La Cabana Celebrated its 25th Anniversary With a Musical Parking Lot Event

Eagle beach — A large crowd of locals, visitors and resort associates enjoyed a Carnaval show, a fantastic DJ and three live bands, D’Licious, Rincon Boyz and Tsunami, during the parking lot happening this past weekend. All proceeds from the festive event were earmarked as a donation for a local school, Colegio Hilario Angela.
La Cabana Beach Resort & Casino wanted to extend a heartfelt thank you to the entire community of Aruba, for the support of its business and its guests over the past quarter of a century.

Managing a resort of 449 rooms is at times a challenge, says Jessica Franken, Assistant General Manager. The resort has faced small and large bumps of varying nature along the road, from financial to legal, managerial and organizational issues. However, the company has always made it a point to keep its focus on its people. When in 2005 the resorts broke off ties with the previous management company, the Board of Directors and Members of Management rehired all of the associates, with their many years of service and benefits, and with great enthusiasm started all over again raising La Cabana to the desired level of service and guest satisfaction.
As clearly demonstrated, the heart of the resort beats for its associates and guests. Management has always believed that if you treat associates right, they will in turn treat guests in the same manner, and even better. As proof of that philosophy, more than 60% of associates demonstrated their loyalty, love and passion for the resort, its guests, members, Management, and the Board of Directors for more than 15 career years, and others are celebrating their 25th anniversary along with the property. La Cabana has always enjoyed a solid and loyal base of associates, local and international members, and the resort maintained its popularity and attraction thanks to the exceptional services rendered to repeaters who choose to come and vacation here every year. The resort is also immensely proud of the fact that the majority of its Management team consists of Aruban locals.

Every year, without exception, La Cabana guarantees a salary increase based on performance, including a Christmas bonus, and the additional benefits surpass any other benefits offered at other resorts. La Cabana complies with all government laws and more, and management is convinced that it must invest in the development of the associates and dedicates time and effort to training. English and Spanish language classes are offered, as well as training specific to the scope of work, including training in service areas. Optimizing service and reaching guest-oriented goals, is always the focus. Consequently, results of training seminars led to different awards, such as the “Shoco” awards, Interval International Premier status, the highest international distinction, Hall of Fame citation by Trip Advisor, having received the Excellence Award for 5 consecutive years, EarthCheck Platinum Award, having received Silver and Gold for 10 consecutive years,  and the fact that La Cabana is currently ranked in the top 10 amongst 53 Bluegreen Timeshare Resorts.

The resort practices an “open door” policy, and to improve communication, a short meetings is conducted every day in each department, as part of the preparation to serve guests and reach the goal of creating memorable vacations. Additionally, there are monthly departmental meetings, meetings with the General Manager/Human Resources, individual meetings and a General Meeting for all associates every quarter. Annually the resort asks associates to complete an electronic survey to measure their satisfaction, and the resulting concerns and suggestions are addressed immediately. The resort regularly invites speakers or local experts to come and lecture on topics of health, culture, finances, local organizations and much more, in order to educate associates. Annually, health weeks and wellness programs are hosted to measure weight, cholesterol, blood pressure, eyesight, sugar levels, etc. Together with the resort’s Health Club staff, a  weight loss program with attractive incentives for all associates, is offered every year. All associates have accident insurance, medical disability, life insurance and provisions for funerals, medical, eye and dental care, with the option to include their immediate family. Every week, associates have the chance to enjoy a massage from a professional during work hours, as an added benefit. The resort offers psychological support when necessary, to help associates overcome any difficult situation in their personal lives. La Cabana offers up its chapel for its associates to come together and support each other spiritually when they’re facing a difficult situation. Every month, the departments work on a “Themed Luncheon” to promote team work and spark creativity.

Every week the resort compiles the electronic survey from guests and, aside from reviewing all issues mentioned, names of exceptional associates are identified, and every time a guest mentions the name of an associate, that associate receives a minimum of 5 stars, which are valued at Awg 3.00 per star. The stars are then saved and exchanged against an endless supply of articles such as gas vouchers, phone cards, supermarket credit, bus tickets and more.

As an additional show of appreciation, associates of the month, supervisors and managers are elected as well as the team of the quarter and year-end awards, besides seasonal celebrating such as Appreciation Day, Valentine’s Day, the Local Language Day, Aruba’s Flag and Anthem Day, Autism Day, Mother’s- and Father’s Day, Family Day, Housekeeping Week, Tourism Day, Song Festivals, Christmas dinners and more.

As the resort’s mission states: La Cabana Beach Resort & Casino offer guests genuine personalized service with quality products in a safe and healthy environment. The resorts is also committed to the community it lives in, and feels that it has a responsibility towards the community. As such, the resort holds many charitable activities to help local organizations and groups, and a few years ago it even adopted a school, Colegio Hilario Angela and decided to direct its efforts at the school, with the goal of fixing, renovating and maintaining the school continuously. The resort also keeps the wellbeing of the teachers and students, in mind, sponsoring books, equipment, materials, and personal development sessions. This is all done with the expectation of creating a positive atmosphere where the teachers can mold the students into a generation of professionals who will help propel Aruba forward.

Under the management hotelier Joe Najjar and the Board of Directors, an intensive renovation project of rooms, lobby, public areas, landscaping/parking lot was undertaken, creating the opportunity to build a Casino in its lobby, beautify the property, and plan for the future, to also renovate  the pool and surrounding areas, the pool bar, recreation areas and the creation of a  splash pad for kids.

With core values such as CARE, LOYALTY, APPRECIATION and PASSION, the wellbeing and development of the associates and the resort’s guests are the company’s primary concern. The resort will continue to deliver exceptional service to guests, so they can continue to visit Aruba and support our tourism and economy. Management and associates are very proud of the 25th anniversary, operating as a stable and independent local resort with incredible people.

Last but not least, Management would like to say thank you to the people of Aruba for their loyalty and contribution to the success of the parking lot event, celebrating La Cabana’s 25th anniversary.

CONGRATULATIONS LA CABANA BEACH RESORT AND CASINO

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August 05, 2015
Rona Coster