The Legend: A review of Nigeria’s Curio Collection

While exchanging pleasantries with one of his high net worth guests, Peter Idoko was proud to be the manager of Nigeria’s very exclusive hotel.

Idoko is the Nigerian-born general manager of Legend Airport Hotel Curio Collection by Hilton Lagos.

The guest, who was among the first set of patrons of the hotel, when it opened in October 2018, was intrigued that ‘The Legend’ as some guests call it, is still very fresh amid more offerings and higher standards.

There is no secret to the feats, more than always doing the right things, Idoko said.

“Our strategy was to do exactly what we started to do. Though times are tough, we refused to lower the quality of our services. We kept it at the high level, which we were known for, not minding whether the money was coming or not. We even improved”, the general manager explained.

Explaining further on why high net worth guests keep coming and returning visits since October 2018, Idoko pointed to the many unique selling points of the hotel as major draws for guests.

“Our location helps us a lot because we are only five minutes away from the airport. On a good day, it is seven minutes to the local terminal, three to five minutes to the international terminal and that is what people want to have; the idea that they will not miss their flights because of the Lagos traffic and no matter what happens the traffic does not exist in the two terminals. That has helped us a lot”.

Again, the world class facilities speak volumes of quality offerings in the hotel.

“The facilities hare are world class and are designed to take care of everything a guest needs; from the meetings rooms, restaurant, swimming pool, which you can have a dip in before you go, and if you are one of those that want to have a good view of the airfield, you can just sit in your room and see airplanes land and takeoff.

“It is one of those things that have helped us. We deliver heartfelt experiences to guests, we are well located and we have the facilities that travellers yarn for”.

Top among the many facilities are the in-house immigration and customs desks, which makes the hotel the only one, probably in Africa, that offers such premium service to guests.

Apart from clearing immigration and customs at their convenience, guests, according to Idoko, especially those who have private jets, have only 20 steps from the jet to the hotel entrance, no traffic and that is quite unique.

For the Benue State-born hospitality expert with over two decades experience across Africa, Europe and America, the heartfelt hospitality; the human connection that the hotel has, combined with other uniqueness to keep business flowing for four years now.

“We are able to connect with people at a human level, so that is very unique. Our team members are very passionate about hospitality and that comes out the most.

“Another very special thing about us is that we are here as a solution to people’s problems. Sometimes people need a quick getaway, a quick connection place, a quick Lagos travel survival kit, and that is what we are and what we offer”.

Yet, one thing that amazes people, especially those who don’t believe in local talents is that for the four years in business Legend Airport Hotel Curio Collection by Hilton Lagos has been efficiently managed by an all-Nigerian team led by Peter Idoko.

Reacting to this, he said, “We really need to get away from stereotypes that don’t really work. There are great Nigerians working elsewhere and they are doing well. There is no reason Nigerians will do so well abroad and when they are back home they will not do well”.

For running the hotel successfully in the last four years, he noted that his experience, training, passion and everything he has done have also helped.

“Working in an international brand helps because their systems and developments will also help you. I am a passionate hospitality professional and I have been doing this for a long time abroad. One thing I said to myself was that I went to South Africa and was able to recruit and start a new business development office for Hilton in South Africa. I was taken out of Nigeria to go and establish it in South Africa, and I had to set up, build things and employ people. It worked for Hilton in South Africa, so why can’t I replicate that in Nigeria. I also did that in Namibia and Ethiopia”.

He also attributed the success he has had in the hotel to the support of the team and the owners.

“The owning company, the owner and the people believed in local talent and they have not been disappointed over the past four years that we have managed this hotel. So, it is kudos to an owner that did not go into the stereotype, he looked beyond the skin, the nationality, but looked only to the ability of the person.

“The success of my team and I is down to the support of Hilton and the owner”, he said.

The four years have been with some challenges, which he has been able to navigate, yet the hotel is customer-centric as many think rates will be out of reach.

Considering that the hotel operates in the Nigerian economy, and it is getting tougher to provide the level of services that it is known for, the hotel still takes care of its guests, and still provides the level of hospitality it promised them from the day it opened its doors for business.

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“Despite the tough times, we have kept our rates reasonable. We look more in the areas of where we can optimize the increasing costs because in any operation, if you look hard enough, you might see where you can optimize.

“We do that as the first reaction before we start looking to go into pricing and passing on the costs. We are not able to pass on all the costs because if we did, then it would be unsustainable.

“Almost everything in the market has tripled in price and some quadrupled, but we have not tripled or quadrupled our price. It is impossible to pass on everything to the guests”, the general manager explained further.

Moreover, he has successfully handled the seeming misconception of the hotel’s target guests by the public that think it is only for the rich and private jet owners.

“Since our location has a lot of high net worth people working through and all of that, it is a good thing. But we want to demonstrate to people that there is a room for the other people who are not jet owners, that is why we have two doors for the hotel; there is an entrance for the jet people and another for people who come through travel”, he cleared the air.

He assured that there is room for everyone as the hotel has different categories of rooms.

“The very high categories of rooms; the suites and all of that, the high net worth people will have them, and then the regular people who are travelling will have the classic and deluxe rooms, which are competitively priced.

“If you can stay in any global hotel in the mainland, then you can stay here, but you don’t have to stay in the suite”.

Looking at the next four years, he sees the hotel surpassing the expectations of the guests, owners and managers because Curio Collections, according to him, are one-of-a-kind hotels and resorts handpicked for their unique character.

For the Hilton brand and Curio Collection to have found Lagos worthy of their brand, Idoko concluded that Legend Airport Hotel Curio Collection by Hilton will have more successful years, amid creating value for money offerings for guests, win-win for all stakeholders and most importantly, furthering the expansion of the Hilton brand in Nigeria.