KIGALI - There has been significant improvement in customer care services in the private sector, the Chairman of the Private Sector Federation, Robert Bayigamba, said yesterday.

He made the remarks during the official opening of Greenwich Hotel in Remera, where he said that the improvement has made the sector lucrative and beneficial to the country’s economy.

Speaking at the function, Bayigamba said that Rwanda, in the past, had a bad record of customer care, notably in the hospitality sector, where tourists would enjoy all other facilities but complain about poor service in hotels.

"Teaming up with government institutions like RDB, we made it a priority to carry out sensitization and mass training of hotel staff, in order for them to learn the value of their clients,” Bayigamba said.

"Last year, our efforts were rewarded with Rwf200 million contributions to revenue from the private sector, meaning that tourists had started enjoying better customer care from our hotels.”

He also said that through Public Private Partnerships, the sector had gone a long way in solving its greatest challenges.

The Chairman of Rwanda Hotel and Restaurant Association, Eric Musanganya, also present at the opening, commended Greenwich Hotel for training all its staff in customer care through his organization and promised them more support in the future.

"We have numerous training schools that offer training services to hotel staff; through them we have had a crop of hotel and restaurant agents who are very friendly to not only foreign tourists, but to Rwandan citizens as well,” Musanganya said.

RDB in the recent past has engaged in several programmes aimed at improving customer care services within the hospitality industry.

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