Fantastic Four Seasons
Published on: 8/19/07.

by CAROL MARTINDALE

ABOUT 800 JOBS will be up for grabs when the Four Seasons Resort opens in 2009.

Executive directors Michael Pemberton and Robin Paterson of Cinnamon 88, developers of the five-star property in Black Rock, St Michael, said 250 staff would be needed to service the 36 villas, while 500 would be employed at the hotel. It will have 106 rooms, including penthouses and beach houses.

They said they had already received applications from individuals looking to work at the property which is tagged at US$380 million.

Paterson said the resort anticipated the majority of the staff employed would be local. He added there would also be job opportunities for pool maintenance, landscape maintenance and security personnel who would be trained within the hotel.

"Those are highly valuable contracts that will go to local contractors," he said, noting that there would also be work for food and wine suppliers.

The executive said that from March, Four Seasons would be starting its recruitment campaign, adding that facilities would be built for training. He said this had to be in place since the hotel was set to open at the end of 2009 or early 2010.

Pemberton said the resort would ensure service standards were the same as the rest of the world's Four Seasons Hotels. He said the resort was already in negotiations with the PomMarine, the Barbados Community College's Division of Hospitality.

"They have seen the Four Seasons manuals and standards for training programmes. It will knit together," he said of the school from which 300 students graduate each year.

Paterson said it was hoped to have all 36 villas built in the next two-and-a-half years.

"The first 16 will be completed in September next year and they will need to be serviced. In the next 18 months, the others will be completed

"We want to make sure that when the villas are completed, Four Seasons is ready to provide a service to those villas," he added.

Already, 65 per cent of the first phase of the villas have been sold, with celebrities like Lucian Grange, chairman of Universal Studios; composer, Lord and Lady Webber; and Simon Cowell, of American Idol fame, listed as owners of the properties which range from US$5 million to US$17 million.

Paterson, however, said Four Seasons was not a development for the exclusive or elite.

The resort, which will cater to young children and teens, will also feature a 50-seater cinema, an Olympic-sized pool, tennis courts, three restaurants and infinity pools for each of the villas.