Restaurant staff at the Rosedon Hotel have seen their salaries more than double, as a million-dollar revamp gets under way at the Pembroke facility.

Damien Davenport, who took on the role of general manager a year ago, said the boutique hotel was determined to be innovative when it came to staff retention and recruitment.

“We have raised pay rates across the board to make Rosedon an attractive employer,” he said.

Restaurant servers who received $7.50 per hour, plus service fee, now receive $16.40 an hour plus service fee, a 119 per cent increase. Restaurant supervisors saw a 73 per cent increase in salary.

The Pitts Bay Road hotel has also improved its hourly rate for all kitchen roles to ensure a competitive salary.

Mr Davenport told The Royal Gazette that no staff at the hotel receive less than minimum wage now.

Last year, rules came into effect that required employers to pay their workers $16.40 including any applicable gratuities.

“I only arrived here in June 2023, two weeks after the minimum wage was introduced, but within 12 weeks of my arrival, we had increased the salaries of all employees the minimum wage affected,” the general manager said.

Mr Davenport said the Government’s implementation of the minimum wage last year had a direct impact on the hotel’s bottom line, but without employees it would have no bottom line, in the first place.

“All of the gratuities received are now paid out to employees,” he said. “We made that policy six months before the legal change.”

The Rosedon also reduced full-time contracts from 50 hours to 45, provided flexible working to certain employees and stopped charging employees for uniforms.

The company’s holiday practices were also adjusted.

Holiday leave is accrued from day one, instead of after six months of working, and personal and public holiday entitlements can now be combined, allowing for longer paid leave.

“These changes were a necessity to position Rosedon as a modern employer,” said Mr Davenport, who previously worked for the Hotel Du Vin group in Britain.

The Rosedon has 53 employees, of whom 59 per cent are Bermudian or spouses of Bermudians.

“We are committed to attracting more Bermudians and I have amended company policy so entry-level positions are only taken by Bermudians,” Mr Davenport said. “Of course, we also have a number of Bermudians in senior management positions.”

In May, the Chamber of Commerce’s Business Barometer Report revealed that 37 per cent of business owners in Bermuda see employee recruitment and retention as their biggest challenges. Job recruiters have told this newspaper that many employees are now pushing back against toxic work environments, with some choosing unemployment over an unpleasant workplace.

Mr Davenport said: “There is no denying that people’s priorities have changed since Covid-19.”

He said the Rosedon had to make work culture as attractive as possible.

“You have to be passionate about what you are doing to get the very best out of each other,” he said. “Here at Rosedon Hotel, we will continue being innovative, we’ll continue putting our employees at the forefront of our business to attract the very best talent and retain them.”

The hotel is going through renovations costing between $2 million and $3 million. It will include the addition of an outdoor pizzeria and a poolside bar.

Mr Davenport said the hotel had made an application under the Tourism Investment Amendment Act 2023, which extends its concessions from ten years to 15 years.

He said: “I am hopeful that should our application for the Tourism Investment Act be approved, we will continue to invest back in our employees to truly make Rosedon the hotel of choice, not only for the discerning traveller, but for those seeking employment in luxury hospitality.”