Malliouhana Hotel and Spa celebrated its 20th Anniversary of operations on September 2, with a lavish party for its more than 250 staff (spread across its various departments) and their families and friends.

The mass party at Le Bistro followed the closing of the hotel on August 31 for the usual two months break until its reopening on November 1 for the 2004/2005 tourist season.

Malliouhana is a member of the Leading Small Hotels of the World. It has been consistently rated in the top Gold List by Conde Nast Traveller and is owned and operated by Mr. Leon Roydon and family.

Manager of the property, Mr. Nigel Roydon, said construction of the hotel was started almost 24 years ago. Within two years, two villas on the beach were completed and the main building and rest of the hotel were being constructed. The main hotel was opened on November 1, 1984. Six days later the property was struck by Hurricane Klaus which washed out most of the gardens but, thanks to the publicity the hotel got in various magazines in the United States, “we opened with a bang and have never looked back,” Mr. Roydon recalled.

“When we opened in 1984 we had 41 rooms. We now have 55. So we have grown slightly in terms of rooms but more importantly we try to grow our facilities,” he went on. “The facility we are standing in now was opened in 1999. We have a 15,000-square foot Spa that we opened two years ago. The children’s playground we first opened in 1990 and then expanded at the time we opened this [Le Bistro – an extra pool, restaurant and conference facility]. We have always tried to improve the facilities and give our guests more rather than just make more rooms.”

Asked about the concept of the hotel, he commented: “The original plan of Mr. Roydon (his father) when he started to build the hotel was to try to offer European-style space, luxury and service including excellent food in a Caribbean setting which he felt had never been offered up to that time. Most hotel rooms that were built in the 70s were very small. The restaurant facilities were meager. Most food consisted of offering barbecues on the beach and nothing much else. His concept was to offer something a lot more luxurious which I feel he exceeded in exceptionally well.”
“Is that the reason why the hotel has been rated so highly?” he was asked.

“I would say yes because he set down the fundamentals that we have always tried to work to. The standards of excellence that he dictated at the start have been the objective of all the staff ever since,” he responded. “At the end of the day anybody can build luxurious property but if you don’t put the service with it, it would never be a top rated facility. We have tried over the years to give the best service we can and to improve on that service all the time.”

He said the hotel still had 30 members of the original staff and that at present some 100 had been working for at least 15 years. “We have been very fortunate to have continuity in our staff and as such they have grown as the hotel as grown. I would say that if you looked back to 1984 and the staff’s expectations of what they should provide, it was a lot less than they provide now. I think that they have grown in their appreciation and in their desire to provide excellence as the hotel has grown.”

He emphasised the importance of the service of each worker by saying: “The people that wash the pots in the kitchen, or do the laundry or carry out the maintenance in the plant room, are equally as important to the smooth running of the hotel, and the standards of excellence that we set, as the front desk and the maitre-De in the restaurant. Everybody contributes in their own way, but all contribute.”

While tourism and the hotel industry are going well, the Manager of Malliouhana spoke about something that is worrying him (and others). “I have personal concerns at this moment in time about any delays that the opening of the airport might suffer as to their effect on tourism,” he said. “It’s very worrying that if the airport does not open on time the American Eagle is going to drop people in St. Maarten and say goodbye; and that could reflect very badly on us if we can’t bring them over in a very seamless hassle-free way.

“I am concerned about the amount of attention that is being put to this. I have tried to emphasise this at every meeting I’ve had with Government that everybody knows that the airport is going to be closed to the 17th of December. They have not been able to book tickets to come to Anguilla as they have to fly to St. Maarten. But from the 17th of December, they expect to land in Anguilla and if they don’t, then there will be a lot of repercussions to it and it could affect the tourism industry on this island for a long time.
“It is not going to be always just a few guests that got upset because they ended up landing in the wrong island. It’s going to be by word of mouth - spread to more and more people - and will have a very negative impact on us.”

Asked what he saw as a way around the problem, he said: “I think the way out is to make sure that we have in place the means whereby we can get them from St. Maarten to Anguilla as easily as possible. That’s the point I have been emphasing in my discussions.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Leon Roydon joined his son in speaking about the 20th Anniversary of Malliouhana Hotel.

“It’s nice to still be around at this stage since the 20 years,” he observed. He said that when he first saw Anguilla in 1980 there were few tourists on the island. Some of the other islands at the time, like St. Maarten, had many hotels. He found peace and quiet in Anguilla and thought it was a nice place to spend some years as well as some money in investment. Within three months in 1980 he purchased land at Meads Bay and started to build.

Later that year he bought Cul-De Sac Hotel which he wanted to use as a training school. It was operated for two years as a night club/restaurant and was eventually sold when the family undertook to build Malliouhana.

“I have no intentions of building it bigger in any way,” he said. “We got 55 rooms. I am very happy with those… It is a nice atmosphere here and we are friendly.

“I have 250 people [on staff] lot of them have been with me for a number of years. Thirty of them have been here for 20 years, the day we first came here,” he stated. Among the 30 he singled out Althea Hughes of Long Bay (Mammie), who is 80 years and retired only last year. He praised her for her faithfulness and dedicated work.

“I like the people and I hope the people like me,” he remarked.

“Mammie” is one of those persons who enjoyed working at the hotel over the years. “I did everything from washing to cooking and it was very good,” she said.

Another of them is Tim Franklin of South Hill who has also been at Malliouhana since its inception in 1984. He is the Pastry Chef and has had the opportunity to travel to France about half a dozen times for training. He has also participated in the Caribbean Hotel Association-sponsored annual culinary competition in Puerto Rico.

“Sure man, for 20 years I enjoyed doing my job,” he stated. “If I didn’t enjoy it I would not have stayed in it so long. It is a pleasure doing it. I love the hotel and the people who own it are very good to work with.”

During the sumptuous party, a number of staff members and other persons were recipients of gifts from businesses in the community which provided goods and services to the hotel over the years. The gifts were won in raffles with tickets picked up at the gate.

The party climaxed with dancing music by the Mussington Brothers during which many of the some 300-plus persons in attendance took to the floor.

Mr. Roydon with anniversary cake

Pastry chef Tim Franklin

One of the party scenes

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