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Gone are those days when you practically fight for your independence as a nation to be free. History is repleted with bloody account of independence battles. Apart from Nigeria,where a 22year old Enahoro raised his hand in the assembly to move a motion for the country's independence and subsequently adopted,most nations fought tooth and nails to get theirs.
Some fifth columnists have concluded that our systemic failure as a nation is attributable to our 'on the platter of gold' independence. Guess marriages and divorces run on same philosophy.
By Friday last week, the world woke up to discover that the Scots has by a resounding referendum decided to stay with with United Kingdom, though,leaving the kingdom a little less United. There is no denying that there is now a chink in the armor. The European Union will be particularly interested and like a vulture, it will be circling pending the eventual death of the kingdom.
The yes vote will have a chain reaction effect on the European economy where the great British pound is a determinant in the politics of that region. How this development will affect the dwindling political power and influence of the United Kingdom in world politics remains to be seen.
While we all join her majesty queen, Wales, and the rest of the world in emphatizing with the Scots on the outcome of the referendum, let us ponder over similar situation in the hospitality industry.
We all know that relationship between hotel owners and hotel consultants have always been stormy. With trust lacking, it is just a matter of time before things start going awry. Parting ways between these two has never been by referendum because there will often be a lot of banter trading sequel to eventual separation.
Apart from being open to each other, having a comprehensive contract and building on trust there is hardly any other way of improving relationship between both parties. Sadly,this is a time bound relationship and going separate ways can only be delayed but not denied.
We can only wish the Scots the very best.
Most hotels in the country do not come with the luxury and comfort of concierge, butler and chauffeur services. And that is quite understandable.
The cost of running the units under the front office department is high and it does not yield direct revenue. The concierge ensures your luggage is in safe hands, that you have access to information within and outside of the hotel and personalizing this service falls under the umbrella ship of a butler. A butler is seconded to you as a personal staff to see to all your remote and immediate need during your stay in the hotel. Chauffeur service of course is slightly different from the car hire service that is prevalent here.
Chauffeur service stocks fleet of luxury cars for the use of the guests in the hotel mainly as airport shuttle and mostly on complimentary basis; car hire on the other hand implies that services are rendered for guests at a cost and most times the car hire service is owned and managed by a separate business entity from the hotel.
Added to this is the car valet service where you hand over your car key to a staff of the hotel who not only parks the car for you but also retrieves it when you are ready to go.
Now you can understand why most hotels run without the above services and those that do enjoy the accrued compliments and returned patronage.
Quite recently, a Hong Kong business tycoon has placed the biggest ever order for Rolls Royce cars to chauffeur guests in a luxury resort he is building in the global gambling capital of Macau. Mr. Stephen Hung’s $20million payment will fetch the ultra luxury resort 30 Phantom custom made Rollers. The resort is billed to open early 2016 but booking is already being made and taken. When finished, the hotel suite will go for $130,000 a night.
The above example of concierge service may appear too extreme for an average investor in the industry.
Fleet of luxury cars may be inappropriate because of its capital intensive nature, neither is a valet to park your car compatible because most hotels simply do not have ample car park anyway.What Is however practicable is a decent concierge service within reasonable budget. Having a guest dragging his luggage and trying to locate his room after checking in is not an ideal scenario.
Move up your standard.
COPING WITH ECONOMIC MELTDOWN
Economic global meltdown has severe trickled down effects even on small scale enterprises and has come to stay; in the face of government helplessness at protecting the private sector, entrepreneurs must therefore look beyond government fiscal policies in ameliorating the negative impact on their business. The hospitality industry is not an exemption and must start looking at ingenious way of staying afloat in this financial downpour.
The availability of ready cash from daily revenue tends to give a false sense of financial security in the hotels. Recurrent and fixed expenditures are easily swallowed by income from the rooms and food and beverage outlets as soon as they appear thereby giving owners the impetus to dip hand into the account for private reasons. The hotels need to make provision for depreciation of assets that wear out without notice.
This is the way it works. The first two years of hotel inception are tricky, errors strewn and unpredictable. If one does not take advantage of the newness and cut a deep slice of the market, you may never recover to tell the story. After the second year, your expenditure graph starts taking an upward ascent while your revenue drive may either assume a lateral position or a steady descent depending on your knowledge of the industry, internal management expertise and the quality of your human resources.
On the balance of probability, to stay afloat in a sinking economy you ought to put the followings in proper perspective.
Communicating to all the team members about the financial position of the hotel viz z viz the prevalent micro economy of the country is vital in the face of the fact that they are likely to bear the full brunt of a policy burnt out. Again, getting your staff involved in a sincere strategy session may bring forward innovative ideas that may just be the catalyst for your survival.
It will or may come down to cost cutting and everybody must be prepared for a showdown. Sales and marketing must be everyone’s bit, effective service delivery will eliminate waste, quality service delivery will guarantee patronage, management staff must be ready to take pay cut and the general staff must agree to a pact no matter how unsavory.
Not too many people will connect with this article, I actually expect a backlash! It is too gory to contemplate but the earlier you prepare for the harsh realities of today’s economy and its stinging effects the better.
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In the cold war era, espionage was needed not just to survive as a nation but to have added advantage of Intel that will put you in a position to preempt your enemy's next move or a new plot. It was and still vital that in this hostile world that you keep your friends close and your enemies closer! Quite recently,the Germans accused the Americans of listening to the private conversation of the German chancellor.
The emergence of significant improvement in telecommunications technology has advanced the course of tapping people's phone. Until recently,this has strictly been a function of security and extreme intelligence gathering narrowly limited to the military . Like every human endeavour,it is now a subject of abuse that people now listen to other people's private conversation.
The NCC(Nigeria Communications Commission) has announced that our phone lines will be tapped and our private conversation listened to. This of course is not legal but the body has advanced security as her motive. Just as we are not allowed to query or discuss security budget, we are also not expected to question the tapping of our phones.
In the light of grave security concerns in the country, Intel gathering is of course applicable and appropriate . A blanket provision for phone tapping is however illegal and debatable. For moral reasons,it is really wrong to listen to other people's conversation. With the kind of mindset our politicians are imbued with, this may be avenue for blackmail and revenge.
Unfortunately,this has crept into the hospitality industry. We have been able to allay the fears of guests staring at CCTV cameras in public places within the hotel. This is quite necessary to add to the security network already on ground, but having security cameras in the rooms is going a bit too far like the NCC.
Security camera in rooms is a breach of fundamental human rights. I have always made that very clear in hotels I have consulted for. Guests will naturally not come to insecure hotels and will detest hotels that spy on them irrespective of any security motives.
On basis of suspicion, the NCC can tap phone but with the knowledge of an independent arbiter. A clearance must be sought from a competent court of jurisdiction after the submission of sufficient evidence for such ground.
Perpetual vigilance is the price we all have to pay for our security but nobody should pull wool over our eyes in the name of security.
