#BTSpeakingOut – When ‘hospitality’ is just a word

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados Today Inc.

by  Marlon Madden

Barbados is known for many things including its hospitality and general kindness of its people. However, a recent incident by officials of one establishment bearing the name “hospitality” in it has left some locals with a very bad taste. Yes, this includes me. I have been living in Barbados for several years and consider myself a Bajan from time to time.

I recently attended what some would describe as the auspicious renaming ceremony for the BCCI Hospitality Institute and PomMarine Hotel. This was held at the learning institution’s Marine Gardens, Hastings, Christ Church location.

When it comes to hospitality, a visitor, stranger or friend expects to be received with some level of care, generosity and support. However, from the moment I arrived with some of my media colleagues at the mentioned location, it was clear that we were either not considered guests or friends, we were an afterthought or the organisers simply did not see media personnel as being worthy of their hospitality.

The facility was renamed to maintain the word “hospitality” in it – the Jean and Norma Holder Hospitality Institute and Hotel Pom Marine.

However, the treatment of the media leaves a lot to be desired, if you ask me. And I must point out that this kind of treatment is not unique to this organisation. But today, we are talking about this particular case.

Firstly, the media were not allowed to enter the function through the main entrance despite being early and the entrance was just feet away from where we emerged from our respective vehicles.

The meat of the matter, however, was the fact that upon entering the room for the function, the journalists were told they should stand at the back of the room or along the side towards the back.

When I enquired why this was the case, one of the hostesses told me that when they checked with the COVID-19 monitoring unit they were allowed to cater for a specific number of guests, and all those guests would be turning up.

My immediate question then was, so did you not make provision for the media in that number? She excused herself to check with someone else to see what arrangement could
be made.

Suffice to say, the journalists were later invited to sit behind a counter at the back of the room, which would not have been ideal since it would render us unable to see what was taking place at the podium, and put us even further away from the speakers, which is critical to our job.

In the end, I ended up standing for the event, which lasted just about one hour and 20 minutes.

Some chairs were provided and placed along the nearby corridor outside the room where the event was taking place, which some of the reporters accepted.

Before this was done, former media manager and veteran journalist now Press Secretary to the Prime Minister Roy Morris also enquired why no seating arrangement was made for the journalists despite them being invited to the function.

Questions were also raised by a senior Government Information Service (GIS) staffer.

I am aware that the country is currently undergoing some changes as it relates to the COVID-19 pandemic, but a situation like this cannot be blamed on the pandemic and limited numbers allowed for functions.

There were just over 30 specially invited guests, 12 media personnel including journalists and photographers/videographers. There were a few other individuals present.

My reasoning is simple. Perhaps too simple – if you are hosting an event for a specified number of individuals and you want the media representatives to be present, include them in the number.

If the space you are using to host the event is too small, find a bigger space or leave some people off your list.

Another option is, if the event is streaming and you believe you are unable to make any arrangement to accommodate the media representatives, invite them to view it on the streaming platform.

This takes me to the questions that I have been struggling with since this incident. Am I to think that what happened on Wednesday was a one-off, does the institute pay any special attention to being hospitable, and does the hospitality institute pick and choose who to be hospitable to?

I must say that I have eaten at the institute’s Muscovado restaurant before, and I would recommend the restaurant to anyone given the hospitable treatment then.

I have no idea if the people who made the arrangement for the hosting of the event were students or members of the management team of the hospitality institute or if they had an independent organiser.

In any case, Wednesday’s treatment of the media leaves much to be desired.

Marlon Madden is a  concerned media worker.