According to the 2018 Global Slavery Index, from the Walk Free Foundation in Australia, currently there are more than 40 million people living in modern slavery, 71% being women.
The slavery can be defined as situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or leave because of threats, violence, coercion, but the victims may also be trapped through abuse of vulnerability, power and deception whereas victims often find it difficult to speak out about their experiences because of fear, lack of trust or shame.
When it comes to the hotel industry, there is a lack of precise data about the prevalence of slavery, however, according to a study, a two-year project co-funded by the Prevention of and Fight against Crime of the European Commission, there are more than 1.1 million victims of modern slavery in the European hospitality sector annually, with over 4,500 exploited in the hotels.
“Our Greatest Wealth is Our People”:
Constantinou Bros Hotels Ltd, a Cypriot hotel chain founded in 1979 in Paphos, describes itself as a luxury, family run business, outlining that “our greatest wealth is our people, smiling friendly people, who take pride in welcoming visitors and showing them what genuine hospitality is all about”.
It is difficult to find media information less favourable to the image of CBH, however on Indeed, a job search engine, there are reviews of one star only, coming from its former employees, categorizing it as “the worst job ever”.
What’s interesting to notice is that on the same website, there are comments that praise the company, as well, but their words appear to be chosen professionally perfect, a cheap fabrication with the sole purpose of artificially rising up the hotels’ popularity ranking.
Contacting more than twenty previously CBH employees, I managed to interview and meet in person only a few, whom after serious hesitations to talk about their Cypriot work experience, accepted to answer my questions anonymously.
The rejections I received came together with statements such as “I happily moved on”, “I don’t want to remember” or that “it’s too shameful” to talk about.
Years have gone by since the employment in Cyprus, but they still seem traumatized by the memory of the time spent in the hotels owned by Constantinou family.
“Cameras Following Us, Turning Around to Watch Us”
Following a Job Fair, an interview with CBH directly, or through a recruitment agency in their home countries, the successful candidates that agreed to speak to me, went to Cyprus after being handed a written agreement, the employment terms on which both parts agreed.
Sadly, they later found out and describe below how the document had no value, as the situation changed at the hotel’s convenience:
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Loredana and her fiancee, a cheerful couple, attended a Job Fair organized by a Hotel School in Bucharest, Romania. Both applied and instantly signed an employment agreement for the summer season, with one of the CB hotels: she was accepted, as per her professional qualification, as a Massage Technician, and her partner, as a hotel bellman.
After paying a commission to the organizer, as well as for their flight tickets to Cyprus, they soon found themselves at their new workplace.
On her first days at Elixir Spa, L. remembers being brutally told by the Spa Director, one of Constantinou family members, that she wasn’t “good-looking enough to work in her spa” and that she was expected by the Human Resources Office. Later on, she was in shock to find out that starting with the next day, her new given job within the CB Hotels was as a Gift Shop Cashier. L. was never given further explanations or alternatives, but just informed of her new role, and sent to get her new uniform.
When contacting for assistance the intermediary Romanian recruiting company, the Job Fair Organizer, she states that they were “rude and unhelpful”, adding the person she spoke with raised his voice and told her “I can send you both to Greece if CBH doesn’t suit you enough”.
She was stunned by the turn-over of the events, and felt humiliated and miserable, but as she didn’t have any solution to her unfortunate living situation in Cyprus, she accepted the new employment position.
After getting the first salary, she immediately resigned and found another job in Paphos, as a Spa Therapist, the job she left her country for. She mentioned the new remuneration received was “a lot more convenient” than she was paid by CBH.
Soon, her partner followed. He mentioned being threatened everyday by the hotel’s general manager, being told that “his smile was not good enough” and he should improve it or lose his job.
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With a bachelor degree in Economics and work experience into business administration, Cristina wanted a career change, so she applied for a Hotel Receptionist course.
