From being an enthusiastic receptionist at Victoria Crown Plaza Hotel in 2007 to a reservationist, sales, and marketing manager at Protea Hotel, today Rita Opiah is the general manager, Park Inn by Radisson Serviced Apartments, Victoria Island, Lagos, a position she has held since 2018.
In her current role, she oversees daily operations and executive management of a team with well over a hundred employees, as well as the rollout of a multi-million naira revamp and upgrade program, which is now completed.
In this interview, the hospitality veteran with nearly two decades of experience tells Obinna Emelike what it means to lead as a woman, the brand, facility upgrade, dynamics of the industry, and other related issues.
Excerpt.
How do you feel being a female executive in a branded hotel?
It is interesting. It makes me discover my strengths more. As women, naturally, we have inner strength and endurance, but so many of us do not know that because society has sold a lot of things to women that keep making us have self-doubt. It is not a problem to doubt oneself, but overcoming it is a challenge for many women and thankfully, I have conquered that. Deploying my emotional intelligence as a woman has helped me grow into the role of a female leader. Now, I can mentor and coach others, especially young women looking to forge a career in the hospitality industry.
Credit goes to Avalon Intercontinental, the local owner of our hotel, for having confidence in me and giving me the opportunity to excel alongside my male colleagues. The journey started with Avalon Intercontinental before Radisson bought into it and there has never been any regret.
As a female in my role, I play to my natural strength, which makes me more involved, more empathetic to people’s needs and I am happy about it. It has also been quite a journey and I am still discovering so much of myself.
Being the first female general manager of a Radisson brand in Nigeria is a boost to other women in the hospitality industry. They can aspire and get to the peak of their career within this industry.
How do you describe the hotel?
Park Inn by Radisson Serviced Apartments, Victoria Island, Lagos, is safe, cozy, amid a serene environment and offers good food and comfort for a happy stay for every guest. We pride ourselves in our service culture, which is personalized to meet and exceed guests’ expectations.
Ours is a unique brand, focused on the (upper) midscale market. We display hospitality in traditional ways but with a contemporary style and that is what the Park Inn brand represents; a satisfying feel-good factor.
The brand has three pillars: feel good, good people and good price and our guests experience all these qualities of the Park Inn brand at every visit whether lodged in or just relaxing with friends at the restaurant or bar.
How is the hotel doing since you assumed office?
The hotel is doing well I must say. It is, of course, one thing to lead a team and another, to see the much desired progression. This frankly has been our story; service from our team continues to grow to higher levels. We have turned around the hotel across all areas and the profitability of our books is impressive. I took over the management of the hotel in October 2018 when we rebranded to Park Inn by Radisson. The renovations began and Covid-19 came with many disruptions, we overcame all the challenges and uncertainties and today, I am proud to say renovations are now complete and I am literally running a brand new hotel.
Do you think the Park Inn brand is doing well in Nigeria?
Yes, I would say our brand is doing exceptionally well in Nigeria. Recall that I mentioned, it is a unique brand of Radisson Hotels, which focuses on the (upper) midscale market. It is a brand that communicates to business and leisure guests, a quality experience in service, and it is a brand that allows guests to leverage our personalized services, to further express themselves and feel truly at home. Our service culture is something you feel strongly about on your first and repeated visit to our hotel. Our hotel group has many brands that cater to the peculiar needs of a vast number of travellers.
What is your unique selling point?
We are a hotel and also offer serviced apartments. This makes us different from every other hotel out there. Secondly, we know that joy can be found in the littlest of things, this is why at our hotel, we focus on the details, many pass them on as small and unimportant but as I said before, we are focused on delivering quality traditional services of hospitality with contemporary style that put a smile on every face. Our unrelenting service culture remains topmost for us, and it is why we have retained a steady stream of guests across varied sectors of SMEs, multinationals, government parastatals and so on through the years.
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How was the first half of the year and what are your projections for the remaining half?
Despite the many uncertainties and changing factors in our industry, our projections for the remaining half of this year are positive. This is because as an internationally branded hotel, our portfolio is designed to meet the needs of this demanding and ever-changing sector. In that our business model is effective for Nigeria and our location, the city of Lagos.
