“Maaha Beach Resort is the best destinations in Ghana”
Maaha Beach Resort in the western region of Ghana is a
beautiful resort that offers unique services of international standard
with fantastic cuisines fit for a beatiful resort that is very close to
nature. The Resort which is more of a West African hotel has staff from
Ghana, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire and others, with the chief cheff from
Nigeria.
The Beach Resort which is built with Maaha, a material from the Raffia
tree is the place to be when in Ghana to have that home away experience.
In this interview with Jean Jacques Mass, acting general manager of
Maaha Beach Resort in western region, Ghana, he speaks on the unique
features that makes the Resort one of the best in Ghana, challenges in
trying to put the facility together, security at the resort, its
conference facilities among others.
Franklin Ihejirika who was on the tour of western region of Ghana during the recent Accra Weizo reports.
Excerpts
What is the attraction for the resort?
We have an island where we use to organise retreats. We use to also
organise events for our guests and also at times our own type of event
that attract guests. We have sport machines, and also team building
activities, depending on the request of the guests, we can sit down
together and put something that will meet their needs.
What is your patronage like
Most of the people who are coming in are coming in at weekends. The
highest no of guests we always have here are at weekends. And it is an
average of 60percent.
If I haven’t been here before what can you tell me that will draw my interest to this place?
I think what makes this place unique is the fact that is very close to
nature. When you come around, you will see this high coconut trees that
gives you the impression of being in some American country, but we are
still in Ghana. And the type of building that we also have they are
really local made and it is unique. If you really look around even in
Ghana, you will never see a building without the refia stick. So the
concept behind it is really to be proud of our creativity in Africa with
our proper materials. So I think this place should be an example for
most of our own African countries to promote what we have. Everything
was built by local artisans with local materials in conjunction with the
owner who is also into construction. I think this is the best
destination in Ghana, you will not have to deal with concrete. It is not
like concrete is not a good thing but we are trying to promote what we
have, that is the most unique thing that this destination is known for.
What is the star rate for this resort?
We have 135 rooms with two conference rooms with a cinema. We also have
two restaurants, we have a private presidential area where you have 6
bedrooms, you have a private kitchen, laundry, a private bar and pool
and private beach also. You can even have friends in that area and
organise a private party.
What are the challenges you face while trying to put this facility together?
The challenges that we are having here is the procurement of the
materials. We are using organic materials, we are using bamboo, wood and
to maintain it is really hard. It is not like when you are having a
concrete building and you can always paint it. We are also sometimes
having issues with this breeze. So those things are natural challenges
that we learn on a daily basis on how to manage with them. But we have
been able to cope with it and we have been consistent.
When did you open this resort?
Officially we open this resort June 2017. It is a young place
part from the architectural beauty and the local content, in terms of service what do you offer to make guests come back?
We have the privilege of having a lot of expatriates out of the Ghanaian
chefs that we have around, we have also had at the beginning Portuguese
and Moroccans working here who also contributed to set up the menus
that we have now. And now our executive chef is a Nigerian and he is
well skilled. Also they all contributed to bring out this nice and
beautiful gastronomy that we have in the resort. We also have Ivoirians
and Portuguese that also involved themselves at the beginning of the
project.
How has it been since 2017 you opened?
It has been very busy and now I will say that it is a very great
opportunity having you here because we are now targeting the leisure
market. Because at the beginning there was also a very good opportunity
for us at the Ghana gas company. The oil and gas companies were always
with us, so the resort is fully booked. Not for a day but for the whole
year and now some of them are at the end of their project, so now we
have to focus on the leisure market. So the population can also enjoy
the beauty of the serene environment that we have and the great service
that we are giving out.
Don’t you think the distance from Accra to this place can be a kind of hindrance for people to come here?
What I can say is that we don’t really have to focus on these things as
Africans. If Nigerians are coming to Ghana to discover this place, I
think we can also contribute altogether to promote tourism in Africa.
Some of our African brothers also travel far to have other experiences,
then why not among ourselves as Africans, distance shouldn’t be a factor
that should count. I think distance should also be part of the
adventure. Some people will travel from Ghana to Kenya to have safari,
some will travel from here to South Africa, I think South Africa is very
far from Accra, so if you need to have another experience distance may
not be a factor.
What about security?
I think that is our strongest point, if you want to talk about
competitors of this area, before you will really have a contract with
oil and gas company, we go through a lot of inspections. And we have ENI
that is really known, it is a great company. If they choose Maha Beach
Resort, I think we are trustful. there is something that they saw and
they feel secure.
How are your conference facilities?
This is our main conference room which is the biggest with 300 seats, if
you want to do the theatre setup you have 200 seats and we also have
the privilege of hosting very big events like the birthdays of one of
the political figures.
What other facilities do you have here?
We have cinema, we also have an island, a Spa, a gym, we have a tennis
court, we do massage, it is part of the treatment that the Spa is also
offering.
What activities do you do at the ocean front?
We have activities at the ocean front but it depends on the tide because
we are very close to the sea. So when the tide is low, we sometimes
carry our goal post to play beach soccer around that area, but we can
also play beach soccer behind the gate.
Source: nigerianfranknewsng.com
