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LOCAL Monday 8 July 2019
A17

Hotel

Hustle

Column by: Shanella Pantophlet
STANDARDS emergency response and rents, the best thing to do
living on an island we are is stay at the shallow end
all capable of swimming of the water or better yet
ORANJESTAD — Standards or standard operating procedures are probably the most or taught how to swim. It use the pool. If drunk then
common words in hospitality speech. We are nothing if not standardized. Recently doesn’t mean though that please stay away from the
there’s been a lot of conversations in and around appearance standards and if they any members of staff or se- sea all together, it’s ridicu-
are outdated and potentially racist, sexist or ageist. curity are trained in rescue lous how many times staff
swimming and certainly we have to fish drunk people
The start of June here has ries. If you’re staying at the don’t have the appropri- out of the water.
been no different, mainte- high rise hotels this isn’t that ate equipment to perform
nance is busy cleaning out much of a problem since rough water rescues. That’s So this summer keep in
the gutters, securing any the waters on that end are the reason why personal mind we are doing our best
loose panels and generally mostly calm. However if responsibility is important to ensure you have a fun
making sure our genera- you’re staying on the low and knowledge of your and safe vacation and we
tors are working properly. rise side between Bucuti physical condition and hope you vacation respon-
The security team is busy and Costa Linda and our swimming ability. On days sibly too for your sake and
replenishing first aid sup- hotel in particular Casa Del when there are strong cur- ours. q
plies in every department, Mar the waters can be a
scheduling emergency bit more active due to be-
response trainings and do- ing on a point. It’s great for
ing drills to keep everyone some light boogie board-
sharp and on their toes. All ing most times, but once
in an effort to ensure we the advisories kick up the
are prepared in case of water takes on a life of its
any eventuality. own and can be tough
The current season so far even for the best of swim-
has been relatively calm mers.
so far as is the standard for It’s one of those times
June, however we have where even if you’re in va-
been experiencing unusual cation mode, you need to
amounts of dust blowing be much more alert and
off the sub Saharan cost. careful of the water before
Which is why it looks near going in. Recently there
foggy in the distances and have been a few incidents
also higher than normal at some of the beaches
winds. It’s the reason why resulting in minor incidents
the Aruba hi-winds com- such as a sprained ankle
petition is held during these by someone who got hit
months it’s perfect wind by a rogue wave to a few
and beach conditions. Of more serious injuries.
course we have had near Every hotel has security staff
constant wind advisories and all employees as stat-
and rough water adviso- ed are trained in first aid,

Aruban born and bred Shanella Pantophlet is pas-
sionate about tourism. That is the world she stud-
ied 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 our-
selves a perfect combination for a column: Hotel
Hustle.