E&O and Lone Pine hotel staff live it up

What say you on the issue below?

DESPITE being colleagues for years, there were many amusing moments when staff of the E&O Hotel and Lone Pine Hotel couldn’t tell each other apart.

But the confusion at their Annual Staff Party 2011 was understandable, as it was after all, a Roaring 20’s Masquerade-themed party.

Held at the Straits Quay Convention Centre recently, it brought together some 400 employees of both sister properties, neatly dressed and with masks on for added mystique.

It was a raucous affair throughout the night, with an intense but healthy and good-natured spirit of competition prevailing in the live performance, video show and best dressed contests.

Though Lone Pine’s team won the overall Entertainment Award for their video sketch ‘The Sequel’ a light-hearted take on the hotel’s refurbishment.

“It’s always been about teamwork at Lone Pine,” the hotel’s public relations manager Elizabeth Chin said of their success.

Party time: The Rhythmix Dancers, together with organising committee member, set the ball rolling for the party

E&O’s video entry was no slouch either, tugging on heart strings with ‘The Handkerchief’, a tale of love lost and found at the historic property.

Their staff, Sevanesh Mogan and Serena Yip, restored parity in honours when winning both the best dressed male and female awards.

Marco Battistotti, general manager of both properties, said it was good to have occasions like this, once every year, where everybody can just let their hair down and have some fun.

“The E&O, being the oldest city hotel at 126 years, and Lone Pine, the oldest resort hotel at 57 years, have had countless employees over the years.

“The nice thing about our staff parties is that it brings everyone together,” he adds.

Chiming in, Lone Pine’s executive assistant manager Khoo Boo Lim observed that it had been an interesting and exciting journey for the hotel’s new incarnation, having recently celebrated its first anniversary since reopening.

“We’re proud to have gained recognition in such a short time, but we still have a long way to go.”

The night also featured long serving and perfect attendance awards to staff members of both hotels, as well as performances by the Rhythmix Dancers.