MY PRINCESS OF HOSPITALITY

CONFESSIONS OF A GLOBAL GYPSY

By Dr. Chandana (Chandi) Jayawardena DPhil

Today, instead of chronologically narrating another episode from my career, I will write something different. It is something close to my heart. At this difficult time, I am happy to share this story with the readers of my column. It is a story of how my curiosity about a young lady turned into an unconditional love that lasted over 25 years. On November 6, 1995, I was introduced to Miss Mélaine Patrice le Mercier DuQuesnay. Since then, until July 27, 2021, she was my Princess of Hospitality…

November, 1995 – A Sales Call in Jamaica

Soon after organizing a series of Halloween special events, I left my position as the General Manager of the main hotel in Guyana – Forte Crest Pegasus – and an eco-resort in the Amazon – Timberhead. I landed in Jamaica the next day, on November 1, 1995, at noon to start my orientation as the new General Manager of the largest business hotel in the island as well as the best hotel in the capital of Jamaica – Kingston. Forte Grand Jamaica Pegasus had 360 rooms and over 400 full-time staff including a large sales team.

As my predecessor, a Swedish hotelier, had two more weeks in Jamaica, I decided to dedicate half of my time during those two weeks to do 30 sales calls with ten different members of the sales team. My aim was to meet the main customers of the hotel and observe the effectiveness of the sales team. On November 6, the Director of Sales took me to one of the two largest printing companies on the island – Lithographic Printers Limited. While waiting to meet with the Chairman of the company, we chatted with his daughter. This young lady in her late twenties was the Director of Operations and Sales of the printing company.

She was also a chatterbox. She quicky said, “I am Mélaine. Welcome to Lithographic Printers. I handle all printing for Jamaica Pegasus.” I was intrigued by her beautiful smile and her mesmerising greenish blue eyes. I told her that, “You may have to impress the new General Manager to continue to handle all printing for the hotel.” Her eyes sparkled, while she smiled again. I felt that she liked a challenge.

A week later, Mélaine came to see me for a meeting over a cup of coffee at my office. I was surprised to learn that she had earned a Bachelor of Commerce Honours Degree from one of the best comprehensive universities in Canada, University of Guelph, with Hotel and Food Administration as her major. Mélaine then told me that as a teenage girl growing up in Canada, she was fascinated with the mid-1980s TV soap opera, Arthur Hailey’s ‘Hotel’, and decided to become a hotelier. She said that she loved the bearded hotel general manager, the main character in the series, acted by James Brolin. She then said, “You look like him, but with curly hair.” I returned a compliment, “You look like Julia Roberts, but with green eyes.” She corrected me, “They are blue, but the colour changes a little depending on the colour of my dress!”

November, 1996 – A Fighting Friendship in Jamaica

Later, I learnt that Mélaine had done her university co-ops/internships at the Niagara-on-the-Lake Tourist Information Centre in Canada and the Forte Grand Jamaica Pegasus Hotel. That explained her popularity among hotel employees in the front office and food & beverage operations. I continued to give her printing contracts and her company gave us some room business.

In addition to Forte Grand, Melaine handled a few other prestigious key printing accounts in the hospitality and tourism industry in Jamaica. Her corporate clients included Ramada Renaissance, Sandals and SuperClubs hotel brands. She also handled Air Jamaica and Jamaica Tourist Board accounts. Her university education in hospitality management had become useful in serving these organisations as a supplier, since 1990.

A year later, I became very busy with an unprecedented calendar of entertainment shows, art exhibitions, food festivals and holiday programs including a record-breaking 100 holiday events over a period of 38 days. We printed a monthly newsletter using Lithographic Printers. Some of my tough price negotiations led to a few disagreements between Mélaine and I. Once or twice, she left my office in tears. One day, I heard that her father had been annoyed with our ongoing love-hate relationship. He had told Mélaine, “Don’t mix business with relationships. Whatever you do with the Coolie Man, don’t lose the Pegasus account!” I was offended by that outdated racist term, but soon realized that it is a common ‘friendly’ term in Jamaica for anyone who looks Indian.

