AFTER suffering significant damage in the aftermath of Tropical Cyclone Winston, Mana Island Resort and Spa has reopened its doors to the public after closing for renovations this year.
Resort general manager Patrick Wong, who has worked in the tourism industry for the past 30 years, said it was a different experience managing the property.
“Mana is a large property and I have done a lot of large and boutique properties and the challenge this year is actually the family segment and the driving challenge here is the volume, looking after the kids club,” he said.
“It’s a bit of an adventure too so it’s a wide cross section of that. This one’s a lot more challenging because there are a lot more people around and people come back year after year and they have expectations compared with their stay in previous years.
“So really, they demand standards that meet their expectations.”
Mr Wong said the vision for the resort was upskilling the 300 plus staff members at the property.
“The vision is actually training the staff. I want them to be equipped better and we want to train them, we want to upgrade Mana in a great four-star property.
“There’s going to be ongoing refurbishments at the main facilities and also the accommodation areas but certainly new ideas will be brought in.
“Mana has about 350 staff members and most of them live on site. We provide employment to the local community here, including people from the villages of Yanuya and Tavua.”
Citing tourism as one of the main revenue earners in the area, Mr Wong said the rest of the calendar year was looking up for the property.
“Tourism is one of the major sources of income for people and yes, we were affected by the cyclone because there were damages to our South Beach Restaurant, most of it was actually roofing but we quickly fixed it up in time.
“The rest of the year is looking good, it has been busy – occupancies are looking high and it is in the 90s at the moment.”
Refurbishments at the resort will continue in the coming years. There’s going to be a lot more done. We are also looking at new categories like the Honeymoon Bure going into more executive suites targeting the couples markets that we plan to venture into.”
