La Palm Royal Beach Hotel is one of the top rated hotels in Accra, Ghana favoured by many Nigerian travellers to Accra. The general manager of the hotel, John Elliot, speaks to ANDREW IRO OKUNGBOWA on the allure of the hotel for Nigerians, hospitality in Ghana and his career path among others.
What are the attractions that La Palm holds for the market?
There are a number of attractions here and I am confidence that in the future Ghana is going to do very well with its economy. Tourism wise, it is literally the centre of Africa, is a good hub for Africa, is a speedy and steady country, the future looks good. Obviously, we have Labadi and La Palm, two hotels of different standard, but there is a lot of synergies between the hotels which make the operations even more attractive.
What are the plans by Legacy Hotels to elevate its prospect?
I have been here for just three months, but we have been reviewing the operations, looking at the offerings we have. The initial plan will be to look at the food and beverage offerings. We will be looking at upgrading of the Ghana Village restaurant on the beach side, it is a very popular destination, it has not had much investment lately. But that will be an easy fix to renovate and improve the offering there. We have a very large conference centre, one main conference room which host 600 people and nine other meeting rooms of various sizes. So, we have been looking at that area too because that is one of our core areas for Meeting, Incentive, Events, Conferences (MICE) and residential.
La Palm at a time was very popular with Nigerians visiting Accra but that patronage has waned, how do you intend to lure them back?
We have been looking at the market and talking to people where we can improve on. We quite understand historically that La Palm used to be very popular with Nigerian visitors, particularly tourists. But for whatever reason, that market has been neglected a bit in terms of promotion and awareness of the Nigerian market. We are currently talking with an airline and looking at bringing flying packages from Nigeria, free four night packages and linking additional offering to the package.
Hopefully that will be finalised in the next couple of weeks and when that has been finalised we will be looking forward to coming to Nigeria to promote it to the Nigerian market. There are enough incentives here for tourists at the city centre, you have the beach, you have nice gardens, fairly accessible to the central town, shopping area, and casino next door is part of the property and part of the attraction too. We feel we are one of the leisure venues within Accra. We want to re-introduce night beach life hotel in the Nigerian market, for whatever reason, we felt has been neglected, it will entail publicity, promotion, visiting Nigeria, promoting the hotel and linking up to the Nigerian tour operators and travel agencies and being able to offer attractive packages, particularly the flying packages. We are looking at attractive packages which will include accommodation and air fares, all-inclusive packages for like three and four nights package as we move on looking at the mainly Busua Beach Resort which is towards Ivory Coast. It got pristine beach, probably one of the best beaches in West Africa, we will be looking at adding that as one of the additional packages, so you spend a couple of nights in Accra and enjoy Accra and go up to Busua, which is up to 40 minutes flight.
Are you looking at introducing Nigerian menus as part of this move?
At the Ghanaian Village Restaurant every Sunday we do Ghanaian dishes from around the regions. The Nigerian menus are something we can look at. We have a number of offerings at the Ghanaian village focusing on Africans and West Africans, we have the Chinese restaurant, which is slightly different, we have the continental restaurant which is a bit more international. So there are more choices available, we are keen to respond to demand. When we see a demand from a particular area we respond to such and endeavour to satisfy such demand.
What is your view of the hospitality industry in Ghana?
I think is very vibrant as Ghanaians are well known for their friendliness, welcoming disposition, good standard of education and has a very good choice within the hospitality sector. Look at Accra for instance and see how many big brands you have here compared to about 10 years ago, it has been a very big increase.
What are some of the strategies put in place in respect of achieving this target?
We are looking at reviewing the operations, we have only been here for three months, we have been reviewing the operations. We have identified areas that we need to invest in, is not a large investment, but just upgrading facilities. We have a very good infrastructure here, we just want to improve the standard slightly, we will like to go back to increase the leisure market. I think that has suffered a lot in the last couple of years and there are plenty opportunities to drive that market and improve turn over in that area. I think one area we will be looking at is destination rather as an individual hotel. We may have to look at it together as a destination market like the Afro- American market, as a cultural heritage within West Africa, particularly in Ghana that was quite seriously affected by Ebola. We believe we can spend a little bit money marketing that area.
How would you describe your experience in the hotel since assuming office?
Very good, when I left here in 1995, the hotel has not been opened, but when I came back and saw that it has been opened, just probably under 20 years now, it needs some attention, some loving and care. The infrastructure is good, the staffing is good, it just need time, love and care and then investment to bring it up to the next level. We are really happy with its fourstar level, we do not want to compete with five-star hotels, we will rather be a good four-star hotel.
Has the takeover of the hotel by Legacy Hotels affected its fortune?
Not at all, Legacy is purely a management company and not the owner of the hotel. Legacy is only here to manage. In all our products, we look at the local customs, local traditions and local markets as well as introducing the legacy standards. We make sure we introduce local needs and requirements. We have employed 310 Ghanaian staff, it is much a Ghanaian property, as a management company, we are here to help, advice and move the product forward.
Source:newtelegraphonline.com
