PRESIDENT OF THE CARIBBEAN HOTEL ASSOCIATION, PETER ODLE, wants regional countries to seriously tackle the issue of bad service.

"We must find a solution in the Caribbean to eliminate the incidence of poor quality service that pervades our societies and emerges in our businesses, much to the disgust of our visitors and locals alike," he said.

Odle made the comments while addressing an awards ceremony for staff of the Cobblers Cove Hotel at Bagatelle Great House on Monday night.

The Barbadian hotelier underscored the importance of training locals "to be the best in the world", stating that the success of the hospitality industry depended on it.

But he also saw a need for industry workers to consider their roles in a more constructive light, to the point of looking to acquire more skills and seeking to determine if they were as productive as they could be.

Odle listed absenteeism, calling in sick, reporting late, work stoppages, and not doing one's best among factors that negatively impacted on productivity.

He told the gathering that some workers "can be very creative in finding ways to slow down productivity and generally waste time".

He went on: "Such creativity should rather be spent on what is called thinking outside the box, that is, looking at your professional roles in a light that would make you more flexible by acquiring new skills that would enable you to multi-task or perform several roles that will impact on the efficient performance of your own and everyone else's productivity."

He admitted that a lack of productivity, where it occurred, might very well be a reaction to real or perceived problems and inter-personal relationships between workers and their employers.

"But withholding your services or not giving of your best in the workplace is not the way to address and solve those problems," he said. "There are mechanisms in place to resolve those issues."

He also called for a more mature approach to communications between workers and employers.

The hotel presented more than 50 awards. Patrick Eastmond was named Employee Of The Year and Neil Hitchen Manager Of The Year. (TY)