|
|  GOLDEN TULIP HOTEL
Interview with
Mr. Thomas C. Sheriff,
General Manager
Contact:
Liberation Road – P.O.Box 16033 Airport, Accra
Tel: (233) 21 775 360
Fax: (233) 21 775 361
Telex: 2736, Accra, Ghana
E-mail: goltulip@ncs.com.gh
|
The Golden Tulip is amongst the top hotels in Ghana and in Accra. Could you give us a brief historical background to the Golden Tulip.
It was built in 1991 and it is owned by the Ghana Government and the Ghana-Libyan Arab Holding Company which owns 60% of the shares while the Ghana government owns 40% of the shares. It was built on the old spot where the Continental Hotel used to be and from there on they rebuilt the whole main building, they redecorated the wings with 183 rooms and all the entertainment facilities including the tennis courts. Then 2 years ago, we started the extension project which is the wing facing the tennis courts which has another 51 rooms and 2 board rooms and so in total we have 234 rooms, including chalets, suits and junior suits.
Can you tell me what your guest capacity is and how many staff there are working here. .
We have 350 staff members and we have about 80% occupancy on a yearly basis. That is fairly steady, it increased a bit a couple of years ago that is why we did the extension, and now we run at between 84% and 82% which is a very good yield. Guests staying here include 75% business people, 18% crews, KLM and Swiss Air, and the rest is leisure travel.
Can you tell us what your market share is and your annual turn over and how can it be compared to previous years?
Our fair share of the market is 45%, and our market share at the moment is 49%. We only compare ourselves to Labadi Beach Hotel and Novotel because they get the good figures and we cannot compare ourselves to smaller hotels because they have different ways of bookkeeping. Our annual turn over is about 13 million dollars and it is increasing all the time.
So considering that 75% of your customer base is corporate how important is it for you that Ghana hosts international conferences such as the African African-American Summit to attract this kind of customer?
May was an especially good month because we had the African Travel Association staying here in Accra. It is very important as we need the business. Whenever there is a big conference, there is a need for hotel rooms, conference facilities. However, sometimes there are not enough hotel rooms available in Accra so people have to travel outside Accra to get accommodation. Fortunately there is another hotel coming up so in the future we can host maybe bigger international conferences. The problem with some of these conferences is that you don’t know too soon in advance when they are to be held, it is only short term business. Sometimes you are almost fully booked and they come and tell you there is a big conference coming in a month’s time but then we have to say sorry, we can only give you 20 to 25 rooms.
Tourism at the moment is the second largest foreign exchange earner in Ghana and is expected to develop very fast. How is the Golden Tulip going to adapt itself to this shift in focus from corporate customers to tourism?
We will adapt, but the thing is that the government talks about tourism in a different way. When they talk about tourism they also include the business travelers. I would say that that is not correct as leisure tourism is different from the business traveler so you have to separate them. The business traveler has increased more than the leisure traveler. The leisure traveler pays less for a room than the business traveler, so we like to sell rooms to them but only in a period when we need them so we can steer it. For example, July and August which are coming now are very slow, so in that period we can have a lot of groups and then we need them but in May or September through November there are very few days that we would like to accommodate groups.
We spoke to Mrs. Fianko of the Ghana Tourist Board, who says that tourism is a sector that they want to develop in a big way. At the moment there are 300,000 tourist coming to Ghana, and she is expecting a million by the year 2002. That means that you are going to have to provide more services such as more leisure activities. What strategies are you implementing to help provide these different services?
I cannot extend the leisure facilities anymore on the compound; besides that tourists hardly use the leisure facilities. They do their excursions, come back tired and go to bed early.
Now that the embargo on Libya has been lifted, do you think that more African-Americans are going to come to Ghana and stay at the Golden Tulip?
There was in the newspapers two weeks ago an article about Libya saying that the embargo is still in place. But I have talked a person at the US embassy saying that as soon as the embargo is lifted they will start using our hotel but for now they are not allowed to. But America is already in the top 5 nationality-mix, but they are business people and not government people.
| There are going to be three new five star hotels built in Accra by the year 2001, what will be your strategy to retain your customers and your staff?
Well I only know about the one which is just opening, that is La Palm next to the Labadi Beach. I know about the Sheraton which they started the plans for about 6 years ago but there is still no money in place to build it, so I will wait and see until they start building. We just had a meeting with the executive team about our strategy for the year 2000 and beyond. Our strategy is very simple, we have to emphasize more on service, standards, cleanliness because that really makes the difference between a good hotel and a bad hotel. Our competitors, they can all buy luxury things and they can all have tennis courts etc. but the difference is the service, so our strategy is to increase our market share through service minded staff.
Do you think that the competition which is going to be springing up is going to make you thrive or is it going to make things difficult for you?
No, as long as you think and know that your product is the best then they have to prove that they are better. Even if they are five star; we will wait and see. We have already set our strategies to face the competition.
Are there any other measures you have planned to develop the hotel?
With this hotel at the moment?
Yes
No not really, it all depends on the capital expenditure for next year. We’ll mostly emphasize on the standard of the rooms.
Are you going to upgrade?
Yes, upgrade the interior design.
What about any foreign partnerships?
No, we are going to open a hotel in Kumasi. We will start building this year.
On a more personal note, can you tell us more a little bit more about yourself?
I am married and have been living in Ghana for five and a half years. Before that I was in Tanzania for 2 years and before that I was in Holland I did my hotel schooling in Lausanne, Switzerland.
What would you say has been your greatest achievement since you’ve been the General Manager of the Golden Tulip?
Every year the profit is increasing; the occupancy stays the same but the profitability of the hotel increased every year.
You are talking about increasing the quality of the service, so what is your plan to train people, are you organizing some training abroad?
Our personnel training department do a monthly training with the staff in the various departments. Last week, for example, we had a trainer from Holland, he was training the front office about yield management. Then we as executives had a training of "one team, one mission" so we formed all our strategies in all aspects for the year 2000 and beyond. Besides that we have trainers coming from the UK, a training company who specialize in housekeeping department, how to clean rooms, how to use the right equipment, how to use chemicals. Then we have 3 or 4 people from here going to Golden Tulip International in Holland for six weeks training. It’s a kind of incentive for people who are performing and they go there and are trained in various hotels. And of course we do our departmental on-the-job training because on the job training is the best way of learning how to do things instead of sitting the whole day in the training room listening to the trainer. It happens on the floor so we train and correct people.
My last question is, as you know we reach four million readers, mostly in the business world, what is your final message to them?
Of course we would like to increase our market share through good service and value for money. Next year, we don’t know yet what our price policy will be. I don’t think that we will increase the prices too much. We will have to wait and see what the competition is doing and we are staying alert. Of course when you have your own good feelings about a hotel you develop your own way of moving forward. We have this good location near the airport and that is one of the most important things in marketing.. There is also this new development across the street where they are planning to build a hotel as well and if they do that then we will have stiff competition in 3 years time. Golden Tulip, Accra is one step ahead everywhere!
|
© World INvestment NEws, 1999.
This is the electronic edition of the special country report on Ghana published in Forbes
December 13th 1999 Issue.
Developed by AgenciaE.Tv |
|
|
|
| | | | | |
|
GHANA
