Tell us a little about the Russian market. What
kind of changes have taken place? What are the
peculiarities of the Russian market that you can
distinguish?
have been in Russia since 2010; first in Samara,
Novosibirsk, then in Georgia for about two years, and
then back to Moscow, Russia. The main peculiarity is
probably the dynamics of the market, especially the
Moscow market. Here you have to think about how to
run the hotel when supply and demand are high at
the same time.
At this point, we have five branded competitor hotels
within a radius of one kilometer from our hotel and
each of them is “struggling for a piece of cake”. The
most important thing in the Moscow market is the
revenue management in order to find the right price
at the right time. In order to survive in such markets,
you need to improve service all the time. The hotel
must have a clear sales strategy with differentiation in
revenue segmentations. Quality of Food and Beverage
is also a key to success. The variety of offered food and
beverages should match the hotel concept together
with a constant high level of service.
The main feature of the Moscow hotel market is
continuously growing supplies: since last year, it
increased drastically due to the FIFA championship.
The demand is also growing, customers are getting
more demanding and therefore, the quality of the
service becomes critical. I would say that the quality
of service is very high in Russia, I mean, in branded
hotels in comparison to the local ones. In Georgia, the
service is good as well. However, judging from my
experience, the service in Armenia is at a very high
level. We, Armenians are really hospitable people.
At the moment, Courtyard by Marriott brand has a
total of 45 Courtyard hotels in Europe. According to
the results of the last 6 months, we are in the eighth
position in terms of service. Indeed, the older the
hotel becomes the more complicated it gets to keep
a high level of service. This hotel has been operating
since 2011. We are planning to introduce substantial
changes this year in order to comply with the new
standards. Soon, the hotel will have a newly renovated
lobby and a bar. We are delighted to welcome each of
our guests.
As for challenges, I would say it is very difficult to find
a suitable workforce in the Russian market. Finding
qualified employees is really challenging. There are
cases when we hired people from the Armenian
market as there are not many qualified enough
candidates here. There are many young people who
after graduation are looking for the jobs of managers,
they don’t understand that in order to become a
manager in such companies, you first need to work
hard and gain a lot of experience.
What positions are especially difficult to find
employees for?
t is always hard to find an appropriate employee
for specific positions. It is not always possible to
get talents inside and then we start to look for them
outside. Although Moscow is a huge metropolis with
almost 17 mln population, we often face challenges to
find qualified people. For example, at this moment,
we are looking for a sales associate and we cannot
I
I
find a suitable person for already a month. We
cooperate with educational centers as well.
Hence, we can take young recruits from there,
train them and hire. The general challenge
with young employees is that they do not stay
for a long period. The reason could probably be
globalization or new technologies. It seems that
the new generation is not eager to wait…. , they
are in a hurry and want to become executives
immediately.
In Mariott, we have fantastic training plans for
all employees which allow them to get online/
offline specific training for their future growth.
The company’s philosophy is simple: “Lead with
quality, build with credibility,” and it is the one
that positively impacts our work and the talent
we cultivate.
Everything in the hotel industry is about people.
One of Mr. Marriott’s favorite sayings, which I
often use, is the following: “Take care of your
associates, and they will take care of your guests.”
The most important thing in this work is a human
factor. There are many psychological nuances in
the hospitality business with a combination of
managerial and leadership skills. You face new
challenges, communicate with different people
every day who have their own problems. In order
to coordinate everything, you should have very
strong leadership skills.
There is such a concept in Marriott, “the guest’s
voice”, the guests receive questionnaires and fill
them in. In the very first point, we ask whether
they intend to recommend our property
to another person. At this point, the result
constitutes 73%, which has significantly grown
over the past two years. Last year our hotel was
the first in Europe by all KPI indicators, such as
finances, profit, service, etc.
I am always fond of meeting our customers,
especially our valuable Marriott Bonvoy
members. As of 2019, there are 130 mln active
members of Marriott loyalty program and those
guests are very important for us. I think the
General Manager should be visible for guests
and employees all the time.
Is it profitable to invest in hotels?
otel business as a real estate investment
is one of the most long-term ones. If you
invest the same amount of money into building
a business center, you would get Return of
Investment (ROI) faster. However, from my point
of view, the hotel business is more valuable in the
long-term perspective; its image and constantly
growing asset represent a great interest for
every investor. I am sure the hotel brand is also
very important for a successful hotel. I think, on
average, 15-20 years are required to get to ROI.
It is also important how hotel management
looks after the hotel and takes care of the owner’s
assets. The attitude of the staff is very important
as well. We explain to everyone: we must treat
the hotel as our home; we should take care of it
every single day.
H