Laid-off hotel staff gets parting gift
Published:Friday | March 20, 2020 | 12:26 AM
WESTERN BUREAU:
The uncertainty that comes with lay-offs has been eased for the 115 members of staff at Sunset at the Palms in Negril as the hotel closes its doors in the wake of COVID-19.
The 86-room resort, owned and operated by Ian Kerr and his family, is among a large number of hotels that will shutter their plants completely by next weekend as the pandemic decimates travel and tourism worldwide.
However, Kerr’s staff has gone home with not only care packages with food for their families, but hopes that when the crisis subsides, they will return.
“Just being here and seeing the faces of the staff accepting their packages, you would not believe we were in a crisis,” Brenda Gray, who has been with the resort for five years, told The Gleaner.
Still in awe at the gesture, Gray said she had been pre-warned to take a grocery bag to work but had to resort to finding a box as well.
“I really wasn’t expecting this. It is hard to explain how I feel outside of the fact that it is a blessing to work with one of the best owners of any hotel in Jamaica,” Gray told The Gleaner.
Gray took home chicken, rice, flour, fish, or pork, among other items. The spa leader said that leaving work felt like she was on a supermarket run.
“It has made it easier for me to accept that I will not be in a job for a while. It has taken a lot of things off my shoulders,” she said.
Brought tears to her eyes
General manager at the resort, Kamarla Simms, who has been on the job for only three months, said that the gesture brought tears to her eyes.
“It was overwhelming. Being a new general manager at a new institution, it feels good that we were able to do this for our team members,” Simms said.
Leighton Kerr of the Sanitation Department, on receiving his package, was initially lost for words, but eventually said he was grateful for the gift.
“It surprises me. We are in a time when it is everybody’s trouble, yet they have taken time to show their appreciation,” he said.
The Kerrs are not related.
Ian Kerr, himself a man who shies away from the media, when contacted by the newspaper, spoke of the high regard he has for his staff.
The decision to send them home with more than money, he said, was easy, and he made a statement that resonated with reality.
“If you don’t have good staff, they can destroy you even with the best hotel in the world,” he told The Gleaner. “You could line your property with gold. If you don’t have good staff, the impact will show.”
Sunset at the Palms will remain closed until April 17. A WhatsApp group has been created so that laid-off staff in need of help can communicate with the management, Ian Kerr said.