Sept / Oct 2016 | Business View Caribbean

62 September 2016 - Business View Caribbean Business View Caribbean - September 2016 63 Chabil Mar began with ten employees and today has 45. “As our inventory grew and occupancy became greater and greater, we added staff in order to cover the essential needs of high-end tourists,” says France. “We had to expand all the food and beverage opera- tions immensely, as well as the front desk and con- cierge. And, of course, the grounds are something that we had to maintain at a very high level. We expanded the pier so that we could provide lounges for people so they could sun out on the pier, and it gave us more space for dining activities and private reservations. The area that we call Café Mar, which is a decked area right on the beach, seated about 20 people when it was originally built, and we doubled the size of it, so it seats close to 40, with one area carved out as lounge. Last year, we added outdoor showers. We also expand- ed our bar and lounge area that originally seated just eight people and we expanded it to a seating of 15 and then added a lounge attached to the bar. Those were the major projects.” France says that Chabil Mar closes down, each year, for the month of October, which, along with Septem- ber, are the two slowest months for tourism in Belize. But that doesn’t mean that the staff goes home; em- ployees are kept on the payroll and shifted into other jobs, including major maintenance work – painting, or rebuilding, or expanding different amenities of the property. “Every two years, we have power-washed all the buildings; repainted them, refinished all the wood- work and wood furniture,” he reports. “Every villa has a personal veranda, so we end up sanding those down and refinishing all of our verandas every other year. Inside the villas, we have various types of tile so we have to clean all the floors and re-polish all of them. So, although we’re cleaning every single day with our housekeeping staff, it’s important for us to do heavy maintenance once a year.” Chabil Mar’s clientele mirrors that of Belize’s overall