RANDY Gunning, who has worked at Sandals Negril Beach Resort and Spa for the last five years, is this year’s Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association’s Hotel Worker of the Year.

Earning high marks in categories including quality of work, volume of output, reliability, co-operation, courtesy, appearance and hygiene, punctuality and pleasing personality, the bartender was an easy choice.

Gunning began working as a bar porter at Sandals Negril in 1997 and was promoted to his current position as bartender in March of 2000. In that same year, he was named Employee of the Year, following that up with the Most Outstanding Personality of the Year in 2001.

In addition to his bar tending skills, Gunning finds time to get involved in other aspects of life at Sandals Negril. He is a member of the property’s international culture club and he sits on the planning committee for the annual Miss Sandals competition. The hard working young man also gives back to his community by being a member of a local youth club.

His excellent bartending skills, combined with his winning personality, earned him a slew of gifts for copping the industry’s Hotel Worker of the Year award. These include:

* gift baskets from Red Stripe, J Wray and Nephew Limited and Grace Kennedy and Company Limited;

* a $10,000 cheque from the JHTA;

* a watch from Swiss Stores;

* return tickets for two to either Antigua, Barbados, or St Maarten from BWIA International; and

* $25,000 from the Inbond Merchants Association.