Dhalia Real Estate Services held its annual awards on, Saturday, 7 March at the Radisson Golden Sands Hotel.

In his introductory address Dhalia, director, Chris Grech welcomed all Dhalia staff and associates and introduced Franco Valletta who, as of 1st March, was re-appointed Chairman and CEO of Dhalia Real Estate Services.

In his address Mr. Valletta shared his views on the implications of the current world economic crisis on the Maltese property market. He emphasised the importance of thinking creatively and adapting Dhalia’s strategies to a new marketplace.

He pointed to the reality, at least temporarily, of relying less on traditional feeder markets of property buyers and encouraged those present, through the adoption of networking strategies, to capitalise on new pockets of opportunity currently emerging from non-traditional source markets.

Mr Valletta elaborated on the critical importance of providing quality service and insisted on the ongoing education and training of estate agents. He further shared his views on those personal traits and skills critical to nurturing and maintaining a healthy rapport with both vendors and buyers.

Mr Valletta’s address was followed by an audio-visual review of Dhalia’s performance in 2008. At the end of the operations’ review, certificates and awards for excellence in performance, quality standards and customer service were distributed to managers and consultants.

Marsascala Office was awarded for The Best Kept Office Award; the Best Contributor to the Inventory was awarded to Kelvin John Godwin of M’Scala Office; the Most Promising Consultant Award went to Jerry Ellul of Fgura Office; Steve Schembri of Luxury Living was awarded the Dhalia Customer Service Award; Matthew Barry won the Top Letting Consultant Award; Warren Azzopardi was ranked Top Manager and the Best Consultant of the Year Award was handed to Damian Whitehead.