Never underestimate the tourism industry. Behind the easy facade lurks a cut-throat industry that few independent hoteliers survive.
With tourism figures showing a little recovery after the drought of last year’s global economic crisis, local hotels are being forced to fight over slim pickings. For the past four decades, Kapok Hotel at St Clair has not only been holding its own, but is making headway in an industry dominated by international chains with deep pockets. As the hotel celebrates its 40th year in business with a new revamped look, directors and sisters Diana Cohen-Chan and Jane Chan recalled last week how they were raised in the business.
Diana, the elder, recalls the time before the hotel was built. Her parents, Godfrey and Ena Chan, sought different ways to make ends meet while keeping the family together. Godfrey Chan worked at Mayaro and Guayaguayare as a shopkeeper and was eventually run out of business when a large-scale grocery opened in the area. Mom Ena looked for something closer to Port of Spain and fell in love with the Cotton Hill location where the hotel sits today.
’She said it was near the bus stop, near the police station and she made the downpayment without letting my father know about it. She knew she would be in trouble for doing that and she was,’ Diana recalled in an interview with the Business Express last week.
She said while her father was upset with her mother for making the purchase without consulting him, he soon saw the opportunity in the area and turned the downstairs of their home into a small diner to cater to the people moving in and out of the area.
’This was a residential place, except for the police station. Mom liked to say that she brought business to this part of Port of Spain. That might not be totally true but we were some of the first people to open a business here,’ Jane says.
Diana said that the diner business was doing well during the 1960s but then the Government added incentives to encourage people to open hotels to facilitate the oil boom visitors and like any savvy businessman Godfrey Chan decided to take advantage of it.
’Things were not as difficult then as they are now. The loans officer passed by everyday and saw dad sweeping and taking care of the business and felt that he was the type of person that would care for his business properly and gave him the loan to start the hotel,’ she said.
The family took their first vacation and kept an eye on the way the hotel industry and the tourism industry was run. By 1970 they were ready and their 35-room hotel was open and ready for business. ’That was the same year as the Black Power revolts, so you could imagine what happened to tourism. That was a hard time for the business,’ Diana recalled.
But things soon returned to normal and the hotel business flourished. The family decided to expand the hotel two years later and added another 35 rooms. ’It was incredible what we were able to achieve in such a small space. Literally the only way to go was up,’ Jane said.
From the hotel’s Tiki Village restaurant, which offers a fusion of Asian and Polynesian-style dishes, Jane had a bird’s eye view of Port of Spain and was able to point out just how close the other buildings were.
When the sisters decided to add another 24 rooms in 1998, those close quarters were a challenge. 'I remember seeing the crane here and wondering just how it was going to work. But everything ran more or less smoothly. The construction was completed in about eight months,’ Jane said. The sisters laughed at the memory of them hustling the contractors to have the hotel ready before Carnival.
’We had guests booked to stay for the Carnival season and the hotel wasn’t even ready,’ Jane said. She said when the hotel was finally completed the water lines sprang a leak and created an impromptu waterfall throughout the hotel, leaving them in a panic the night before their first guests were expected,.
’We were just sitting down to dinner and we get this call: ’Come quick, we flooding!’ Jane laughed. She said everyone rushed to the hotel and spent the rest of the night mopping and cleaning to prepare for the guests the next day.
’That’s one thing about the hotel business, it’s not your average nine to five. You are on call 24/7 and you have to be ready to pitch in anywhere and everywhere,’ Diana said.
’This business is not for the faint hearted,’ she added. ’We came from humble roots and maybe we have achieved a great deal but we worked hard and we were lucky too. Our success came from some vision, some good timing and a lot of luck,’ she said.
By: Renuka Singh
Via: Trinidad Express