The Sheraton Aggie Grey and the Sheraton Beach Resort in Mulifanua are looking to boost staff numbers to more than 400 from the 250 the hotels currently have.

The hotels are growing and with one more restaurant and other facilities yet to open, the expansion is timely says general manager Sunil Rawat.

The Sheraton Hotel and Resort boasts more than 300 rooms, has six restaurants, and has the largest ballroom.

Mr Rawat said the operation has been steady since the Sheraton Aggie Grey was opened partially in July, the full renovation finished in October but in July they opened with 15 rooms. He said the Mulifanua operations were running smoothly as well.

"The hotels were quite crowded throughout Christmas and New Year's, and on several days—even during the first week of January—we ran out of rooms. Despite this, the locals, especially Aggie Greys, who frequently stay at the hotel, were very understanding," he said.

"Therefore, we anticipate 60 per cent plus occupancy for the entire year, though this will obviously fluctuate. As the peak months of May, June, and July arrive, we anticipate 80, 90 per cent, or even 100 per cent occupancy, which is, I believe, the norm for Samoan hotels.

"Business-wise, I believe all the hotels have done the same. For example, we had the CHOGM, and over 20 heads of state met with all 56 countries, including the prime ministers. The meeting was also successful, and Christmas was still busy."

For Aggie Grey, the building is the key to attracting tourists but the major renovations for the entire hotel cost $25 million.

Everything is brand new from the outside to the inside. There are three suites converted into presidential suites like those in other hotels.

Mr Rawat said Aggie Grey and the Mulifanua properties were doing good.'

"Leaders from other nations have already been hosted in the personal suite, and they also have the executive suite. In addition, people are unaware that the well-liked Aggie Grey Restaurant will reopen this year. Since it is a famous restaurant, we are still working on the idea of what we want to do," he said. 

"We wanted to make sure that what we come up with will live up to the expectations of the Samoan people.

"We will be opening the Aggie Greys Restaurant in a few months, and we have invested a lot of money in improving our security and safety infrastructure. We spent $5 million on upgrading the hotel's IT system, replacing all of the equipment, and replacing the lining and wires because guests no longer want to watch television the way they used to because they have smartphones that allow them to cast their phones onto TV. All of those things have been upgraded."

Some projects are still active. Some of the work will be finished in the next year or two, but the owners are also investing additional money to upgrade a few other items that haven't been renovated in a few years.

"We will also be considering improving the restaurant's offerings and the gym's facilities because those are things you must maintain and alter," he said.

"We have had numerous walk-in interviews over the past two weeks, including with the hotels and the resort last week. We are considering hiring more than 50 team members at previous levels because, when we combine the two hotels, we currently have over 250, but by May or June, we will have more than 400team members across the two hotels and the resort."

Labour shortage caused by season work also impacted the staffing of the two hotels.

To train the team members, they have a distinct training department headed by Human Resources, with a clustered training manager and training executive.

Aside from the renovations, Aggie Greys has a history of flooding. A few floods occurred there in the past, and the hotel was forced to close due to the flooding. As a result, they worked on their flood system, which included installing seven brand-new stormwater pumps and repairing the drainage line.

Engineers from Hong Kong conducted a survey of the property.

"All of those things have been upgraded every six years. And they did a great job because Samoa experienced rainy weather for the past two weeks, and these pumps work well. We are proud of the team's excellent work, and we don't have any problems with flooding. The seven pumps also work well, and the generators, of course, are a bonus.

"These two things have been working well for us, and we wanted to let Samoa know about the challenges we face because if something goes wrong with the hotel, like flooding, it affects not only the owner but also the locals, as we have more than 200 locals working there. I believe there was a fire many years ago, so we also installed a few generators inside so that service is not interrupted if there is a power outage."