Rivers State Commissioner for Commerce and Industries, Hon. Chuma Chinye has said all hands must be on deck to make Hotel Presidential a hotel of destination for Rivers people and those coming into the state.

The commissioner who was on a one-day working visit to the Hotel told newsmen in Port Harcourt, that if tourism for which the state government has invested so much to promote must thrive, hotels most anchor it,  noting that Hotel Presidential must be a beacon for that anchor to be sustained.

Commenting on the state of the Hotel, Hon. Chinye said “this is our flagship. There is no other Presidential Hotel in Rivers State. No hotel as big as this. The quality of the structure is of standard but a lot of the things are old and out dated. They need to be worked on and need to be improved. A lot of things also need to be replaced.

He added that to be sure that the proper things was being done by the managers of the hotel, there was need to set up a consortium of consultants to monitor the expenditure that they had committed as part of the agreement.

The Commerce and Industries Commissioner stressed that bringing in an independent assessor to work with the managers of the hotel was not an investigative audit but a fact-finding mission.

Responding, the director of courdeau Mr. Salim Chidiac said the upgrading of the hotel would take sometime before it could be completed since the building is not only aged but big in size and is also combining the services with renovation.

Chidiac said out of the 300 rooms which the hotel has, they have attained 60% renovations but the critical aspect of the renovation was the challenge of changing the whole pipes which is gradual without inconveniencing their guests.

Reacting on the staff and guests relations and quality of service which the commissioner said were of concern to government, the courdeau director said customers complaints were universal to every hotel and they have been giving timely and positive response to them.

He added that due to their response, some big clients like multinational companies were patronising them.

The Rivers State Government has allotted N2.2billion for the entire upgrade of the Hotel out of which the managers said only a billion has been expended.

Areas visited by the Commissioner were, the fifth, third and second floors, bushbar, water treatment plant, power house, swimming pool and changing room.

Vivian-Peace Nwinaene