From left: Joseph Hammond, Fr. Andrew Campbell, Dr. Ibrahim Awal, Mark Okraku-Mantey, Yofi Grant, Deborah Lee-Ann Sivertsen and Mawuena Trebarh
MANAGEMENT OF Movenpick Ambassador Hotel Accra, yesterday held the media launch for the 10th anniversary celebration of the hotel in Accra.
Deborah Lee-Ann Sivertsen, General Manager of the hotel, expressed appreciation to government (both present and past) for maintaining a peaceful environment for the hotel to operate. She also thanked corporate organisations, customers and Ghanaians particularly, for their exceptional hospitality and cooperation which has kept the hotel in business for a decade.
She mentioned the year 2011 as a significant milestone in the history of the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel, Accra, because that was when the Saudi Prince Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud reopened the hotel under the global Swiss brand.
“A number of the paintings, crafts and artifacts from the Ambassador Hotel have been lovingly restored and are currently on display at the hotel. This Swiss heritage, yet Ghanaian at heart, has over 1,500 pieces of Ghanaian and West African art. We are proud to tell Ghana’s rich culture.
“These and many more values are what define the Movenpick brand, demonstrating quality, reliability, care for guests, etc. We are proud to have achieved sustained excellence over the last 10 years, serving as market leaders with standards others aspire to attain,” Ms. Sivertsen noted.
Wilson Klu, Sales Manager of Movenpick Ambassador Hotel Accra, in a remark, noted, “We do ordinary things in extra ordinary ways. We do this by creating, sharing and making moments in the lives of our customers.”
Touching on some activities planned as part of the celebration, he said the hotel would organise a blood donation event in collaboration with the Accra Technical University, undertake charity work with the Princess-Marie Louise Hospital in Accra, donate food, drinks and clothing to orphans and hold a food festival in November.
The celebration will be climaxed with an anniversary weekend and a corporate soiree.
Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, Minister of Tourism, Arts & Culture, who was the guest of honour, commended the management of the hotel for keeping the hotel vibrant even in this era of COVID-19.
He tasked them to maintain quality services and pay attention to customer care, training of staff and staff welfare, among other things,
Indicating “We want to eat and sell Ghana,” he appealed to managers of hotels operating in the country to reduce hotel costs. “It is very high in the country,” he mentioned.
He said Ghana was peaceful with diverse culture and tourism sites.
On the target for the recent launch of the Domestic and Regional Tourism programme by government, themed “#Experience Ghana, #Share Ghana,” he said more tourists were expected in Ghana.
The initiative aims at helping the economy recover from the ravages of COVID-19 and increasing tourist arrivals by 600,000 by 2022 and one million by 2024.
“Let’s treat them well and make Ghana great,” he appealed.
Ueli Prager is founder of Movenpick.
A business desk report