JHTA names Hotel Employee of the Year 2017
KADEEN BLACK’S tourism journey began in 2012 when she was a trainee in a programme designed by a hotel group to assist youths aged between ages 18 and 30 with acquiring a skill in preparation for a job in the tourism industry.
She was stationed at the bell desk at Sandals Montego Bay and was trained to meet and greet guests, an experience she would later describe as the foundation of her overall development as a guest-services agent. Eager to learn, Black asked many questions and absorbed a great deal while impressing the managers and team members with her enthusiasm and mastery of customer-service skills. Of course, she was hired as frontdesk agent and never looked back.
Fast-forward to October 2017, when a secret shopper from AMG Marketing Services visited the hotel and in his report stated that Black “displayed the whole package: professionalism; multi-tasking and perseverance”. He concluded, “I bet she replicates this three-minute performance 15 times daily and adds more value than most mere mortals. A welldeserved Employee of the Quarter, for starters.”
HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
That was the ultimate accolade that served to highlight the extraordinary qualities of the young lady and predict a brilliant future in the tourism industry. She had come a long way since her humble beginnings as the 11th child of her parents, losing her father at an early age, which presented challenges. It was hard to survive, especially since she had become the mother of two children. But she survived and continued to pursue training in customer service, awaiting the opportunity to demonstrate her abilities.
Currently, she is being trained and assigned to allow her to develop a broader scope of hotel operations. Already, she is the front office manager’s right hand and is the go-to person.
As departmental trainer for the front-of-house division, Black is responsible for conducting training and orientation sessions for new employees. The executive team selected her to participate in the leadership training programme, which will prepare her to take on a supervisory role.
These are just a few of the signs that she is destined to go places.