Archive for March, 2009

On Thursday March 19th a $5,000 check was handed by Aruba Marriott’s General Manager and Vice President Rick Zeolla to Teen Challenge’s President of the Board Mili Molina-Granviel and Vice President of the Board James Ramos. Teen Challenge is an international organization providing all kinds of social support to the community. The division in Aruba has been active for more than 3 years now. This donation will be used towards the realization of a youth rehabilitation centre for youngsters that suffer from substance abuse addiction.

The money for this $5,000 donation was ‘raised’ by 22 school children, who are all students in the art class of CreaArte under the guidance of Miriam de L’Isle. These children were asked in late 2008 to create ten art works, resembling the Aruba Playground for All Generations. The participating children were informed that they would create the artworks to help better the lives of other children as the payment for these artworks would not be made out to the little artists, however be donated to kids in need by means of the Teen Challenge organization.The ten colorful artworks were revealed on Wednesday February 18th by the Chairman and CEO of Marriott International, J.W. ‘Bill’ Marriott. One of the paintings was presented to Mr. Marriott and currently is on display in his office in Washington and Marriott International’s headquarters. The nine remaining works of this unique art collection can be admired in Aruba Marriott Resort’s hotel lobby.

Teen Challenge Aruba consists of 16 volunteers that operate as staff members in the field, as well as 6 additional members of the board. Main focus of Teen Challenge is to assist kids, teenagers and also adults with any struggles they might have within their family situation, with aggressiveness, molester and sexual abuse, alcohol and drug abuse and difficulties at work or at home. Teen Challenge provides training and information on all of the above mentioned topics, works closely with Reclassering and KIA to help re-integrate former convicts in society without falling back into old habits and is currently working on the opening of a rehabilitation centre for the youth. Teen Challenge is always in need of support by means of additional volunteers who’d like to help out in their daily activities as well as financial funds. More information about Teen Challenge is available through President of the Board, Mili Molina-Granviel at phone nr 582 2400.

Top: Aruba Marriott GM Rick Zeolla (middle) handing the check to Mili Molina-Granviel (left), president of Teen Challenge’s Board and Gina Heyliger, chair of Marriott’s Care Foundation (right) with James Ramos, vide-president of the Teen Challenge Board and Marriott’s Marketing Manager Karin Swiers on the far left.

Bottom left: Group picture of participating school children in the CreaArte project under the guidance of Miriam de L’Isle, along with Mr. Marriott, prime minister Nelson Oduber, minister of tourism and transportation Edison Briesen, Marriott’s general manager Rick Zeolla and marketing manager Karin Swiers.

Bottom right: Mister ‘Bill’ Marriott receiving one of the ten paintings during his visit to Aruba on February 18, 2009.

Moody’s Investor Services, one of the world’s leading credit rating agencies, has affirmed the Baa3 rating of the bonds issued by the Aruba Airport Authority in 1997 and 1999. This rating is determined in two steps. First, the risk of the revenue bonds loan itself is reviewed and reflected in a rating the Baseline Credit Assessment. Then Moody’s reviews if an adjustment is required because it is likely that the Government will give extraordinary support if AAA cannot repay the loan by itself. Compared to the previous rating review in 2007, the Baseline Credit Assessment improved one notch from Ba1 to Baa3.

Moody’s mentions passenger growth and consistently improving financial results during the past years as the main reasons for this improved rating. Management’s successful efforts to diversify the company’s revenues and the well-controlled cost structure are also highlighted. The upward adjustment for possible government support, which was given in the previous rating, was not given this time.

Despite the current worldwide economic crisis, Moody’s has maintained a ‘stable outlook’ for the rating, meaning that it does not see significant threats of downward adjustment of the rating. Peter Steinmetz, Managing Director of AAA NV is pleased with the rating: “If many other companies get downgraded during this time of recession, a stable rating is almost a step forward! Especially the ‘stable outlook’ given by Moody’s is a sign that the efforts of management and employees of the past years to make AAA a healthy and strong company have paid off.”

The Aruba Tourism Authority (ATA) held its first-ever roundtable event at Time Warner Center in New York City on Feb. 5, 2009. Hotel and tour partners from Aruba presented individual property updates and promotions to more than 50 top-qualified travel agents from agencies including American Express, Valerie Wilson, Liberty Travel, Pro Travel, Altour and others.

“New York is the largest North American source market for visitors to Aruba and we place significant value in our travel agent relationships here,” said Geraldine Coutinho-Meyers, ATA’s director of North America. “We wanted to create an event where our hotel partners can spend quality one-on-one time with agents and based on the success of this event, we are planning to host roundtable events in multiple top-source markets throughout 2009.”

The Aruba partners represented at the roundtable agent dinner included: Amsterdam Manor Resort; The Aruban Resort & Casino; Aruba Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino; Bucuti Beach Resort; De Palm Tours; Divi Resorts; Divi Tamarijn Aruba All Inclusive Resort; Hyatt Regency Aruba Resort & Casino; The Mill Resort; Occidental Grand Aruba Resort; Radisson Aruba Resort, Casino & Spa; Renaissance Aruba Resort & Casino; The Westin Resort, Aruba; and Tierra del Sol Aruba Resort, Spa & Country Club.

The event also featured a presentation from the Aruba Tourism Authority on all of the new developments taking place in Aruba, including a total investment of $500 million in refurbishments and tourism updates; the new brand campaign “Meet the 90,000 Friends of Aruba” which is currently running in the United States; and the upcoming launch of the new Aruba.com which will feature a new booking engine and a social networking section for Aruba’s biggest fans.