PRESS RELEASE – UNIQUE Vacations, the worldwide representative for Sandals & Beaches Resorts, has announced plans to further its investment in the region.
At present, Unique Vacations has four contact centres established in Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Grenada and The Bahamas, which provide high-paying jobs for over 500 Caribbean nationals.
Unique has now announced plans to introduce a cutting-edge online Learning Management System (LMS). The system will be implemented in conjunction with Sandals and Beaches Resorts, and will focus primarily on sales and customer service training. The LMS will also provide notification to staff on resort updates, product changes and enhancements, and will provide for greater efficiency in the administration of documenting, tracking, reporting and delivery of e-courses.
This promises an improved and enhanced experience for the thousands of people the world over who connect with the call centres on a daily basis, resulting in greater sales being generated as well as optimal customer service being offered. These improvements will lead to increased guest arrivals for the islands where Sandals and Beaches have established resorts.
The system is the latest element of an approximately US$1 million training initiative undertaken by the worldwide representative for the luxury-included resort chain, and will position its employees among the highest trained in the industry.
Managing Director of Unique Vacations Limited, Roger Seivright, said that while it would have been much easier to set up call centres in other regions, a conscious decision to invest in the Caribbean is paramount, providing opportunities for people who would otherwise have been unavailable.
Unique also plans to increase its training department by nearly 50%, including the implementation of sales development and training coordinators per location; and only recently hired one of the industry’s leading experts, Oliver Catt, to begin working with its team members.
The training regimen includes sales, supervisor and management focused seminars, along with wedding specific training. Airline partners, including Global Distribution System (GDS) providers, have conducted air specific training; a third party Travel Protection Provider has conducted insurance training while Sandals Resorts International provides resort specific training.
Seivright spoke about the importance the call centres have played in helping sell the region’s tourism product and the investment in local staff that are trained in areas that will not only benefit them in selling Sandals and Beaches Resorts, but can be used to further themselves in multitudes of other potential endeavours.
“It is vital to invest in the local workforce as the authenticity of selling a Caribbean experience is only heightened by having a local express their knowledge and pride in a product that is not only a vacation but also an experience of having someone visit their home,” he said.
While the call centres are important in marketing the Caribbean and creating business for the tourism sector, Paul Mullings, Senior Director of Call Center Operations, said it is also that much easier because of the fantastic product that they sell, which is Sandals Resorts.
“The strength of the Sandals and Beaches brands, built on over 30 years of impeccable quality and service, provides an interest that is easily expounded upon by Unique Vacations representatives,” Mullings said.
Within the last six months, over 100 new staff members have been employed throughout the region, and Seivright urges young people to take advantage of the opportunities offered by Unique Vacations within the region.