Q & A with Michele Olivier, Senior Vice President of Sunset Resort Group, Jamaica

For over a decade Michele Olivier has been working in the Caribbean Resort Marketing and she holds a Masters degree in Hospitality and Tourism Marketing from Johnson & Wales University.

A resident of the Islands and south Florida, Olivier has strong ties to the Caribbean community. In addition to marketing resorts, she has held chair positions with various tourism associations and worked with local governments promoting the region with such pioneer initiatives as driving airlift, cooperative tour operator relations and island-wide sporting and music events as well as supporting the educational growth of tourism professionals in the region.

Olivier possesses an extensive background in the tourism business. She was the GM at the Manchebo Beach Resort and Revenue Manager at the Holiday Inn SunSpree Resort on the Island of Aruba; then appointed Regional Director of Sales and Marketing for the Caribbean for InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG). Recruited to the Dominican Republic as the Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Revenue Management for Coral Hotels & Resorts, Olivier oversaw the Coral by Hilton brand upscale all-inclusive resorts. As the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Elegant Hotels Group, the leading hotel collection in Barbados with five boutique resorts, Olivier opened an international sales and reservations office in Miami.

Currently, she is the senior vice president of Sunset Resort Group, and manages the strategic development and direction of sales, marketing and distribution for more than 1,200 guestrooms in three of Jamaica’s leading resorts areas.

Can you tell us your experience with teamwork and training in the sales and marketing areas?
To be a great manager is easy; you surround yourself with great people!

I inspire others to excel by clearly communicating business values and direction, recognizing good performance, providing managerial support and career guidance.

I have had the privilege of working with the best and brightest in the industry in award-winning teams that regularly exceed goals This would not be possible if my team had not been highly motivated and very good at what they did.

A sales force needs to be consistent and to meet its targets takes focus, effort and education. We run impactful training programs for the sales team that include modules on everything from communication skills to rational pricing and contract negotiating. While the learning is valuable, the feedback that I get is the biggest takeaway is the face-time with colleagues. This is a global business and staff is located around the world and often far from the product they represent and the other people they work with.

How was your experience at Coral Hotels & Resorts in Dominican Republic, your first time in the Spanish Caribbean?
Oh, it was outstanding and quite a learning experience! Recruited by Simon Suarez, who was president of the Caribbean Hotel Association at the time, I was exposed again to some great people. As VP of Sales, my function was as the global coordinator for a team of 30 professionals, multiple vendors and over 300 Hilton sales offices; deploying strategies in sales, public relations, trade presence, events, promotions, advertising and interactive marketing to grow worldwide market share.

We accomplished quite a bit in those few years. The creation and branding of in Sense Spas brought some talented people together. Remember Yndiana that Coral became the first resort chain to globally deploy Microsoft’s dynamic CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software. That was a very informative project.

How was the recent Caribbean Marketplace for you?
Overall the show was very successful for Sunset Resorts. We attended with 3 account managers, our revenue manager, COO and myself to cover the four major markets of Canada, the US, Europe and Latin America. This is the most important show for the Caribbean, focusing as it does on solely the region. It lets us start the year off right by giving us face time with our customers in business and social settings and takes a heartbeat for Caribbean tourism for the next 12 months.

It is also a great opportunity to bring awareness and support to the educational foundation, sustainable tourism and other efforts of the CHTA.

How were the packages and offers received by the buyers?
Very well. We plan to have some fun and exciting packages this year in the market. Our campaign for 2010 is “Get your FUN on!” and we are really living into this. Our “Play in Paradise” focuses on summer family travel and includes “Dive-In Movies” where kids float in tubes in the pool watching classics and cartoons. New romance packages with a free wedding offer, “March Madness” and “Spring into Sunset” all capture fun elements.

Any renovations or news at the property?
We are renovating rooms as resources allow with new colors, soft and hard goods. The COO, Craig Martin, has challenged the GM’s with a “zero-defect” program that gets engineering into every room on the property. The idea has really kicked in.

The most exciting news from my side is the additions to the sales team and additional resources we have. We are now fully connected to THE worldwide GDS systems, allowing agents to interact and book directly with us, this is equivalent to 150,000 new customers globally. We have a new Revenue Manager who is working on additional distribution channels and re-vamping our Central Reservations Office in Montego Bay; and we have added additional staff in Canada, the US and a representation firm, Solvera, based in Argentina.

How are you working along with JTB in Latin America?
I think Alex Pace is a talented and dynamic individual who knows his regions well. For the first time ever, Jamaica hosted a JAPEX (Jamaica Product Exchange) for Latin America in October of 2009. This is structured much like CHTA Marketplace and was very well attended and very informative for the Jamaican hoteliers who have no marketed in this region before.

Is the Latin American market growing and what would you do if you were the Minister of Tourism of Jamaica in order to increase traffic from Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, etc?
While summer arrivals for 2009 were down from Latin America to Jamaica, I believe there is tremendous opportunity, having worked in this market on other islands. Mr. Lynch is doing all the right things. We cannot hope to have visitors if there is no airlift and this has been his focus.

What does Jamaica have that other Caribbean destinations are lacking?
Jamaica as a destination has a wealth of offerings and can weigh in with any other Caribbean destination on beaches, breadth of resort offerings and people. Jamaica received the “Golf Destination of the Year for the Caribbean and Latin America” voted by the more than 300 members of the International Association of Golf Tour Operators; this is a new focus for the destination. With the new Montego Bay Convention Center we will have the capacity to attract large groups to the country.

Jamaica also has a culture from which a deep well of talent has grown – musicians, artists and athletes to name a few.

Jamaica as a business entity is easy to do business with; there are many strategic alliances with the Tourist Board and they find creative ways to assist partners.

Do you have Spanish-speaking personnel at the property?
In fact, we do! At the executive level, our Corporate Chef and Director of Housekeeping speak fluent Spanish. Our Director of Retail, who covers all properties speaks several languages, Spanish included; and has been training the front of the house staff in basic Spanish and Italian phrases to delight our customers.