November, 1997 – An Affair in Jamaica

In 1997, my employer, Forte PLC in the UK, purchased Le Meridien from Air France. Jamaica Pegasus was one of the five-star Forte Grand hotels from around the world chosen for rebranding as Le Meridien. I was entrusted with a major upgrading project prior to the rebranding. All stationary, menus, etc., had to be reprinted in keeping with Le Meridien standards. This meant that I had frequent weekly meetings with my favourite printer in Jamaica.

Two years after I first met her outside of her father’s office, Mélaine and I went on our first date. It was a grand ball organised by the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce at the Pegasus. We were at the head table. Our friendship soon blossomed into a romance. I was occasionally invited to her father’s house for dinner parties. On some Sundays, we went on her father’s boat to the Lime Cay and Maiden Cay located just off the coast of the famous pirate town, Port Royal. Frequent dinner dates, movie nights and short breaks to resorts became common. On Mélaine’s invitation I delivered a training session to her team. We became a couple for festive events and Christmas. After that I called her ‘Mélaine’ only when she annoyed me. All other times, I affectionately called her, ‘Boo’. She was my ‘Boo’, forever…

November, 1998 – In Love in Jamaica

Towards the end of my three-year contract, I was considered for the opportunity to open a new Le Meridien in Kathmandu, Nepal. I invited Mélaine to leave her family business and travel with me to Asia. However, she was a bit nervous about taking our relationship to such as an adventurous new level. This led me to instead accept an offer by the University of West Indies (UWI) as a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Tourism Management. With that, I was able to remain in Kingston – Mélaine’s birth place. We were now lovers and I moved to her house in an affluent area in Kingston. Having lived in the hotels where I worked for nearly 20 years, I was good at running hotels but clueless about running a house. Mélaine soon became my trainer, coach, mentor and boss! I was a bad trainee and that annoyed Mélaine for some time.

May, 1999 – Getting Married

One day, when I was at work at UWI, I received an urgent call from Mélaine. She was so thrilled; the message was not clear to me. I asked, “Boo, for heaven’s sake, calm down and tell me what happened.” She happily screamed, “I am pregnant!” After returning home that day early and giving my Boo a big hug, I sat on our back patio looking at pouring rain on large bamboo trees. I served myself a large Appleton Rum and Coke to build up my courage. When Mélaine joined me, I went on my knees and proposed to her, “Boo, would you marry me?” “YES!”, she screamed.

We married on May 1, 1999, and ended up on a six-week long honeymoon in nine countries (Canada, England, Italy, Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Cyprus, Greece and Sri Lanka). In between, we had a memorable homecoming wedding at the Mount Lavinia Hotel, Sri Lanka. In later years, we travelled to 30 countries together, including a tour of Africa for nearly a month performing my duties as the President of the Hotel & Catering International Management Association, UK (HCIMA, now the Institute of Hospitality, UK).

July 2001 – Moving to Canada

After a decade in Jamaica, Mélaine wanted to move back to Canada with our little daughter, Danika. I was very happy in Jamaica, and I was not keen about moving to Canada, to experience those freezing ‘brass monkey’ weathers. Finally, we compromised and agreed to give it a try for a year. I was fortunate to arrange a faculty exchange Professor post at the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Ryerson University in Toronto. Mélaine worked for a couple of years in guest service at the 4-diamond hotel Queens Landing in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

When our son Ché Rana was born in 2003, Mélaine took a 10-year break from work to dedicate her full-time focus to raise our two kids and support my career. To me, that was the most noble job a parent could do. Mélaine was simply a Princess of Hospitality. She did everything at home including maintaining our backyard swimming pool which was a popular meeting and partying place for our neighbours. She entertained many of our friends and family with her cooking, infectious laughter and story-telling. In between, we found time to do a few quality assurance consulting assignments as a husband-wife mystery guest team at Le Royal Meridien King Edward Hotel in Canada, SuperClubs Resort in the Bahamas and Le Meridien Dubai in UAE.

