Great achievement
The resort has mainly focused in the overseas marketing but I am also starting local marketing programs to have our locals experience the luxury of the resort – Ronil Prasad
BEING appointed a general manager at the age of 29 can be seen as a milestone for anyone and Ronil Prasad sees this as a great achievement of his career.
Mr Prasad was recently appointed the general manager of Qamea Resort & Spa off Taveuni and he is the first local, Fijian general manager in the past 15-20 years.
Originally from Nakasi, Mr Prasad attained his primary and secondary education from Bhawani Dayal Arya College, before pursing his BA in Applied Psychology and Sociology from The University of the South Pacific, which he completed in year 2010.
“I continued my further education with USP as I completed Post Graduate Diploma (PG) in Development Studies in year 2011, PG in Psychology in 2015 and Masters in Development Studies in 2018.
“I also did a full term one year study at New Zealand’s University of Auckland and attained Post Graduate in Education in year 2017.”
Before his appointment as general manager Mr Prasad worked with the Consumer Council of Fiji as senior research officer in December last year under the leadership of CEO Seema Shandil.
Qamea Resort & Spa is a boutique resort catering to maximum of 30 adults, with only 15 luxuriously appointed and air conditioned luxury Fiji villas (bure) nestled among swaying coconut palms and verdant tropical gardens.
“We have about 45 staff members and three trainees, 100 per cent local Fijian staff from top down,” he said.
Mr Prasad said working in the island boutique resort and with our location being so secluded, the GM role and responsibilities may vary from the traditional roles in any other resorts in mainland or coral coast.
“At the moment I am the GM and also sales and marketing director for the resort.
“My typical work involves managing the overall staff, resort upkeep, managing the finance and also booking and reservations. The resort owners are mostly away overseas, so the responsibility is little higher in ensuring the smooth running of the business.
“GM roles are not limited to the office — you’d see me helping my grounds staff cutting hedges, helping kitchen with creating new recipes or presentation.”
Mr Prasad said the occupancy rate of the resort ranged between 30-90 per cent.
“As a private island resort, we cannot afford to sell 100 per cent as we need to have few vacant rooms for contingencies.
“Being in the far North, our distance and access to mainland is biggest challenge.”
Therefore one of the major focuses of this dynamic general manager is to renovate key areas of resort to make it look and bring the “luxury” condition.
“The resort has mainly focused in the overseas marketing but I am also starting local marketing programs to have our locals experience the luxury of the resort.
“Since my appointment I have seen an increase in local guests as well. I am also working on starting our own sustainable vegetable project and also working with Qamea Village in buying their fresh produce.”
Coming from a strong academic background Mr Prasad is also focusing his attention on staff development programs, which he believes seems to be a long neglected area.
“I am working with my contact person in USP for staff internship programs from next year for university students. This will give them a chance to experience the reality and also I am hoping that the exchange of knowledge would help my current staff learn few things from trainees.”