Photo: Supplied
Innovative thinking and action during the COVID lockdown allowed The Peninsula All-Suite Hotel, in Sea Point, Cape Town, to thrive during the pandemic when many other hotels were shuttered and laid-off staff.
Art of Creation, the name for the business unit that sits at the heart of Dream Hotels & Resorts’ operations, aims to ensure it staff are taken care of while steering the business forward with impactful projects.
Art of Creation is led by Chris Godenir, long-time custodian of The Peninsula All-Suite Hotel. Godenir came up with out-of-the-box solutions during the COVID pandemic which included the hotel offering maintenance and laundry services to the Sea Point community as well as a meal-collection service.
When the initial restrictions were relaxed a little, he made hotel rooms available for day use for people who wanted to work away from home while their offices remained shut.
Success during Covid
September 2020 produced a greater income than September the previous year, which was before COVID, and made the hotel’s staff and shareholders very happy. While other businesses retrenched staff, Godenir found tasks and profitable things for hotel staff to do.
While continuing to oversee management of The Peninsula, Godenir is working with Dream Hotel & Resorts of which The Peninsula is a part, spearheading their Art of Creation initiative.
“Our world is at a turning point where it is easy to lose our way. Art of Creation helps to keep us grounded in our mission and vision. It requires us to remain accountable. It also encourages us to willingly make use of our resources, and established business networks, to create community opportunities for brighter futures,” he tells Farmer’s Weekly, adding: “This is about creating job opportunities in rural areas within proximity to our 22 properties around South Africa.”
Opportunities countrywide
In the Western Cape the options include the agricultural regions of Citrusdal, Swellendam and Montagu. Also included are Rustenburg in the North West, White River in Mpumalanga, and North Pongola and elsewhere in Zululand and KwaZulu-Natal.
“There is a chasm between school leavers with a matric who don’t qualify for onward study and the potential job market, and we want to help bridge this through an in-service training programme where we are looking to place school leavers in our properties,” he says.
Godenir is looking to the agriculture sector for people with potential for positions in tourism.
“As AI [artificial intelligence] and mechanisation continue to cut into jobs in agriculture and other sectors, the hospitality industry and tourism remains a growth area for the employment of people.
“It is the plan that successful candidates of the in-service programme, the Dream Big Academy, will continue to work and to grow within the tourism sector. While we need people with English-language and basic maths literacy skills, the right attitude and personality traits for the service-oriented industry are as important,” says Godenir.
“Not all tourism jobs are front-facing and there are several back-of-house positions that also need to be filled which include maintenance, hygiene, gardening and others,” he says.
Stipend equal to minimum wage
According to Godenir, the company is working closely with the International Hotel School and facilities offering Adult Basic Education and Training towards a matric-equivalent qualification.
“Dream Hotels & Resorts and other businesses with whom we are in discussion, will make the training available as well as fund a stipend which is equal to the industry’s minimum wage. It is important that participants have skin in the game,” he says.
“Participants will need to pay back a portion of the value of the course work, but they can do so over a three-year period.
“This is what Art of Creation is about. In order for us to run a business in an area we need to build relationships with the local community, neighbours and local government surrounding our properties. We want to collaborate and be part of the solution. We are looking to create jobs for people who don’t want to continue working on the farm.
“This is music to everyone’s ears and if every business did what we are doing to create jobs and to improve people’s lives, we would be living in a very different world.”
A July 12 meeting at the Maslow Hotel in Sandton will bring other hotel brands, like Sun International, the Valor, and Beekman Group around the table.
“We hope to create 1 000 new jobs each year with this initiative alone.”
If you have potential candidates who live near any of the Dream Hotel & Resorts properties, email Chris Godenir at [email protected], or [email protected]. Subject line: Dream Big Academy
