Some of the country’s leading hotels and guest houses have been talking up their favourable occupancy levels during the peak period of the 2016 Jubilee Independence Anniversary celebrations. The hotels have also been talking about the various forms of entertainment, souvenirs and cuisine provided for their guests during their stay at the various facilities.
This week the Pegasus, Opus, Status, Regency Suites and Plaza Hotels all told Stabroek Business that their occupancy rates reached 100 per cent during the peak period of the Jubilee celebrations while the Cara Lodge reported a 99 per cent occupancy rate. Most of the hotels reported that bookings were made several weeks in advance of the peak period and that there were few cancellations. On the contrary, guests who had already make bookings contacted them with several requests for additional rooms on account of additions to their respective parties for attendance at the Jubilee celebrations.
Pegasus General Manager Susan Isaacs told the Stabroek Business that apart from the hotel’s focus on hospitality-related services, during the Jubilee period it offered guests an event-filled programme that included poolside parties, craft exhibitions and a Guyana Night that allowed guests to ‘soak up’ elements of Guyanese culture that included food, music, and fashion. She said that during the period, guests staying at the hotel demonstrated a particular appetite for indigenous cuisine including the hotel’s popular pepperpot and salt fish and bakes. Throughout the period, mealtimes had to be extended by at least an hour to accommodate what the hotel said was a surfeit of occupants and walk-in customers.