverty, emotional distress 100% of the funds collect- Kibrahacha, strong arms
the resort for the many vol- and social exclusion on the ed, and committed to con- needed to move boxes
As the check was handed unteer hours freely given to island. tinuously provide FPNC with and a sweet smile to greet
over this week, Gianaika her organization as 10 to Prior to the pandemic, the the necessary manpower. clients.
v/d Biezen thanked the re- 12 Hilton employees have food bank supported ap- The effort was coordinated
sort wholeheartedly. “Jan- been showing up daily at proximately 200 Aruban by members of Hilton’s Blue Make a monetary contribu-
uary has been tough on the food bank to help pre- families per month with Energy committee, a glob- tion:
many families in Aruba,” pare packages distributed food baskets. This number al cultural initiative led by Bank Information Aruba
she reported, “as a num- to the needy. has risen exponentially with Hilton. “FPNC,” explains v/d Bank 1000; Banco di Caribe
ber of additional local busi- “The resort has been the the economic and finan- Biezen, “has no paid em- 100 000 500 001 800 01; Ca-
nesses closed and funds backbone of our food bank cial downturn, following ployees and relies 100% on ribbean Mercantile Bank
received from the Dutch operation,” she said. Resort the pandemic. the good will of the com- 60001000; RBC Royal Bank
kingdom are dwindling. Team Members have been FPNC’s colossal food drive, munity.” 77000 000 44195025
The donation by the Hilton, volunteering at the food wouldn’t have been pos- Pictured here, Blue Energy Tel.: 588 0002 and 562 4205
will come in handy, and bank, managed by FPNC, sible without the financial members, management Info@FPNC.aw, go to the
allow FPNC to continue to at Club Kibrahacha, since support of generous indi- and FPNC representatives website to register for aid.
support 4,200 registered September, 2020. Since viduals and organizations. at the check presentation. Kvk #S1070
families with food dona- founding in 2009, FPNC’s At the informal ceremony To donate: Persoonsnummer
tions and care packages,” mission is to fight and end the resort handed over Donate your time, at Club #5026599. q