Hotel room supply climbing but customer service trailing

 
254Views 0Comments Posted 04/04/2010

Although tourism to Panama has been on the decline due to the world economic crisis,   7000 more hotel rooms will be available within two years.

The news comes from Sara Pardo, President of the Panamanian Association of Hotels (Apatel).
José Thomas, President of the Association of Small Hotels in Panama, expects, this sector will be able to offer another 2,000 rooms.
But while the number of rooms is on the increase solving customer service remains a big issue .
The problem is most acute in small hotels, hostels, and inns.
"When new staff are trained and gain experience, they are more likely to move on to larger hotels, so we become trainers," says Thomas.
This leads to high staff turn over resulting in a reduced level of customer service
Another issue that concerns tourist authorities is the lack of a regulatory body responsible for the star rating certifying the quality of hotels in the country, says Pardo.
 While The National Institute of Professional Training and Development (Inadeh), is providing training that, should improve the customer service situation: "training staff to know how to wait a table or make a cocktail is not enough.  It is also necessary to teach them tourist culture."
Such training should not be limited to hotel staff; but should also include customs officials, taxi drivers, and police officers says Thomas.
In a survey conducted by La Prensa, some hotel visitors complained of lack of friendliness and believed that some staff didn’t care if customers ever returned.