During its classes, the school’s Director of Development recommended her a summer-long internship in Cyprus or Greece, to one of the hotels which he mentioned “the school had a good collaboration with”. He encouraged her saying “with your work experience and foreign languages skills, you will easily get into a five star hotel”.
So here she was, just like Loredana, attending the same Job Fair held in Bucharest, Romania.
“The general manager of Asimina Suites Hotel, part of CBH, convinced me that the five star hotel he was running, was the best to start my hospitality career with. He seemed very professional and I trusted him. Few months later I regretted my decision”, C. said.
C. happily booked a one-way flight ticket to Paphos, Cyprus, where she was supposed to start the training and internship, exactly what the school previously predicted, at a five star hotel.
As C. remembers, the first day at the hotel’s reception, the manager she met at the interview in Bucharest, was a totally different person than the man in front of her. “He didn’t answer to my salutations, and told me I looked stupid. He demanded me to take off a hair clip I was wearing, otherwise said he might send me to work at the spa”.
Few days later, while seated in his office, even though the walls were beautifully decorated with children drawings, the room gave cold chills to C.
Just like an interrogatory -no small talks, no smiles, she was then asked a lot of questions about the company and its management team, for which C. mercifully knew the right answers. Or she thought she did.
As per her statement, at Asimina Suites Hotel there were recording cameras and microphones placed in the back office, at the reception and the lounge area where the guests were greeted, all that being followed and listened to by the general manager, live from his office.
She also mentioned she had never felt being in the hotel for an internship position, but for a low wage, full time work, with no supervision or guidance.
“I had to welcome the new guests into a VIP lounge. Everything had to be done by the book, literally, a few pages scenario with lines that I needed to know and follow by heart, otherwise I was told I could lose my job. And let’s not forget that the general manager was listening to my speech from his office!”.
It took CBH just few weeks to change C.’s duties, as the day came for her to be informed that the hotel “needed her” at the Spa. Just like the manager initially threatened her that will happen.
C. wasn’t given any notice in advance or explanation, just demanded to start her work at the Elixir Spa - a different job, with different duties than she agreed and came to Cyprus for.
She contacted as well the hotel school from Romania, but C. says that the person who initially encouraged her to come to Cyprus “mocked me and told me that maybe it was my fault”.
“I didn’t have any money to go back home so I couldn’t just quit. I told myself I will stay until the end of the summer and then never look back”, C. added.
But she didn’t make it, as planned, until the end of the summer season. She had to resign from the job that was “intolerable, too much for one person to handle; I lost a lot of weight and felt like a slave”.
She concluded stating that “the running of the hotel was based on fear, intimidation and silence”.
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After graduating from the University of Pannonia in Hungary, where Sonia studied Tourism and Hospitality, she was already working for one year at a hotel when R. Agency contacted her for an animator summer job in Cyprus. The salary offered was almost double than she earned at the time in her country, and as she was interested in sports and fun activities, she decided to give it a try.
Soon after, the same employment agency called and convinced her to accept the position of a Hotel Spa Receptionist instead, stating it was “more suitable considering her qualifications”.
S. decided to go for it anyway, as she thought that “working for a luxurious hotel chain (CBH) was once in a lifetime career opportunity”.
Once in Paphos, S. soon started working for CBH where was ordered to buy, paying with her own money, a new pair of shoes. The Spa Director considered her shoes “inappropriate” as they weren’t “completely silent when she walked”.
Soon after starting working at the Elixir Spa, S. mentioned regretting her decision to come to Cyprus.
“I was all the time afraid and stressed to fulfill the requirements, and worried not to do anything that might have resulted my dismissing”, S. says about working for CBH.
During her five months employment, she was demanded to change and have three different jobs: Spa Receptionist, Pool Bar Waitress and Gift Shop Assistant.
As a Spa Receptionist, she had to work for three hotels of the chain, sometimes in the same day, being given too many tasks, some inappropriate and impossible to carry by one person at once. She mentioned “crying a lot” and having “exams” that together with her colleagues needed to pass, and “if our performance was low, we were threatened with the dismissal”.
