Welcome to Bahamas Local, Your Bahamas Online Search Engine

Tiffany Hanna from Grease Mechanic to Sandals Service Superstar

Mon, May 8th 2023, 10:56 AM
Business

Tiffany Hanna went from fast-food restaurant worker in Freeport to Sandals Emerald Bay, Exuma, working her way up from entry level room attendant to supervisor and putting her son, Ackeem, through college debt-free. He’s now a mechanical engineer with an excellent job and a very proud mom who thanks Sandals for its upward mobility policy.    
“There were times I wanted to give up but I never did’ 

From fast food worker to goal of executive, Sandals supervisor makes dreams come true 

Tiffany Hanna was working at a fast-food restaurant in Freeport when she came home one night, picked up the paper and saw an ad for a job at a resort. It was far from home on an island where she knew no one. But what she saw was a chance at a new life for herself and her son. She went for it. 

Sandals Emerald Bay in Exuma was looking to hire a room attendant, entry level perhaps, but one of the most essential to keep any resort going and to someone working fast-food with a young son who had visions of going to college, the opportunity, if she could get it, was a step in the right direction. Hanna completed the online application, uploaded her resume, and a few days later got a call to come for an interview in Nassau. She took the flight and the chance. Three days passed and no word, then the call came. She got the job and they were sending her a ticket to Exuma. 

But the work would not be easy. Clean 12 rooms a day up to the Sandals standards that account for 70% of all their guests being return visitors. Most of those guests, she learned, were brand loyal, going from one Sandals resort to another for all their Bahamas or Caribbean vacations. 

“When I first heard 12 rooms, I blurted out, ‘All in one day?’ and my manager looked me right in the eye and said, ‘Yes’. Then she asked me the most important question: ‘Where do you want to be in five years?’ I thought about it, looked back at her and told her, ‘Wow, I want to be standing where you are right now. I want to be in executive management,’ and I went about cleaning those 12 rooms, giving it my all.”

That was orientation day at Sandals Emerald Bay, January 12, 2012. The date is etched in her mind. 

“It was rough at first and there were times I wanted to give up. I missed my family in Freeport, especially the first months before my son came, but the Sandals team is like family and for the first time in my life, I did not just have a job, I had a purpose.”

Within months, her son was able to join her. He would finish school in Exuma and earn a small scholarship in basketball for college, which he later gave up to focus on academics.  

Three years after she started, Hanna was promoted to supervisor. Today she oversees up to eight teams of room attendants. She knows how an attendant feels and lends a hand just like someone lent her when she needed it most. She also knows the upward mobility commitment of the Sandals brand. She still loves the reward of transforming a messy place into a spotless welcoming space. She vividly remembers the statement she blurted out a decade ago and the quick decision she set as her goal, one day to be in executive management.  

As for her son, Ackeem Hanna, he’s now 23. With what she earned and that small scholarship, she sent him off to Anderson University in South Carolina. There were no student loans, mom had earned enough to put him through debt-free. Mom was there for graduation proudly grinning as he tossed his mortarboard in air, later hugging him as he left for his new job in the discipline he studied, Mechanical Engineering. 

“When you love something and you have a goal, you wouldn’t give it up for the world,” says Hanna still with her eye on executive management. “I am not going to stop until I get there.”  

 

Tiffany Hanna went from fast-food restaurant worker in Freeport to Sandals Emerald Bay, Exuma, working her way up from entry level room attendant to supervisor and putting her son, Ackeem, through college debt-free. He’s now a mechanical engineer with an excellent job and a very proud mom who thanks Sandals for its upward mobility policy.    
“There were times I wanted to give up but I never did’ 
From fast food worker to goal of executive, Sandals supervisor makes dreams come true 
Tiffany Hanna was working at a fast-food restaurant in Freeport when she came home one night, picked up the paper and saw an ad for a job at a resort. It was far from home on an island where she knew no one. But what she saw was a chance at a new life for herself and her son. 
She went for it. 
Sandals Emerald Bay in Exuma was looking to hire a room attendant, entry level perhaps, but one of the most essential to keep any resort going and to someone working fast-food with a young son who had visions of going to college, the opportunity, if she could get it, was a step in the right direction. Hanna completed the online application, uploaded her resume, and a few days later got a call to come for an interview in Nassau. She took the flight and the chance. Three days passed and no word, then the call came. She got the job and they were sending her a ticket to Exuma. 
But the work would not be easy. Clean 12 rooms a day up to the Sandals standards that account for 70% of all their guests being return visitors. Most of those guests, she learned, were brand loyal, going from one Sandals resort to another for all their Bahamas or Caribbean vacations. 
“When I first heard 12 rooms, I blurted out, ‘All in one day?’ and my manager looked me right in the eye and said, ‘Yes’. Then she asked me the most important question: ‘Where do you want to be in five years?’ I thought about it, looked back at her and told her, ‘Wow, I want to be standing where you are right now. I want to be in executive management,’ and I went about cleaning those 12 rooms, giving it my all.”
That was orientation day at Sandals Emerald Bay, January 12, 2012. The date is etched in her mind. 
“It was rough at first and there were times I wanted to give up. I missed my family in Freeport, especially the first months before my son came, but the Sandals team is like family and for the first time in my life, I did not just have a job, I had a purpose.”
Within months, her son was able to join her. He would finish school in Exuma and earn a small scholarship in basketball for college, which he later gave up to focus on academics.  
Three years after she started, Hanna was promoted to supervisor. Today she oversees up to eight teams of room attendants. She knows how an attendant feels and lends a hand just like someone lent her when she needed it most. She also knows the upward mobility commitment of the Sandals brand. She still loves the reward of transforming a messy place into a spotless welcoming space. She vividly remembers the statement she blurted out a decade ago and the quick decision she set as her goal, one day to be in executive management.  
As for her son, Ackeem Hanna, he’s now 23. With what she earned and that small scholarship, she sent him off to Anderson University in South Carolina. There were no student loans, mom had earned enough to put him through debt-free. Mom was there for graduation proudly grinning as he tossed his mortarboard in air, later hugging him as he left for his new job in the discipline he studied, Mechanical Engineering. 
“When you love something and you have a goal, you wouldn’t give it up for the world,” says Hanna still with her eye on executive management. “I am not going to stop until I get there.”  
 Sponsored Ads