After 27 years in the hotel industry, Mark Conklin has been selected general manager of the year for the Marriott hotel chain.

"This is a very prestigious award,'' he said. "I have been selected general manager for the year of the entire company.'' And in a reflection of internal changes the hotel has made to build business, Mr. Conklin thanked his associates -- they are no longer thought of as employees -- for the hard work they are doing.

"I could not be happier or more proud of what the team here has accomplished.

I think the award is for all the people who work at Castle Harbour.'' The general manager of Marriott's Castle Harbour Resort for the past two years said he believed his selection from the more than 300 hotels in the chain was based on a number of factors.

"I think it recognises what the hotel has accomplished over the last year or so,'' said Mr. Conklin.

In 1996, the Castle Harbour Resort was recognised as the most improved hotel in the chain in the areas of customer satisfaction and associate satisfaction.

Customer satisfaction is gauged by responses on guests' comments cards while associate satisfaction is determined by a survey conducted among staff members.

"This year,'' continued Mr. Conklin, "we showed the greatest financial performance improvement in the company.'' "We had a very good 1997, all things considering.'' Mr. Conklin, who as of today has been with the Marriott organisation for 17 years, noted that these achievements were made even while Bermuda tourism was in decline.

In 1997, total room nights were down on the previous year for the Island's accommodations but Marriott's room nights were up by more than 5,000.

This showed the hotel had made significant progress in attracting business, he said.

It also backed up the chain's belief that if you take care of your associates, they will take care of the guests, and the cash register will look after itself.

Hotel management has gotten away from thinking of the staff simply as employees and now considered them associates they worked together with.

This had helped foster a common goal of focussing on taking care of the customer.

And this was being accomplished through a number of things, said Mr. Conklin.

Marriott had focussed on training its associates and had hired a full-time training director and built an in-house training centre.

He said he was pleased with the development of the hotel's staff and noted that 30 people had been promoted recently, 95 percent of whom were Bermudians.

Mr. Conklin added that the hotel's 12-member management team had eight Bermudians on board. It had also repositioned its pricing to make it easier for visitors to buy rooms at the resort, he added.

"We have focussed on doing a better job of serving the guests, increasing our revenue and attempting to be more cost efficient.'' It was critical that the hotel did not lose money in 1997, he pointed out, as it had suffered from a history of poor financial performance.

This had given rise to a series of rumours that the hotel was going to close down, he noted, adding that these had circulated repeatedly during the two years he was with the hotel.

"Every three to four months I hear that we are closing,'' he said.

More seriously, he stressed: "Our plans are to remain open but we need to be financially viable.'' That was why it was critical that Bermuda Properties Limited got public and financial support for its redevelopment plans.

"The goal is to upgrade the hotel significantly,'' noted Mr. Conklin.

"It is critical that Bermuda Properties Limited gets support for its redevelopment efforts. That is the key to our long-term success.'' The hotel's physical plant needed an infusion of capital, he pointed out. Host Marriott had left after deciding it could invest no more money.

Castle Harbour represented about three percent of the Island's gross domestic product, he noted, and employed about 350 people.

If the BPL plan fell through, Mr. Conklin warned, "I cannot guarantee what the future will look like''.

Mr. Conklin said it was too soon to see what effect Department of Tourism initiatives, in partnership with local hotels, would have.

However, he noted that work being done by the Freeman's Group, Monitor Group and the Visitor Industry Partnership were heightening people's awareness to the fact that they all had a role to take.

"I am pleased that these initiatives are underway to help us as a whole improve tourism.'' As far as Marriott was concerned, he continued, the staff were working to make sure that their guests left with good experiences and the desire to return to Bermuda.

"The key factor is if they want to return,'' he said.

"The continued focus has to be on providing a great experience for guests and providing value for price.'' So far, continued Mr. Conklin, room bookings were solid for 1998. However, much would depend on airfares and getting the transient customer to Bermuda.

With 90 percent of the hotel's business coming from the US, he conceded, "we need help from the airlines''.