Half Moon Hotel tops Tourism Service Excellence Awards 2018

THE HALF Moon Hotel in Montego Bay shone brightly at the Montego Bay Convention Centre on Saturday night after topping the Tourism Service Excellence Awards 2018 at the national and regional levels in both the individual and organisational categories.

Half Moon came out ahead of nine other organisations on the national level and also copped the leading award for the Montego Bay region. Conroy Thompson, the resort’s training manager, beat out eight other finalists to receive the national individual award and Montego Bay’s regional individual award.

“I am over the moon, and I’m just so happy for the entire team,” Thompson told Hospitality Jamaica following the awards ceremony. “We have worked hard, and it is really a testament to the work we do that we are finally recognised tonight, so I am just ecstatic.”

The other regional winners included:

VIP Attractions (Kingston region, organisation)

Coleen Powell, general manager of Jakes Treasure Beach (South Coast region, individual)

The Joy Spence Appleton Rum Experience (South Coast region, organisation)

Yanike Brown, animations supervisor at Beaches Negril (Negril region, individual)

Beaches Negril (Negril region, organisation)

Paul Norman, sales and marketing manager at Dolphin Cove (Ocho Rios region, individual)

Jamaica Inn (Ocho Rios region, organisation)

The event was hosted by the Ministry of Tourism and the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo) to recognise and reward tourism entities that excelled in training and motivating their staff to achieve excellence in customer service delivery. The event also served to honour individual workers who exemplified and surpassed high customer service standards.

Dr Andrew Spencer, TPDCo executive director, congratulated all of the individual finalists and organisations which were selected for the ceremony out of 107 nominations from across Jamaica.

“We are heavily opinionated that all of you in the finals are indeed stars, and it’s because of you that Jamaica remains the place of ‘one love’,” said Spencer. “We think these national awards are the Oscars of the tourism industry, and we’re elated and also humbled to have been given the opportunity to host such a programme.”

Members of the Stella Maris Dance Ensemble perform an item at the Tourism Service Excellence Awards 2018, held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St James on Saturday, March 30.

Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett (right) poses with Conroy Thompson (centre), training manager at Half Moon Hotel in Montego Bay, and other members of the Half Moon team as they showcase their national and regional awards.

From left: Dr Andrew Spencer, executive director of the Tourism Product Development Company Limited; Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett; and Dr Carole Guntley, chairperson of the Tourism Service Excellence Awards, mingle at the Tourism Service Excellence Awards 2018.

From left: Clark Lobbon, general manager of Holiday Inn in Montego Bay; William Massias, chief executive officer of Brawta Living in Kingston; and Wayne Habib of the Cardiff Hotel and Spa in Runaway Bay, St Ann, chatting during the Tourism Service Excellence Awards 2018.

Conroy Thompson training manager at Half Moon Hotel in Montego Bay, receives the Tourism Service Excellence Awards 2018’s Montego Bay regional individual award from Joy Roberts, board member of the Tourism Product Development Company Limited.