The same as Cristina, S. affirms the work space had “cameras following us, turning around to watch us”.
After almost two months working as a spa receptionist, S. mentioned she was “fired” and being sent to start a Bar Waitress position, for which she says “I was never a waitress, I had to wash up glasses for eight hours straight, for few days a week”.
Soon the bar manager told her that the hotel’s gift shop might be a better job, which again, S. accepted thinking it was going to be “physically easier” to do.
But it wasn’t. S. explains that one of the rules of the hotel’s gift shop was for the employees “never to sit down”, which made her develope a serious back pain.
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The same as Sonia, Ana came to Cyprus being mediated by the summer-season recruiting agency from Hungary. She happily came to Paphos to start a Hotel Restaurant Hostess job at Athena Beach, one of the 4 stars Constantinou Bros hotels.
During her four months employment, which also ended with the resignation, she mentioned the “management was abusive, aggressive, disgraceful, demanding. Lack of people skills at all the levels”. She sadly recalls that, together with her colleagues, while at work, they were often being called “stupid”.
Also, sitting in her manager’s office, she states that “the Maitre was smoking and blowing disrespectfully the smoke right into my face, never letting me speak to protect myself from the abuse”.
A. adds up to the list of the people that confessed her job at CBH made her cry.
Even though six years passed since her employment in Cyprus, she vividly remembers its work experience, as it was yesterday. “I have never felt so humiliated in my life”, she concluded.
“Potatoes Truck” Living Conditions:
According to the people I interviewed, when arriving at the airport, they had to wait for few hours, for other flights and future work colleagues to show up before they could be driven to their CBH accommodation. But even though they were tired from a long day of travel from their home country to Cyprus, they told me they didn’t mind waiting extra time, as they felt “happy to be there”, and exited to start a new career journey.
Later on, they were surprised to find out how old and dirty the cars picking them up were. “I remember there was a strong diesel fuel smell and trying to avoid the car springs that were coming out of the seat”, Cristina says. The transport was a poor first impression.
The CBH employees were boarded by the company in a small complex of buildings, in Paphos, four km from the hotels and the beach, where most of the studios accommodated three people, who shared a space of not more than 20 sq meters.
Ana remembers that “not only the room was too small for three people and we had to wait our turn for the bathroom, but the shower drain smelled bad and got clogged often, too”.
Also, whenever they had a request or wanted to report a maintenance issue that occurred in the living complex, the tenants had to pay a visit to the Accommodation Manager, a person that Cristina describes as an “angry, misogynist man whom you wanted to avoid as much as possible”. She continued stating that was harshly told by him that she was not allowed to have men visits, as “CBH doesn’t tolerate brothels”.
Sonia remembers, as well, the first day arriving to the property, and noticing there was no fridge in the kitchen, politely asked about it, and as a result, the same man in charge sarcastically answered her “why would you need a fridge, when, in your country, you have never seen one?”.
When it comes to the transport to work, Ana calls it “a joke”. All four girls questioned about it, mentioned there was an over crowded shuttle bus, with no time table, that they had to wait in the summer heat, few times a day, sometimes more than half an hour.
“I remember waiting for it so long, so many times, sometimes just took the long walk instead”, Ana continued.
Also, while showing me a picture taken inside of the CBH shuttle, Cristina added “the bus was so crowded that almost every time I had to stay on its dirty floors. It didn’t have seat belts or air-conditioning, and even the drivers laughed at us, saying that we were like potatoes in a potatoes-truck”.
When asked about the transportation, Sonia mentioned, as well, that “sometimes we were like herrings in boxes” and that the drivers were always late and she was “in big trouble at work” because of it.
The meals were provided at the staff canteen, at a certain time of the day, but all of the previous CBH employees I talked to about it, agreed and stated they believe were given the remaining food from the hotels’ restaurants and staying guests. Ana says that “the food was disgusting; we were given the left over that was out on the buffet, under the heath, for hours. Also people were allowed to smoke where we ate”.
