But only those properties that prepared themselves during the rough times will be able to cash in on the future prosperity, an award winner said recently.

William Griffith, president and part owner of the Harmony Club, shared these ideas with The Royal Gazette just days after he won the coveted Hotelier of the Year Award.

"I was very delighted, pleased and honoured,'' he said. "I was also elated not just for myself, but for the Harmony Club and our staff as well.

"It was also fortuitous in the sense that Harmony Club has changed hands and I am part of the new ownership. Winning the accolade at this time is good for the employees and everyone else associated with us.'' With the award firmly in hand, Mr. Griffith said he was looking forward to charting the hotel's path into the next century.

A visit to the Paget property reveals where the $250,000 invested in the hotel between January and March has gone.

New signs welcoming guests to the property are in full view, as well as a fresh coat of paint on all five of the buildings that comprise the 68-room hotel.

The fresh water swimming pool has been upgraded and a new jacuzzi has been installed a few feet away next to the cabanas.

And barbecues at the revamped outdoor bar will be a common feature of guests' summer dining.

Some of the rooms also have a television complete with cable and a remote.

"Harmony Club is all-inclusive,'' Mr. Griffith explained. "It's the only all-inclusive property in Bermuda where we have included everything in one package.

"Our aim is to sell something to our clients that they can afford. Nowadays we find our guests do not like to buy things that have hidden costs attached.

"We we sell them a package which includes airport transfers, all the food taxes and gratuities and it goes very well.'' All-inclusive guest packages have been a steady feature at the Harmony Club for the last nine years and will continue, he said.

"Tourism in Bermuda has gone through some very difficult times but I think in many ways we have reached the bottom of the most difficult period,'' he says.

"Any hotelier who has survived that period and has prepared themselves for the future will be in a better position to take off.

"Although Bermudian tourism is not at its strongest right now, I am positive that Harmony Club, as a concept, is something that we can offer to our visitors.'' An important feature of the tourism upsurge, Mr. Griffith anticipates, is for all involved in the industry to pay close attention to the overall product and service that they offer.

These strategies, he said, are fundamental to any plan that aims to keep visitors returning to Bermuda each year and attracting first time guests.

For Mr. Griffith, a Barbadian who gained a Bachelor of Science degree in hotel management from the University of the West Indies in 1979, being judged hotelier of the year by his peers justified a decision he made at 17.

At that time, the graduate of Barbados' famed Harrison College could have followed the path of his peers who opted to pursue more lucrative careers in law, medicine or dentistry.

The hotel industry was not among their priorities because of its perceived lack of earning potential and unsociable hours.

But Mr. Griffith bucked the trend and upon graduation from UWI he joined Barbados' Sandy Lane Hotel in September, 1979 as a management trainee.

While there, he became purchasing manager, night manager, food and beverage manager and director of sales and marketing.

In 1988 he was appointed general manager of Forte Hotels' Harmony Club in Bermuda and went on to direct the sales and marketing strategies for Forte's other properties in Jamaica, Guyana and the Bahamas.

In September, 1996 Mr. Griffith went from manager to owner when he organised a buyout of the Harmony Club from Forte.

"I'd like to think of myself as fair but firm,'' Mr. Griffith says of his management style. "I am fair and firm to almost stubborn at times. But I am also fun-loving in what can be a very intense industry.

"At the end of the day everyone knows that we mean business. I think that an employee's responsibility is to come to work on time, do an honest eight hours work and go home.

"If they do that, then we all will have fun. Anything outside of that gives me a problem.'' HOTELIER OF THE YEAR -- Harmony Club president William Griffith TOURISM TOU