Through the uncertainties of the elections cash crunch and so on, we still maintained activities and occupancy in our hotel. It may not have been to bursting levels but the business we made during that time kept us steadily afloat during the first half. I had time to analyze our half-year performance with my team and we realised that we have already achieved 65 percent of our set target for this year. I think the Covid era has also taught us all in this business to be more robust in planning.
In this second half, we are working hard at sustaining our impressive results, ensuring to fill in the gaps where needed and faster too, to meet our overall goals for the year. We are focused on our operational and cost control measures, and we have strategies to achieve our goals all clearly mapped out.
In a nutshell, as we give increased focus to maintaining guests’ relationships, we are consciously working hard towards strong operating and profitability results by year-end.
What impact do the apartments have on the brand?
The apartments were introduced after we transitioned from the Protea Hotel Group to the Radisson Hotel Group.
As said, every hotel has its uniqueness and clientele. We have discovered that most corporate guests choose to stay longer with us. Some stay from three to six months, others one year and even as long as two years. So, we simply went back to the drawing board, as they say, analysing the patterns and asking how our services can improve and better cater to their needs. This brought about our addition of the serviced apartments with the goal to make our long-stay guests feel truly at home.
We are here for them in the long run, and we wanted to show it to them in our product offerings. We proceeded with conversions of rooms to serviced apartments, making up a quota of about 5 percent of our total room number. The guests have the freedom to do whatever they want in terms of added services for them as there is a kitchenette with microwave, cooker and modern kitchen utensils. I must add that as expected, the apartments are a sell-out, doing very well indeed.
Do you also focus on business travellers?
Yes, we do, they are at the heart of our business. We have packages for the business traveller; hence we cannot lodge the business traveller in the apartments. We have rooms that offer the basic needs a business traveller requires as they are speedily on the move to their next location. To enhance their experience with us, we also enroll them in our Radisson Rewards program offering them exceptional benefits and rewards as they travel globally.
Considering the harsh economy, how do you sustain the business?
We have fixed and variable costs. In hospitality, when it comes to operations, it is 80 percent variable cost. Our supply chain is critical to us hence, we ensure we only work with the right partners for our hotel. For example, when there is an increment in price such as for diesel, we call the stakeholders and renegotiate to ensure a win-win situation for all. We pay good attention to the variable cost.
With forex challenges, how do you source items?
It is not without its issues as you have asked but there are ways around it. There are items we can source locally but certified within the parameters of Radisson operating standards and if there are any that are non-negotiable, we work around the modalities for effectiveness.
What are the amenities in the hotel?
Our hotel is in a prime location on Victoria Island. Designed with contemporary furnishings for a comfortable stay in Lagos, we are a 56 rooms hotel, with suites ranging from executive to business deluxe, superior rooms and other categories. Our hotel offers lovely views of the swimming pool area and the city, as we are situated in the business district area of the city. Guests can relax and enjoy hangouts at our bar and delicious food in our Avalon restaurant. Our meeting rooms are modern and available for meetings and events, we have a gym for fitness enthusiasts amidst 24 hours service. Beyond our hotel, our environs offer a rich array of attractions which guests can enjoy.
Who is Rita Opiah?
A very simple, warm, and extremely passionate person. My journey in this industry has been quite an exciting one, but it is one that I am immensely grateful for. I began a while back in early 2000 as a receptionist, I gained a lot of knowledge and recognised skills in me and honed them on the journey to achieving my dreams. I joke that I have literally been through all the roles in this business but indeed I have been through some, progressing from a receptionist to a reservationist, on to a sales and marketing executive then team lead for the department as manager and coordinator, carrying on to becoming a deputy manager and now in my position as General Manager. I am one with a deep hunger for growth, having recognised this early on, I channelled my energy to achieving my goals and now to coaching young ones in finding their path in this industry. When I think back on my journey, I see that it has not been an easy road at all but step after step, I have patiently made a steady progression. I take a lot of interest in seeing young women grow in this industry as I know I will not always be on the stage; my joy will be full in knowing that I have mentored others who can continue in the role after me. My great joy will be to hand over my role to an equally capable Nigerian GM. Ultimately, I hope the story of my career progression can inspire one, or two, women out there, I have stayed in this game, maintaining my values and integrity and I hope they emulate the same and get inspired. I know I have a strong character, combined with integrity has been the backbone of my success in this industry and I really hope they learn great wisdom from my words.
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