Mélaine’s Return to the Hotel Industry

In 2013, she re-entered the hotel industry as a Guest Service Agent at Holiday Inn & Suites in St. Catharines, Canada. After training with the InterContinential Hotel Group (IHG), she was entrusted with the role of IHG Loyalty Champion (Platinum Level).

After five years in that post, she accepted an offer as the Front Office Team Leader of the hotel opening team for Hampton Inn by Hilton in St. Catharines. In this position, she received world-class training with the Hilton Hotel Corporation. Soon after the hotel opening, she was promoted to Front Office Manager.

Impressed with Mélaine’s dedication, professionalism, and her desire to ensure customer satisfaction, I nicknamed her the “Princess of Hospitality.” Every day when she came home after work, our children and I enjoyed hearing various interesting stories about her day. I was re-living my hotel management days through Mélaine. Occasionally she sought my advice, but I quickly realised that she did not require any advice. She was a natural hotelier. Everything was perfect.

Shocking End

On January 30th, 2020, while the world was struggling to comprehend the danger of COVID-19, I returned to Canada after a one-month trip to Sri Lanka and the UK. That day, we celebrated Mélaine’s 53rd birthday. A few weeks later, when I came home after some work in Niagara-on-the-Lake, my son told me that, “Mommy is not well. She looked yellow at work and we took her to the emergency room!” I was surprised. Mélaine had never been sick in her life. I rushed to the hospital to be with her. A few hours later we heard the results of the CT scan. The doctor who came to Mélaine’s hospital room knelt down before giving us the shockingly bad news. Mélaine had pancreatic cancer.

Having lost both of her parents within the last three years due to different types of cancer, Mélaine was well-informed and educated about this deadly disease. When the kneeling doctor described the stage of her cancer, Mélaine calmly asked, “this means that I have maximum eighteen months to live?” After a pause, the doctor looked down and reluctantly said, “yes.” I hugged my Boo and cried, uncontrollably. Mélaine ordered me, “’stop crying, Chandi. Let’s fight this thing, while we enjoy the short time left for us to be together.” We did exactly that for seventeen months in the midst of pandemic-related restrictions, hospitalizations, surgeries, procedures and twenty-three bouts of chemotherapy.

During the last one and half years, I realised that my new role as the key caregiver is the most noble job I have ever done. I was optimistic till last week, when the hospital stopped treatment and transferred Mélaine to a palliative care unit. While our two children and I stayed with Mélaine by her bedside day and night for a week, I wrote my final poem during my wife’s lifetime.

HOLDING…

Smiling blue eyes full of love

Fun and laughter until now

I cry, head down and bow

When to stop and how?

Days come and go

We are holding on

Right beside your bedside

Hoping for a miracle

The darkness of night, slowly

Hoping for another slight smile

Before sleeping peacefully

Comfortably as possible

Payers and wishes from all, in unity

Loved ones hugging, in uncertainty

Closer to meeting with divinity

Our love is destined for eternity

On July 27, 2021, at around 5:00 AM, the night nurse woke me and said, “your wife is ready to go…” While I was holding Mélaine’s hands and kissing her forehead, Mélaine passed away quietly and peacefully. My daughter’s favourite teddy bear was with Mélaine. My last poem was placed closed to her heart when Mélaine was cremated, the very next day.

Mélaine’s final wishes included no funeral, no flowers and no tomb stone. She wanted us to sprinkle her ashes over moving water. I will do so wishing to see her again, one day, somewhere else… She requested that instead of flowers, donations be made to Hospice Niagara where she spent her final week. For those who wish to watch a video tribute to Mélaine or comment about her extraordinarily happy but short life and how she touched many, please do so on www.butlerniagara.ca

Now Mélaine has ceased to be my Princess of Hospitality, but she will live in my heart as my angel, until it is my turn to join her. GOOD NIGHT MY ANGEL PRINCESS…