The FINANCIAL — “Sheraton Batumi Hotel is equipped with state of art safety & security systems” claims Mamuka Khabadze, Technical Manager of the Hotel. 80 million USD was invested in the construction of the Hotel and a good portion of this money was spent on safety equipment.
The FINANCIAL — “Sheraton Batumi Hotel is equipped with state of art safety & security systems” claims Mamuka Khabadze, Technical Manager of the Hotel. 80 million USD was invested in the construction of the Hotel and a good portion of this money was spent on safety equipment.
The safety, security and well-being of guests and associates are our paramount priority at Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. We have committed significant resources to ensuring that we have taken prudent steps to provide a safe and comfortable environment at our hotels worldwide.
“In today’s uncertain world, our safety responsibility has never been more important.” Khabadze said in an interview with The FINANCIAL. “This is our main priority and point which we focus in.”
“As a member of Starwood Hotel and Resorts Worldwide Inc. we are in line with and maintain all international health and safety standards. We have calculated and conducted all types of possible risk and hazard assessments. Furthermore, we are equipped with modern fire detectors which are located throughout the hotel and have cameras at all exit and entrance points for recording purposes.”
The fire protection system in the Hotel is top of the line USA brand. It is very sensitive and triggers very easily. Every room has audible smoke detectors meanwhile all corridors have sirens to inform guests of emergencies.
Just recently, on June 26, Sheraton Batumi staged a fire drill according to a specific scenario. The simulated emergency situation was aimed to inspect whether all safety systems were working according to international standards as well as to check the awareness and skills of the Hotel’s staff in urgent situations, how mobilized they are and how well they react in certain extreme scenarios.
“According to the simulated scenario a fire was detected in one of the hotel rooms. The Hotel’s fire brigade was not able to contain it so the local Fire Department was instantly informed. The General Manager immediately took the decision to evacuate. All of the hotel’s guests gathered at specific safety points,” the Technical Manager explained.
“As a result of the drill a couple of isolated minor glitches were detected and then immediately resolved,” he claims.
“These kinds of trainings and fire drills are designed and implemented in the Hotel with the aim of decreasing the possibility of any kind of accident occurring and limiting the risk of a fire being ignited in the first place,” Khabadze said. “These trainings also help us to have a better evacuation plan. At the same time they increase our associates’ knowledge regarding procedures that should be followed in the case of a real emergency or hotel evacuation.”
All 1,050 of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc. properties are intensively involved in issues of assessing potential risks and thus avoiding accidents. All of them are equipped with high standard safety systems. All kinds of accident procedures are pre-defined, in advance. Each hotel team holds regular such trainings for its staff.
The Management of Sheraton Batumi Hotel trains its staff on safety issues in order to increase their awareness regarding standard procedures and give them the necessary instructions for emergency cases. The imitated fire drill was one example of such practical trainings.
In spite of the high occupancy rate of the hotel, which is at over 95 percent by now, this imitated fire did not elicit any complaints from guests.
“We informed all of our guests about the drill in advance, both verbally and in written form,” the Technical Manager said. “None of them had any complaints at all. On the contrary many of them even expressed a big desire to participate in the fire drill. They also appreciated the fact that we were doing such a fire drill to ensure their safety at all times.”
Such kinds of trainings are held regularly, twice a year in fact, at Sheraton Batumi Hotel.
Thanks to the high standard safety systems and professional staff there has so far been no accident at Sheraton Batumi Hotel.
“All preventive measures are taken in order to avoid accidents occurring in the future. All safety systems are working properly and we are not planning to change any of them in the immediate future. We are totally satisfied with all systems. For that reason we have not experienced a real emergency in the past either,” Mamuka Khabadze claims.
At the present, 215 individuals are employed at Sheraton Batumi Hotel including seasonal associates. Around 97% of them are locals. All of them are trained.
“Any new employee of the hotel undergoes special health and safety training. At the same time trainings are done on a monthly basis for the whole staff,” he added.
“Our biggest achievement is having very well trained, professional, guest-oriented, generous and welcoming staff,” believes Omer Subasi, General Manager of Sheraton Batumi Hotel. “Our building is immense, of outstanding design, the location is perfect, and we provide our guests with many diverse offers, but all of those are physical factors which would not be enough to ensure true success without the friendly and welcoming atmosphere in the hotel which is created by our wonderful associates.”
“We are planning to hire and train many more employees and keep our service levels high while increasing the variety of our offers and packages to suit more guests. We are always present at international and local tourism fairs to promote Batumi and our magnificent property; we will continue to work towards that.”
The new season has started very promisingly at Sheraton Batumi Hotel. The Hotel has already hosted over 20,000 people in its rooms, ballrooms, restaurants and spa and fitness centre in the first five months of 2012. It has advance reservations booked for almost the whole summer from both Georgia and different countries.
The Sheraton Batumi Hotel has seen significant increases in its occupancy rate, guest satisfaction rate and financial data since it first opened in 2010.
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