Appreciation Day, at La Cabana Beach Resort & Casino celebrated the resort’s stars

Appreciation Day at La Cabana Beach Resort & Casino took off with festive breakfast at the Chit Chat Café, and continued with a General Assembly warmly welcomed by the Eagle Team, and the resort General Manager, Joe Najjar. The annual ceremony, at the conference room, puts the resort stars in the spotlight, acknowledging their many contributions and their total commitment to guests and colleagues.

The hotel tracks its customer satisfaction scores via Medallia, emcee Aichel Lynch explains. Medallia, an effective customer experience management system captures feedback from all guests, transforming the data into insight, in real time.

The ceremony recognized employees singled out by Medallia for being personally mentioned by guests. Medallia’s 2016 Most Mentioned Associates included from the front desk Cynthia Zambrano; from PBX, Sheryl D’arsie; from Housekeeping, Mimi Diogene; from Engineering, Miguel Martinez & Sandy Ras; from Security, Gregorio Milton; from Activities/Health Club, Nixon Castillo; from F&B, Billy Maxi, and Jandor Lampe; from Owners Services, Desiree Henriquez; from Accounting, Rufina Orman; from Bluegreen, Carolyne Geerman; and from the Executive Office, Jessica Franken. Medallia’s Most Mentioned associate, resort-wide, from the front office, Angel Santos, achieved the Highest Medallia Score for the year.

Other departments highlighted by Medallia were the Activities/Health Club and the Front Desk as Most Improved in 2016; Cynthia Zambrano, booked the most vacation upgrades; Janet Reid, assisted most check ins; David Maduro, helped most check outs, and the overall Medallia Champions for 2016, were the diligent members of the Owners’ Services Department!

Medallia awarded Mildred Clemencia the Extraordinary Perfect Attendance award; and the Social Committee enjoyed praise for organizing the Best Themed Luncheon, on Dia di Himno y Bandera, 2016. 

Top F&B Sellers were given a round of applause; they included 3rd place winner Isidro Valdez, 2nd place winner Stephanie Maduro, and 1st place winner Jandor Lampe. Marleny Rodriguez was recognized for good sales at the Islander Grill, sharing the honors of Top F&B Seller with Peter Green.

The Kitchen nominated Martha Numboer as Most Cooperative, and Zoila Danje as Most Caring; Raul Sylla was named Kitchen Team Motivator, and from the same department Christopher Croes was pronounced Most Eager to Develop. 

The housekeeping department recognized Nicolasa Ventura for Most Requests, and Dolores Flores for Most Requests, in her role as supervisor. Margarita Tatis won the Manager’s On Duty highest score for Room Inspections, and Miguel Martinez stood out for having the Fastest Response at Engineering. Marlon Clemencia & Gregorio Milton won the same Fast Response accolade at the Security Department.

While awards were being presented in many service areas, the Associate, Supervisor, Manager, and Team of the Year for 2016, were recognized for stellar performances, among them Minerva Hayes, Helen Werleman, Frank Sabajo, and the Housekeeping’s Public Area Team.

Going down the list of accomplishments for last year, the successful reconstruction of the Accounting Department, by the Accounting team, received great admiration, and the Extra Mile Awards went to the Pool and Beach departments for their efforts during Hurricane’s Matthew’s brief visit here.

The resort also revealed the identity of the Shoco Award nominee, Sandra Gacusan, the ultimate candidate for the national award of excellence in tourism.

Special recognition went to the associate committees: The Social Committee, the G&H Committee, the Eagle Team and the Safety Committee.

In the membership department Nathalie Wouters was signaled out for selling Most Co-Op Units, Desiree Henriquez, processed Most Rentals and Diahaira Vrolijk exhibited the Best Attitude.

The annual recognition ceremony culminated with the announcement of the Silent Raffle Winners, then the resort’s Carnival Queen candidates were invited to take the lead, and escort the crowd dancing through the corridors and lobby to the pool deck, to the Pata Pata bar for a joyous queen election with Quality Brass, under the direction of band leader Gilbert Franken.