MONTEGO BAY, St James — After weeks of preparation and mounting excitement at Sandals Montego Bay, Team Phoenix emerged champions of the resort’s All Star Quiz Competition by edging Team Superstarz in a nail-biting final last Tuesday.

The teams had battled to a tie at the end of regulation time and had to engage in a thrilling sudden death round. As a result, both teams proudly walked away with their individual engraved trophies and personalised gift baskets. Additionally, each member of the wining team received a cash prize of $10,000.

Sandals Montego Bay’s General Manager Christopher Elliott was quite pleased with the turnout and participation of the team members as well as the overall integration of all departments on the resort. “This is one of the many ways we foster team member growth and team work, and I am very pleased with the outcome,” Elliott noted.

Captain of the champion Phoenix team, Veronica Campbell, was ecstatic about the victory. “We started training as soon as they announced the competition and since we got a variety of general and Sandals knowledge questions in advance, we tried to learn as much as we could,” she noted.

According to Campbell, “We appreciate the competition because it helped to widen our own understanding and strengthen our relationship with the team. We also got acquainted with people who we never really got a chance to talk to on a regular basis so I really applaud Sandals for this opportunity and for the prizes as well.”

For Sandals Montego Bay’s Learning and Development Manager Sigourney Hastings-Cox, the activity was the resort’s way of building a healthy inter-property relationship among the team members — all while having some fun. “We at Sandals encourage team building so this is a perfect display of camaraderie. In addition to that, it gives the team members a chance to showcase their scholarly abilities and also enhances their awareness about our brand. We added many questions about our new properties like Sandals Curacao that is currently underway because it helps them to learn about the Sandals we have locally and the ones we have stretched across the Caribbean,” she said.

The resort’s objective of forming closer bonds between its team members was certainly accomplished as the quiz teams comprised members from several different departments. First runner-up Superstarz comprised members from Housekeeping and Landscaping while the winning team Phoenix consisted of members from the Photo Shop, Resort Shop and Front Office. In addition to that, the teams that were eliminated before the finale also had a variety of departments on board, which made for an interesting match.

Captain of the Superstarz team Frances Whittaker was also quite pleased with the afternoon’s proceedings, stating, “though we didn’t win, we did our best. We came close to the victory so I know that next year the trophy will go on Housekeeping’s mantle. All in all it was an excellent experience and I’m happy to work with a company like Sandals that understands the value of healthy competition”.