Home away from home for the business traveler

Besides being the place where one lives permanently, especially as a member of a family or household, home is also a source of comfort, convenience, and nourishment, providing protection and security.

For anywhere else to offer these attributes of a home, such a place must be capable of providing added facilities or attributes that can compensate for the loss of those things that the home offers and this is the role the hospitality industry plays or, in some cases, expected to play.

“Because the business traveler is not travelling once a year, but many times, when he travels, he often looks for a place that compensates for the loved ones and the many home attributes he leaves behind when he is away from home”, Axel Hauser, the general manager, Movenpick Ambassador  Hotel, Accra Ghana, says.

The hotel industry has changed. In the past, people held their meetings at home or in their offices, but today, they go to the hotel to hold their meetings. Every country moves forward and businesses are conducted differently and this is how hotel operators come in because they are not only offering rooms but also total package of hotel facilities for meetings, conferences, exhibitions etc.

Modern hotels are, therefore market-driven and, according to Hauser, Movenpick caters for a large variety of markets including business travelers, conferences, meetings and exhibitions. “The hotel has everything to offer for everybody. It has hotels and for every traveler, their needs, ranging from comfortable rooms to executive suites”, he assured.

Movenpick Ambassador Hotel, the first and only 5-Star hotel in Ghana, is owned by the Kingdom Hotel Investment based in Dubai with strong presence in North Africa, especially Egypt, Morocco and Tunisha.

In offering customers its best-in-class services,  the hotel considers different nationalities and food is always different because everybody likes something different. “You need to find a common ground for everybody; but you have a strong African clientele base  and so you need to look at African food. And African food is also different even if they look similar. So, we try to blend into the local flavour.  We do a lot of balancing act on daily basis, Hauser told visiting Nigerian journalists in Ghana. 

In rare modesty, he said, “you have to admit your limitations where you have them because the travel market is growing so fast and there are so many expectations; so, you have to think fast. You have to operate 365 days a year and 24 hours a day. You have to try and stay on that consistency”.

Competition is almost synonymous with business enterprise, but Hauser does not see schemes to outdo the opponent as competition, rather he sees it as customers’ right to make choices.  “It is not even good if you are alone in the market because if you are, you become selfish and lazy. As long customers have their choice, you have to seek what they look for and today’s customers need change continuously”, he noted.

According to him, competition is something completely normal, arguing that  “if one hotel is better than another, it is not a matter of discretion but the customers’ choice because it is the customers that tell us if we meet their expectations or not”.

Hotel room rates, he said,  are fair reflections of what they can offer, pointing out that Movenpick has a lot to offer including water treatment plant, power supply, safety mechanisms etc. “All these things are to be maintained. So, I can’t only look at the rates; I also have to think of how to guarantee standard. You cannot compare hotel A with hotel B because the rooms differ in terms of size and offering”.

Hauser, who disclosed their interest in Nigeria’s hospitality market, noted that the country has a big boost in business, adding that they were looking to invest in Nigeria. “Lagos holds investment attraction and  many hotels are coming up here because there is demand”.

Continuing, he said, “more hotels will still come and the market will grow. I believe there will be more operators in Ghana and with this the market will grow because it is a place to conduct business and people who conduct business are away from home.

Like other human activities, the hotel industry also has its share of challenges. Hauser said that hotel business was very volatile and easily affected by unfavourable government policies and business environment, noting that any travel industry was so affected. 

“But for us, we are on ground; we are very competent and so, we have no reason to be afraid. We have also no reason to be afraid to come to Nigeria. Every business has its cycle, but after the low comes the high”, he emphasized, adding, “in terms of government policy, Ghana is a very interesting country and it has huge opportunity to grow; the environment is friendly to conduct business”.

Chuka Uroko