It was with Calypso Rose's "Going Down San Fernando" ringing in my mind that I recently journeyed to the southland to have lunch with the management of Cara Suites, Pointe a Pierre.
It was that kind of day when as my late father would have said "it could be a whole day rain." A bleak and overcast day, which was however completely forgotten with the very warm welcome from General Manager, Helen Logan-Alcala, and her staff to the hotel which was formally opened on June 22 by Prime Minister Patrick Manning.
Once inside the completely renovated hotel painted in warm shades of gold, the only reminder of the rainy weather were the low clouds hanging over the Gulf of Paria, which is now clearly and enjoyably visible from most areas inside the hotel.
Cara Suites PAP is the new name for what was once Farrell House 1975 Limited. A hotel which had already changed hands from being government owned at one time to private ownership between 1990 and 1996, until 1997 when two Irish hotel consultants, Shaun Mc Grath and Paul Stephenson, who had built Guyana's first Eco Lodge in the late 1980's, became the new owners. And Farrell House became the newest hotel in the Caral Hotels group, filling the need for a reputable corporate hotel in the south/central district of Trinidad. Already there are several Cara Hotels in the Caribbean, known for their unique brand of hospitality. Cara Suites, Cara Lodge and Cara Inn in Georgetown, Guyana; Cara Suites and Cara Lodge in St Vincent and the Grenadines; and Cara Suites St Lucia.
A pre-lunch tour showed the well-appointed Executive Room, the Suite and the standard room. The newly designed conference and banquet rooms that can accommodate up to 250 persons, the Bay bar overlooking the Gulf, and the Business Centre with its array of computers, printers and internet access, all for free.
Lunch in the Metropolitan was a gracious but relaxed event. Executive Chef, Barry-James Poppe's mouthwatering meal started with ribbons of honeydew melon, continued with Lamb Cutlets Nicoise accompanied by buttered snow peas and carrots and Parisienne ball potatoes, and ended with Marbled Cheesecake. But then what else can one expect from the British chef who started his career 43 years ago at Scott's Fish Restaurant in Piccadilly, London as an Apprentice Chef, and has worked his way through Bermuda, Bahrain in the Gulf, Bombay (India), Saudi Arabia, West Africa, Egypt and Thailand, gathering a long list of Culinary Awards along his International path. Logan-Alcala, a graduate of the Trinidad and Tobago Hotel School and UWI's Hotel and Tourism Management degree programme, came to Cara from the Hilton Hotel where she was the first female Food and Beverage Manager. No stranger to the Pointe-a-Pierre location, Helen managed the Trintoc guesthouses for a short while in a return agreement for the Trintoc scholarship which earned her a degree.
As the new general manager seeks to "create a service of the third kind" which builds customer loyalty through personalised service and quality customer care to international and regional travellers, Cara Suites has already partnered with the Petrotrin Recreational Complex, just five minutes away. For a nominal fee guests have access to Petrotrin's 18 hole golf course, a multitude of tennis and squash courts, badminton courts, billiard tables, swimming and yachting facilities. And coming soon to Cara Suites will be a Golf Driving range and a jogging trail through its 18.5 acres. Logan-Alcala is sure that "whoever said you can't mix business with pleasure has obviously never stayed at a Cara Hotel, where the needs of the modern business and leisure traveller are addressed. "
And What's New at Cara? The Cara Privilege Club, which starts this month. Members of the programme will earn Cara points, the closest thing to money, enabling unprecedented awards and flexibility. With Cara's selection of hotels, members will enjoy free nights across the region and much more.