this kind of facility, whoever steps in here and is paying you money, owns the place for that period. He’ s the master. He’ s the owner because he’ s paying for a room. We don’ t say, we rent you a room, we say, we sell you a room. You are the owner of that room for the period you pay for it. And by the grace of God, we try to give you the service for the king that you deserve, to ensure you have a beautiful experience. Because most people, when they come to hotels, it’ s for a few reasons. One, they are tired of staying in their house; they just want to have a getaway. Relax. Stay in an atmosphere where you have electricity 24 hours, water 24 hours, all amenities you need. Then you have people at your beck and call to serve you. You just relax. You just give yourself a little treat and rest. So when you come here it’ s our duty to make sure that happens, not to spoil for you. Then, another reasons for coming is for business – conferences. People want to come to an atmosphere that is very conducive for it, where they are given full service. The hall is ready, the food is there, the place to sleep, and everything is ready. As they ask for it, they just get it. So we are here to ensure they get all those things. So when anybody comes here and pays for anything, it is our priority to make sure he or she is treated like a king of queen.
Many hotels join service networks to match u to world standards like Starwood and the sort. Do you belong to any? Belonging to such a network gives you leverage. A lot of our peers belong to them. But like I said, this industry is still in its infancy in Nigeria in the sense that not many of the indigenes are participating. Most of the hotels of note are foreign or have a lot of foreign relationship, they are not really indigenous. The indigenous side of the industry is still quite young. There are not a few of us that have taken the bull by the horn to begin to plug and play at this big level. So it’ s a matter of time. We are getting prepared for this next stage. By the grace of God, a time is coming when we’ ll be able to define those indigenous hotels that are seriousminded about bringing people value to bear on the industry. Not just people who are doing it for profit. We are looking at these who are doing it for the passion, who want to develop the industry, who would take it to the next level, whose driving force is not just money. Money is a residual, a by-product of the service we give, we want people who think that by doing this business, putting a lot of energy in it, jobs will be created and value created for the nation. When people are looking for a place to stay, then they can find a reasonable place where they can do so. So ours is to create value and the build a legacy. When you do it right, money, naturally, will follow. So as soon as we are able to identify a few indigenous hotel businesses that do it right, we’ d connect. Of course, going to the Starwood, there is the tendency for discrimination. But we are here to prove that it’ s not rocket science.
You have Lekki, Asaba, where’ s your next development? We have a development going on at Ikeja GRA. We are looking at going to all the commercial cities of the nation.
In marketing, we talk about the unique selling point( USP). What is the USP of Orchid? Our make-up- the way we have designed our flow. Our model is slightly different from other hotels. Orchid Hotel is a conferencing hotel. Apart from giving you a place to sleep and eat, we have evolved
invests. ng- MARCH / APRIL 2017 an atmosphere that brings pleasure and work together. You are working and you are relaxing. You can see from the entrance, the grounds we have for parking alone. When you come for a conference, you are not struggling for parking. You have a lot of space. You can park and relax knowing your car is well parked. You go to the back and see our recreation facilities – excellent swimming pool, tennis courts, state-of-theart gym. Then, you have fields and gardens for those who cannot engage in too vigorous exercises. You can play Chess, table tennis, Ludo. At the fields, you can put go and relax and stay in the green or under the shades of the trees. Our hotel at Lekki is designed differently for ample space. At Asaba, it’ s similar. We have a mini-golf course. So space is something we give people. So we ask, what is it that will make a person feel good, something he has not experienced before in any other place. For us, we give the guest space, a lot of space. Then, of course, as I have already said, we marry work with pleasure. When you are conferencing here, it doesn’ t look like you are working. Then, our cuisine, we are Nigerians, and we know that 95 % of those who use hotels in Nigeria are Nigerians. We take you back home, we bring you some of the village fare that you can’ t get normally in Lagos. We are about the only hotel offering beans in our menu. So many indigenous meals that people crave for, we squeeze into our menu, like akara( bean cakes and akamu( corn pap). So we are not just doing continental meals, we do a lot of African dishes. So if you are leaving here, you will not forget
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There must be a hunger to create value and prove that Nigeria can do it. This is the passion that will keep you. If you don’ t have that passion, you won’ t survive.” our cuisine in a hurry. Our makeup is what make us unique
Where will Ikeja be ready? In the next one or two years.
So what is your 5-year plan? By the grace of God, Ikeja will be operational. Abuja and Port Harcourt should also be operational.
In terms of international
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