On the other hand, Cristina mentioned that “I was given so many chores at the Spa, that most of the times I missed the hours of the cafeteria, so I didn’t eat. I was dizzy at work almost all the time”.
Who else vanished in the night?
After the arrival of the hotel newcomers in Cyprus, they had to pay a visit to the HR Office of CBH, where they finally got to sign the employment contracts.
As per their saying, the signing happened always on the rush, the future employer not being given enough time to read the contract, or even a copy of it.
Asked about the Job Description, some of the newly employed stated have never received one, but they all mentioned being handed and agreed with a document which stated that, in case of the resignation, the employer keeps, as a penalty, a certain amount of the employee’s salary.
Nevertheless, many previous CBH employees, Loredana, Cristina, Sonia and Ana included, resigned and didn’t show up to work the next day, revealing to have had enough of the “abusive treatment”.
“I remember each morning while having breakfast, talking to my colleagues about who else gave up and vanished the night before from the accommodation complex”, Cristina said.
It was a common practice for the overwrought personnel to plan their “disappearance” from the company, packing their bags without telling anybody about it, and to leave the CBH studio and employment, immediately after taking their last chosen salary. And there was no way that, being fed up by the unethical working conditions, underpaid and overworked by the CBH, they could have accepted to properly resign and pay back money to the company for it.
Cristina tells me that she was one of the few people that went to the HR Office for resignation, because, even though there was money kept from her wage, she needed a proof from the CB company stating she worked as an intern, a document necessary for graduating the hotel school, back in her country.
“I went to Cyprus for an internship at a five star hotel’s reception, and four months out of five I folded and replaced dirty towels at the Spa”, C. added.
A Literally Dynamic Career:
“Constantinou Bros Hotels Ltd invite you to give yourself the opportunity for a new dynamic career, working with professionals, representing the best hotel chain in Cyprus at the exciting and promising sector of Tourism!”, the Employment page of the CBH website announces.
Working abroad not only adds a professional value to your Resume, but it’s an effective way to experience life, learning about other cultures of the world, while earning money, as well.
However, finding an international job with your own resources or through a recruitment agency, can occasionally be full of pitfalls and surprises: dishonest employers, no further assistance after the employment, poor working conditions, being offered a position not suited to you, intimidated, demoralized etc.
This article seeks to tell the truth, from the perspective of some previous employees, about the working conditions in the hotels owned by Constantinou Bros Hotels Ltd, in Paphos, Cyprus.
Also, it comes with the hope that other hotel summer-job or internships enthusiasts, just like my friends who advised their stories about it, will become more aware of the unfortunate situations that may arise, of the labour exploitation and the consequences, not always favourable, of undertaking a job in a foreign country, without an extensive research beforehand.
Therefore, prior to leaving your country for a new job, make sure you do all of the necessary due diligence and ask yourself questions about it. For your time abroad to be as rewarding as possible, please take into consideration the following few advices:
1. If you chose to pay an employment agency promising to find you a dream job in a foreign country, try to contact previous travellers, or search online people’s opinion about such agencies;
2. Read the job description and sign a clearly written contract before you accept any form of employment, in order to know what to expect and is expected of you, and your position;
3. Become aware of the salary and budget carefully in order to make sure you can afford to live reasonably well while you’re away;
4. While the accommodation provided by the employer is often very affordable, there is a good reason why. Research carefully to make sure you know what to expect.
5. Make sure that anything you discussed with your future employer is written down: working hours, the pay, the cost of housing, and any other promises or clauses should be clearly stated and signed by both parties.
6. It’s hard to find great jobs abroad, and being offered one is rare. Use thoroughly the job search engines, check out the company’s website, try to verify your hiring manager or agency, always contact past employees and read reviews about your future employer.
7. Know your rights! Also, report the workplace violations. By law, you have the right to know about the hazards, how to protect your health and safety, and to refuse any unsafe, exploitative work.
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