Dear Editor
On October 21, 2022 the Regent Guesthouse was brutally gutted by fire around 2 am. This was a tragedy waiting to happen. Poor protocols. This establishment accommodates temporary residents, usually persons travelling from the hinterland and from other countries on the continent. A guesthouse is part of the tourism offerings of any economy. Some economies GDP is compiled from this industry mainly or solely. It is the best service industry in the world. I would know. However in this instance there was so much amidst.
Madam Minister of Tourism, you need to be aware of the death traps that are providing accommodation to travelers to this country. I traverse the city and notice many family houses now offering services and purporting to be guesthouses. Many structures mount a name then the word Hotel behind and: walla! This is totally unacceptable. The residents and guests occupying that premises could all have died. Why? Lack of protocols and training. I watched with awe over the last 11 months and saw individuals appear for 8 – 4 and 8-8 shifts and shuffle paper money like players in a card game. They don’t know Hospitality. Hospitality is likened to hospital as in giving care…but the abstract noun ending “ity” is the difference in the care; the quality, level and degree aka the glamour and glitz (where applicable) and service, service, service.
The word hospitality evolved from the Latin hospitalitis, which referred to the relationship between guest and host, as it took its root from hospes, the word for host, guest, stranger, or visitor. Hospitality is about service with a smile. But not those players. For the most part they are insolent. Unwilling. Untrained in the discipline. Madam, in the same way one cannot take a barber to ply a hospital ward or a nurse who has not finished her special raining, that should not happen in a hospitality environment. Peoples’ lives are at stake be it fire, flood or other disaster or threat. An absence of protocols for emergency operation and effect such as: Who pulls the fire extinguisher and when. What to do first in the event of an emergency and who to do it. How to do it.
Fire is a good servant but a bad master. Fires should not be occurring at hospitality plants. Travel, Anguilla, Antigua, Bahamas and Barbados, Cuba and Curacao, Dominica, etc. I never heard anything like this. No one from your Ministry reached out to those guests. Where are they now and what are they saying about their experiences? Little Barbados has protocols that connect every occurrence and experience of travelers to the Tourism Authority. Within minutes they are on the scene, providing safe alternative accommodation and other support, be it counselling or medical. All agencies and personnel in the hospitality industry are supposed to be highly trained. How many more of these old horses must be gutted before someone begins to think real tourism? How many must die, perhaps, before you people get collective? Who is giving permission for these operations, death traps as they are? Your ministry, Home Affairs, Housing? Got to straighten up and fly right.
This brings me to the Minister of Home Affairs with responsibility for Police and Fire Service. Sir, the Police were there in numbers to control the crowd and deter thieves. They did that well. Ready at the drop of a hat to react. They can however polish their manners. The fire fighters do what they do best. Allow fires to do what they do best. I stood on the curb and watched in horror as the top floor went to smithereens, then the middle floor, while beseeching Divine Providence to stop the blaze before it got to my quarters. The pantomime of fire fighters was maddening. Then the hose popped and the water went west. Don’t you people conduct drills to know the integrity of your equipment? And what about fire prevention and drills at businesses, especially multiple-residence units? Who approved these buildings to house so many persons? Who authorized such dwellings where EXITS are doors to other rooms? So many lives could have perished unnecessarily.
I am told that sirens wail as they approach the destination but stop when that is in sight. What rubbish. At 2 am on any day normal people are sleeping: soundly. I heard nothing. No siren (naturally) and no one used a bull horn to call residents out. No firefighter entered the building to confirm that all residents were out. A guest rattling off Portuguese was banging and trying to break into my room. Understandably, I didn’t open but dialed 911 to say someone was breaking into my quarters. The individual that reported for 12 -8 never tried to alert anyone that there was a fire. He can’t. He doesn’t know such courtesies. His is just to shuffle notes and show guests to their room. This is blinking ridiculous.
Now to the Minister of Housing and Head of Town Planning. Mr. Croal, who has houses built for one family now as multi-residence dwellings without the requisite configurations? There is bound to be issues with sewage, fire escapes, capacity; weight, population etc., A bigger problem is Guyanese are the new refugees in their own cities. Approach any multi-dwelling structure and you would hear: Only Cubans, only Venezuelans or Brazilians. Those persons who are essentially the refugees fleeing their countries for whatever reason, are willing to accept sub-standards. Definitely not hospitality standards. The city is now like a ghetto, a flava, a burrio. The streets and drains are for another article. Guyana has no consideration for housing fire victims. Many are resident at D’Urban Park, I am told.
Ministry responsible for GPL. Minister please tell GPL that pig tails are best used for Bar-B-Ques (in Barbados). GPL must know that houses build and configured for a single-family must undertake major reconfiguration to accommodate more. These colonial houses that are thrown into the 21st century with awkward wiring etc., are bound to cause trouble. Whose ministry is responsible for Government’s Electrical Department? Housing or what? The labyrinth of wires is enough to give the eyes ‘ning-ning’. Do better is not words enough for this malady.
The Ministry of Social Services. No agency reached out to the occupants, many suffered from smoke inhalation and mild to severe trauma. All the occupants, except two, got their suitcases, yet no agency approached these persons who were contributing to the tourism budget and Guyana’s budding economy. They have gone their separate ways to tell of their experience. This would never happen in Barbados. They know how to treat their customers; beyond expectation.
Sincerely,
(Name and Address Provided)