Visitors find Buddy's 'not too bad'
- 'sky's the limit for guests' needs, management says
By Heppilena Ferguson
Stabroek News
March 28, 2007
Some of the visitors here for the Super Eight matches say that their experiences so far are a charming mixture of glum and glee, but they are abiding with the limitations, while expecting greater days ahead.
When tourists started pouring in ahead of today's world cup match, some of them were still uncertain as to whether the games would come off as scheduled since it was raining heavily in central Georgetown and several other areas across the country. However, yesterday's mostly sunny weather saw the return of some amount of hope to those here and determined to have a good time.
Yesterday Stabroek News spoke with a few persons staying at Buddy's Interna-tional Hotel, the massive state-of-the-art hotel, constructed in time for the games after government sounded Guyana's accommodation challenge.
Benedict Bernange, a statistician employed by Global Cricket Corporation, which is the commercial rights holder for sponsorship and broadcast for the International Cricket Council (ICC), is impressed. He told Stabroek News that this is his first time and according to him, Guyana is quite different to any country he has ever visited.
"I have been to a number of other Caribbean countries and Guyana is so different and reminds me of some parts of India," he said.
He came to Guyana three days ago and is more excited about his visit now that the weather appears more promising.
He thinks Guyanese are a very hospitable people and is really looking forward to visiting the world-renowned Kaieteur Falls in between matches. "I want to go out into the jungle, which I read about, and I have been to other waterfalls in different parts of the world but I'm really looking forward to actually seeing the Kaieteur Falls which I've read so much about," he said.
He complimented the hotel's staff but noted that some of them were still busy doing other finishing works on the building.
Bernange said while he had suffered initial problems with the toilet in his room, which could not flush and also some leakages in the room, it was relatively comfortably. He could not comment on the quality of food at Buddy's since he had gone to the New Thriving Restaurant to have lunch and dinner since he arrived.
Margaret Gibson, a South African cricket logistics officer has been working since she came here on Thursday at ensuring that all teams, team officials and media workers get the right accommodation.
She told Stabroek News that accommodation seemed to be Guyana's biggest challenge but the country seemed to be doing well after all, especially at Buddy's hotel. "I think so far Guyana has done well under the circumstances and the hotel here is functioning fine," she said.
She said initially it was hard to get internet access in the rooms of the hotel and some of the media personnel staying there spoke of this. "It is important that they in particular have internet access so they could get to send their stories to their news agencies abroad," she reiterated.
However, she said this situation was remedied and the proof was the many journalists seen online in the lobby area yesterday.
She said she believed that the hotel was doing well considering the fact that it is newly built. "Everyone has been bending over backwards to ensure that everyone is comfortable and everything is fine."
Dane Wilson, a journalist attached to the Daily Mirror newspaper in the United Kingdom was enjoying his first trip to Guyana and according to him the hotel is not "too bad".
He said he believed the staff were doing their best but it was obvious that there were still some finishing touches being done.
Wilson was asked whether he had experienced challenges, which were publicized in some international reports. He reserved comment, saying that while the stadium looked good and everything seemed fine, his final judgment would come when the games actually get started.
Former England test player, Angus Fraser, from the Independent newspaper in the UK too expressed similar sentiments.
He said while there were little glitches here and there, these were expected since the hotel is a new one and also it was the first time that it would cater for such a large influx of guests.
"There is still some tidying work to be done …but since my last visit to Guyana which was in 1998, the country has grown and is looking much better," he said and expressed the hope that everything comes off as planned in the next fortnight.
Meanwhile, this newspaper was also able to speak with General Manager of the Hotel Latit DaSilva, a Sri Lankan-born Canadian.
He assured this newspaper that everything was going well with the hotel and that staff were working around the clock to ensure that guests were comfortable.
He said much of the hotel's culinary staff were from China and there were Indians also who formed part of the hotel staff.
Asked about language barriers, Da Silva said there were none. He said the needs of guests were being adequately communicated to kitchen staff.
"We have a dynamite Chinese chef… there are also one or two Chinese chefs who converse and are able to interact," he said.
The hotel's manager is of the opinion that English Language is not much of a requirement in the culinary expertise, since he feels that the guests' needs could still be met. He boasted of a strong kitchen brigade and has set the sky as its limit. "We want all our guests to leave contented and for them to come again."
Security at the hotel was very visible today and according to Da Silva all the hotel's floors are fully secured and this is boosted by the presence of ranks of the Guyana Police Force. The 250-room hotel is filled to capacity and up to yesterday, officials were still arriving.