the past few months, a forum of human resources managers said yesterday.

The gathering of hotel professionals at the Hamilton Princess was one of the first meetings in five years between top-level Immigration officials and hotel managers.

Delegates said the meeting "smoothed the way'' and "opened blocked communication channels'' vital to Bermuda's tourism industry.

Around 40 hotel general managers, human resource directors and staff members attended the Bermuda Association of Human Resource Development's information session to hear from top-level Immigration officials.

Marriott's Castle Harbour human resource director Lorrita Tucker-Simmons put recent Immigration Department improvements down to "a fresh set of eyes'' but hesitated to give direct credit to the new Government.

She stressed the value of forums like the one held yesterday where hotels worked together to solve problems they had in common.

"As hotels we are sharing the same labour pool,'' she said. "We saw the need for a support system to help achieve a common goal.'' Grotto Bay's Jasmine Smith said creating a partnership between the hotel industry and the Immigration Department was in Bermuda's best interest.

"We used to think the Department of Immigration was the bad guys but we realised that we didn't really know what they were doing and they didn't know what we were doing.'' She said the series of meetings on hirers' concerns about the complex and drawn-out work permit process had started five months ago.

Assistant chief immigration officer John Payne told the forum: "Trust is the key''.

He said one of the main areas the Department was trying to improve was communication with the hotels -- one of Bermuda's biggest groups of employers.

The other major priority right now was speeding up the response time on work permits with a two-track system which could accommodate for urgently needed staff as well as ordinary recruitment, he said.

The Immigration Department's latest goal is to return all phone calls within 24 hours and to achieve that all clerks were being trained to identify themselves and address a broader range of problems. Monitor Company facilitated yesterday's BAHRD meeting and consultant Steve Searfoss praised it as a success.

"There was a general consensus that over the last few months the level of communication and service from the Immigration Department has improved,'' he said.

"Human resource staff have noticed quicker response times and that the Department seems more customer focused.'' BAHRD -- a group created in October 1998 to propose solutions to human resource challenges across the hotel industry -- sponsored the meeting.

And representatives from Cambridge Beaches, Marriott Castle Harbour, Pink Beaches, Grotto Bay, Hamilton Princess, St. George's Club, Southampton Princess, Elbow Beach, Sonesta Beach, Horizons and The Reefs attended.

TOURISM TOU IMMIGRATION IMM