{"id":317753,"date":"2020-02-19T06:00:37","date_gmt":"2020-02-18T20:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=317753"},"modified":"2020-02-19T06:00:37","modified_gmt":"2020-02-18T20:00:37","slug":"cutting-work-hours-is-last-thing-we-want-to-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/cutting-work-hours-is-last-thing-we-want-to-do\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Cutting work hours is last thing we want to do\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Hyatt Regency Saipan in Garapan is still operating on regular\u00a0hours and regular staff schedules. (BEA CABRERA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With the absence of Chinese tourists and many CNMI hotels already cutting work hours from 40 hours to as much as 28 hours per week, Hyatt Regency Saipan has yet to follow suit, according to general manager Nick Nishikawa.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not yet there. We still have so many things to do. As general manager, cutting work hours of our employees is the last thing we want to do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For the moment, the hotel is resorting to maximizing the revenue that is coming in. \u201cFor example, if one restaurant is having good business, then we try to expand that and make money from there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This was echoed by Josephine Mesta, Hyatt Human Resources director. \u201cIf need be, then hours will be reduced. But as long as we have the customers, we need the staff then and so we run on regular schedules so no one\u2019s work hours has been reduced as far as we are concerned,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The decision of four airlines to suspend flights from China and Hong Kong due to the coronavirus outbreak has forced the CNMI government to implement austerity measures and pushed many private businesses to cut work hours.<\/p>\n

A hotel in San Roque is still running on regular work hours, though. A cashier in the hotel, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity, said there have been talks about work hours being cut, but nothing concrete has been done yet. \u201cMy position is, it is better to cut work hours that be cut off from work permanently. I know it will only be temporary and I would rather have that than to be unemployed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

According to an AirBnb operator on Capital Hill, they have had zero guests since the first week of February. \u201cWe have received a lot of cancellations since most of our guests are from China and Korea. As for new reservations, we have seen many \u2018likes\u2019 under the room information that we have on the website but we have not gotten a solid reservation or booking yet,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough maintaining an AirBnb entails low operations cost compared to a hotel, the cancellations and zero reservations is lost income every single day,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Nishikawa emphasized that staff motivation plays an integral part in a hotel business\u2019 daily operation. \u201cIf you cut hours, the motivation will go down. It is easy to cut hours but I don\u2019t want the staff to have less motivation at work because the guests notice it. \u2026We have to show a smiling face always,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to do many other things first but, in the end, if we have to do it, everybody will understand the reason for cutting hours and still keep the motivation. Our business is to serve the customer and if motivation drops, guests will notice easily and I don\u2019t want that to happen,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

In an earlier interview, Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands president Gloria Cavanagh said the decrease in the number of tourists and hotel cancellations were immediately felt in the industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy Jan. 26, we already felt the huge cancellations and sometimes there were, at most, 400 cancellations at one given time. The hotels that rely heavily on the Chinese market are the ones that are going to be affected the most,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not much incentive for people to travel right now, considering the suspension of direct flights from China to the CNMI and the proclamation of President Donald Trump suspending the entry of immigrants and non-immigrants to the United States and territories who pose a risk of transmitting novel coronavirus,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the absence of Chinese tourists and many CNMI hotels already cutting work hours from…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-317753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317753\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}