Cinnamon Grand celebrates successful 1Q at Associate Quarterly Meeting

Having completed an immensely successful first quarter, Cinnamon Grand conducted its Associate Quarterly Meeting on 15 August in the hotel’s Grand Ballroom, with the participation of over 600 employees.

The event is a platform to inform associates about the hotel’s performance as well as reward and recognise outstanding employees. The meeting also took on something of a celebratory tone as the associates were brought up to date with the latest achievements of the hotel in financial, sporting and environmental spheres.

During its first quarter, Cinnamon Grand has recorded an impressive financial performance, being at the top of its competition in terms of Room Revenue and Food and Beverage Revenue.

The hotel also received high praise from the tour operating arm of Emirates Airlines, for being “the only five star hotel in the city”. In its publication ‘A World of Choice’ Emirates ranks Cinnamon Grand among some of the best hotels and resorts in a large network of around 550, based on comprehensive research conducted on the industry.

Cinnamon Grand was the first hotel in Asia to be awarded ISO Certification in three categories in 2006 – ‘A Better Tomorrow’ (ISO 14001), ‘ More than Just a Taste,’ (ISO 22000) and ‘Safe at Work’ (ISO 18001) – and Rajitha Amarasinghe was given Special Recognition for his commitment and focus towards the annual recertification process.

Further, Cinnamon Grand’s continued focus on and commitment to environmental consciousness and sustainability were recently reaffirmed when the hotel received Green Globe Certification – an international endorsement which evaluates sustainable practice within the travel and tourism sector.

The hotel’s score – 65% – was the highest score to be secured by a city property, and Shashi Jayawardene received a commendation for the effort put into receiving this endorsement.

General Manager Rohan Karr also commended and congratulated several dynamic and dedicated members of the team, some of whom brought pride to the hotel with their prowess in sports and success in numerous industry competitions.

Among these was Chef N.P.W.J. Weeraman, winner of the first Gold Excellence Award for his intricately detailed, life-like edible dough sculpture of an eagle on a hunt. As a whole, the culinary staff of the hotel put up an impressive performance at the Annual Culinary Awards, securing five Gold medals, 17 Silver medals and 13 Bronze medals.

At the recently conducted Marie Brizard Bartenders Cocktail and Flaring Competition, Cinnamon Grand created history when for the first time in 20 years, one hotel won in two categories where A.M.D. Sampath and E. Cheshan Buddhika emerged winners in the categories of the Classic Cocktail and the Flaring Competition respectively.

This was following the hotel’s performance at the preliminary rounds of the competition where it was the hotel with the largest number of entrants into the final round held in July.

The Grand’s cricket team also received a round of thunderous applause for emerging the proud winners in a Big Match (Battle of the Spices) held between the group’s city properties- Cinnamon Grand and Cinnamon Lakeside.

The group also joined in a hearty cheer for the Women’s Cricket Team which emerged Runners Up at the Travel Trade Cricket Match. Further, at the Masters Long Course Championship 2011, Edward Vandendriesen bagged five Gold medals, and was declared champion in the over 55 category in addition to succeeding in breaking one of his own records. He also coached the Cinnamon Grand Swimming Team to emerge Runners Up at the JKH Swimming Meet.

General Manager’s Special Awards were given to Asiri Condegama (F&B) – the Cocktail Training and Motivational Guru for his untiring efforts, to Vasantha Fernando (laundry) for his honesty and integrity by returning nearly Rs. 400,000 belonging to a guest and to Dilini Rajapakse for her dedication to go the extra mile with a smile!

Mario Gibson, the dynamic butler, was declared Associate of the Quarter for his endorsement by world renowned author and motivational speaker Robin Sharma as being “like Aladdin – ever present,” and for his level of customer focus. He was followed by nominees for the award – A.J. Fernando of the Kitchen Staff, D.H.K.S. Silva of Housekeeping and Madhu Samarasinghe of Banquets for their passion and drive in providing the best of service.

The Associates Quarterly Meeting was concluded with a further commitment to striving toward fulfilling higher goals in the future while remaining socially responsible and building on sustainable practices.