A team of labour inspectors visited the Marriott Hotel yesterday to investigate alleged infractions after complaints were made to the Ministry of Social Protec-tion’s Department of Labour.
Minister in the ministry Simona Broomes confirmed to the Stabroek News that the inspectors had visited to hotel but refused to comment further on what transpired, saying she was yet to be briefed on the preliminary findings.
Stabroek News was unable to make contact with Marriott General Manager Roberto Grisi up to press time.
However, according to a source, the labour team spent a great deal of time at the hotel performing a thorough inquiry. Stabroek News was told by the source that employees had previously expressed frustration over delays in salary payments.
This publication was also made to understand that the systems put in place by the local firm that was contracted to do the payroll had kinks that were yet to be resolved. The Marriott has been contemplating utilizing a foreign company.
The source revealed that the payroll issue did not board affect all employees every month, but fluctuated.
Additionally, employees had expressed issues with the staffing demands and the hours of work that they were required to perform exceeded their contractual obligations.
Stabroek News was told that the hotel had taken the employees’ frustrations into consideration and a number of positions were to be filled to alleviate long hours.
Meanwhile, it was also revealed that the US$52 million Guyana Marriott has begun to show “small profits.” But the source stated that while profits were being seen, the hotel’s large power bills were a cause for concern.
Stabroek News understands that prior to being energy independent with the implementation of its own generator, the hotel received a bill from the Guyana Power and Light for some $40 million in April. After it moved to have the figure investigated, the bill was reduced by more than half, as glitches in the billing process were identified.
The source stated that the hotel does have an occupancy rate in the high 30 percentile, stating that it was benefiting from the influx of foreign oil, gas and mining companies. Grisi had previously told Stabroek News that the sale of hotel rooms would be aimed at business patrons.
It was also stated that the food and beverages department has proven highly successful, due in part to local patronage.
This publication was told that the hotel was most likely still in its soft opening phase which could last up to a year, at which point it would commence its rating system.
Meanwhile, government has remained mum on its future plans for the hotel which is still entirely state owned. Prior to the opening of the hotel in March, it had been revealed by Head of the National Industrial and Commer-cial Investments Limited (NICIL) Winston Brassington that an additional US$16 million was injected the project. The only non-government financing came from Republic Bank of Trinidad to the tune of US$15.25M; the bank was initially slated to invest US$27 million and a third-party financier US$8 million, but this has not happened.
To date there is no firm word on the forensic audit into the Marriott Hotel.
Minister of Business Dominic Gaskin had told Stabroek News that the forensic audit into the hotel had been completed and the report was to be finalised. However, junior Finance Minister Jaipaul Sharma had said that the audit was not yet completed, noting that while he was charged with heading the audit he was not yet at liberty to comment on it.
