Page 17 - ARUBA TODAY

LOCAL Monday 19 august 2019
A17

Hotel

Hustle

Column by: Shanella Pantophlet
Accommodations

Recently there was a post floating around online that posed the ques-
tion: “Why are people allowed to take random smoke breaks?” and
they likened it to allowing someone to take a break during work time
to drink wine. The person who posted it got a lot of support from those
who work in retail and hospitality stating they aren’t even allowed to
drink water at the register, but if they were smokers they’d be allowed
to have a smoke break. Eventually someone else pointed out that
many companies often accommodate people who smoke more so
than those with disabilities or medical conditions.

It was that last comment that got me thinking and realizing Aruba and
the hotel industry is much the same way. We are thankfully far past the
days where people used to be able to smoke in their offices, but from
a productivity standpoint having someone, just up and leave their sta-
tion for a smoke at any given moment isn’t exactly great either. Not
only does the smoker have to go off to whatever far flung corner that
has been designated the employee smoking area, once they’re done
they then have to freshen up before coming back inside. All of that on
company time.
Meanwhile, we try to avoid as best we can to have staff that may
have some sort of disability or medical condition, because there are
costs involved in making accommodations for these employees. Be it
adapting the reception desks so that wheelchair bound employees
can attend to guests or making sure that all signage has brail transla-
tions, even the simple thing of creating pathways for those who have
mobility issues. Aruba is a serial offender at this and hotels especially
and most of it can be blamed on a lack of having sufficient standards
when it comes to those with disabilities, but hotels and other businesses
can choose to follow ADA compliance guidelines.
As hotels we should all be setting the trends, especially timeshares since
our members/guests tend to be on the older side. Having a wheelchair
bound employee, who can access all areas of the resort with ease, lets
the resort know that our guests with those same issues will be free to
navigate with minimal assistance. Employees with medical conditions The best recommendations we have had for the improvement of our
such as diabetes would be great to provide insight and information into resort has come from staff members who aren’t able bodied. Following
what a guest may be experiencing in case of an emergency. Those up with those suggestions leads to a reduction in complaints and also
who have a visual or auditory impairment would be able to provide a return guest who is comfortable knowing the hotel is safe for them
safety suggestions. Usable bodied people can hear or see an alarm, to stay in. The initial cost to accommodate may be high, but there will
but that may not be the case for some of our guests. certainly be more return on investment..q

Aruban born and bred Shanella Pantophlet is passionate about tour-
ism. 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.