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Small Tourism Accommodation Owners
Special General Meeting
TriniView.com Reporters Event Dates: October 11, 2008 Posted: October 14, 2008 The Small Tourism Accommodation Owners of Trinidad and Tobago (S.T.A.O.T.T.) held their special general meeting on Saturday 11th October, 2008, at the YMCA compound on Benbow Drive, Wrightson Road. This function was done in order to fulfill several purposes including the presentation and approval of their draft constitution, the election of an interim executive committee and the unveiling of the organization's logo. S.T.A.O.T.T., which is the brainchild of Denise Aleong-Thomas, was conceptualized in order to assist small tourism accommodators, including holders of small properties and other related service providers, to come together to collectively deal with issues relating to tourist accommodations. According to Aleong-Thomas, this organization is beneficial to the tourism industry because it would help bring the local tourist industry up to international standards and would assist Trinidad and Tobago tourism by catering to the spillover from the hotels and bigger guest facilities. This organization has also identified training needs for the Tourism Development Company Limited (TDC) such as front-office training and housekeeping training and promises to assist with breakfast preparation in the near future. Aleong-Thomas hopes that all properties that fall within this criteria would come and participate and eventually join this body so that they would become a greater force. The criteria to becoming a full member of the S.T.A.O.T.T. are: having properties between one and twenty rooms, having a host home, having a TDC approved property or having tourist-ready facilities such as a bed and breakfast and an overall self-catering facility. The meeting began with the national anthem which was provided by sound system engineer Anthony Mayers, followed by a prayer by Ann-Marie Cordiver and an overview of S.T.A.O.T.T. by Cynthia Chow. Denise Aleong-Thomas then presented the draft constitution which was approved by the members present. The election of the interim committee also took place and their executives are as follows: President - Denise Aleong-Thomas Vice President - Owen Sylvester Secretary - Liesel Lashley Treasurer - Anne Austin Public Relations and Marketing - Anthony Mayers Following were greetings from Tourism Development Company Limited, Mrs. Shakila Medina, who is also the Coordinator of the Small Tourism Enterprise Project (S.T.E.P.) and the official launch of the logo by Susan Murray Solomon. According to Ms. Solomon, the launch of the logo brings the organization into perspective by officially putting a stamp on S.T.A.O.T.T. She also expressed S.T.A.O.T.T.'s importance in promoting other types of accommodations in a tropical setting and their commitment to living up to their philosophy: People, Hospitality, Service. After the vote of thanks by Ms. Cynthia Brown, there was a mini-expo featuring merchandise from Del's Merchandising and Virginia Artware as well as light refreshments for all. S.T.A.O.T.T.'s first general meeting would take place in March 2009. S.T.A.O.T.T. Special General Meeting in pictures: www.triniview.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=313360 |