What would you say has been your most rewarding achievement during your career?
I would say the most successful achievement of my career was actually the conception of the Labadi Beach Hotel. When we came here, it was a building site and there was no hotel. We have actually developed the product and created an internationally recognized hotel from nothing, and obviously created a different market in Accra. Before we came along, there was not a really ‘top class' hotel in operation. I believe that the Golden Tulip Hotel opened possibly at the same time, but we probably always had the edge with regards to services and delivery of the product compared to the Golden Tulip.
What are your most memorable moments at the Lab
As far as my most memorable moments in this hotel, there have been several. The first is when President Clinton came to Ghana. He did drive through here. We did the catering for the whole visit. We catered for 600 people at the State House. We also did a private lunch for him and President Rawlings at the Castle. The first thing he did when he finished lunch, he sat and said, “First of all, I would like to thank you for this national lunch, it was just great.”
The highlight was in November 1999, when the Hotel was selected for the visit of the Queen of England. She arrived on Sunday evening and left on Tuesday morning. Even though it was a two-day visit, it was months and months of cooperation because things must go properly when the Queen is around. It was very rewarding and extremely satisfying and, obviously, it set the Hotel apart from all others, and as a result we received the Hotel of the year award. One of the reasons could have been the visit of the Queen.
Could you give us a brief overview of your professional background?
I started up my career in Okio when I was a trainee manager, and I married to a young Zimbabwean lady, who I worked with at that time. Then, I moved to Zimbabwe and started to work in some hotels many years ago. I liked it very much so I was offered a position in South Africa. I moved to South Africa, worked there for 2« years and, unfortunately, that was the time the trouble started – car bombing, etc., so we decided to go back to the UK with the family. We lived in the U.K. for a couple of years and did not adjust well. I was on skiing holiday when a friend phoned me and asked if I wanted to move to Ghana to be the manager of this hotel. So far, I have been in Ghana for 10 years now.
Could you elaborate on your experience over the past ten years?
Ghana has come in a tremendous way in 10 years, it really has. The new government is doing exceptionally well but before the new government there was the old government's achievements that nobody can take away. What the old government has achieved in the past 9 years is tremendous, because, when I came here, there were few restaurants, the roads were very poor, there were few commodities that we could buy; things have certainly improved in the past 10 years. As I said earlier on, when we first came in Ghana: there were no hotels apart from the Golden Tulip and ourselves. Now, there are many hotels, and they cater different sections of the market. There are now budget hotels, smaller hotels. Obviously because of that, the airlines have increased. When I first came, British Airways ran 2 or 3 times a week. It now runs 5 times a week; KLM used to run 3 times a week, and it now runs 7 times a week. That obviously greatly increases the number of people coming to Accra.
What do you consider as some of the most difficult aspects of doing business in Ghana's tourism industry?
My relationship with the people here is very good. What one should consider is that the tourism industry in Ghana is extremely young. I have been here for 10 years, and I can say there was no hotel here four years before, though the tourism industry is 14 years old. If you look at places like South Africa and Zimbabwe, it has been going for decades, but I think in 14 years we have come a long way. When we opened the hotel, we did not take people that were working in hotels or state institutions. We employed people who have not worked in hotels before. All we wanted them to be was to be smart, intelligent; with the first batch of people we had, we emphasized on training them.
We have a training department and it is one of our most important ones, especially with the attention given to customer-care in this industry. Ghanaians have a head start when it comes to customer-care, because they are naturally nice people, but we have to refine it to the standards that we expect from our staff, and it works very well.
How do you see the smooth transition that happened in Ghana affecting the business climate, and the perception of Ghana abroad?
In any country in the world, when the populace is getting disgruntled, it is time to change. As there has been a massive devaluation of the cedi and the population was very unhappy in Ghana, I think probably it was time for a change here as well. Having a peaceful transition from one democratic government to another in Africa: I think this is one of the first times it happened, and we were very happy with the way the elections went. The government's stand on transparency, I think, is also something that is extremely important to us, because it means people will come, invest, support, and bring aid to the country, because they will know that the money will be utilized for what it is originally intended. I think they have sent a message over with the Minister of Youth and Sports, for instance. There were some deals he had done or some money went missing. He has been fired and that has been transparency at its highest peak.
How do you perceive the government's action even though it has only been in office for the past three months?I feel that things are going to get better for Ghana that is for sure. They are paving the way of development and increase in investments in the country, but things will not happen overnight. The international community must give this government a chance because they had an extremely good start, a good foundation, and they got a very good people on board. People are talking about nepotism in the government, but I do not feel that is true. I think they have got the best people to do the job and in my book if you got the right people to do the right job it doesn't matter who they are.
The government has declared that among its priorities is the development of the tourism sector. What prospects do you have for this industry?
The progression they have made is obviously marking. Ghana's assets are impressive: the forts, the national forest, the Volta Region; they have such a fantastic scenery, but in order to attract the leisure sector of tourism, several changes are required. Ghana is a very expensive destination. Who is going to pay a thousand Pounds for an air ticket and come to Accra to pay $150 dollars a night on bed and breakfast, before he starts a holiday? That is something to be addressed. This is a catch 22 situation. In order for that to be addressed you have to have the massive hotels to bring the tourists in. Once you build these hotels, you can charge between 30 and 40 dollars a night and that is fine. There are projects underway, in fact a friend of mine has started a project in the Coast. He has bought a lot of land, and he is going to have a tourism complex. He plans to build some hotels there, with swimming pools, shops and other infrastructures. Although things are starting again, it is not going to happen overnight. There is a lot to do in Ghana, but it is still a fairly specified destination. That is the problem.
When do you expect government changes to positively affect the business climate?
Within their first 100 days; they have put in certain mechanisms in place that have been successful. In two years time, you will be able to judge the government on its achievements. As I keep saying, we must be patient. Anyway, we are happy with the noise they are making and with the support they are giving to the hotel industry.
As far as the Labadi Beach Hotel is concerned, what are your expectations?
My expectations are the same as for every hotelier: to keep the average room rate high, increase our yield, and increase our occupancy. Another obvious objective of mine is to expand the business. We are hoping to put up another bedroom block because our hotel is too small. I think that business will continue to increase in Ghana. Our business has now increased steadily in the past 3 years: 1999 was a fairly good year, 2000 was even better and we will have a record year this year. We will achieve over 80% for the whole year, which, I think, for a hotel outside is hard to do. | What were your growth rates in 1999 and 2000?
In 1999 it was 75%, and in 2000 it was 77%. It has been a gradual growth, we obviously market quite aggressively, we have an exceptionally good sales team, by far the best in town. We market our hotel for the apparel attributes, which is to give our customers the services, the ambiance and the highest satisfaction. I know that, for most of our guests, we have repeated business of around 40%, which is quite high. People come because they know us. Our expatriate team has been here for many years, they like the country, people enjoy working in this country, and our guests like to see continuity. We deal very much on a personal basis.
As one of the best establishments in Ghana, the Labadi Beach Hotel is a real success story in Ghana. Could you give us a brief historical background of the Labadi Beach Hotel?
The original idea for the hotel came from the government that approached AGC [Ashanti Goldfields Corporation] in order to build a five-star hotel. AGC, then, became shareholder of our hotel. They have had a very good time in Ghana and been very successful. At that time it was the moment to give it back to the country. It was time for AGC to do something for Ghana. In 1991, as we had the Non Alignment Movement held in Accra, they decided it was the perfect timing to build a five-star hotel for this occasion. From this decision, the Labadi Beach Hotel was built in eleven months.
In fact, this hotel is quite different from other hotels, and it was looked at very carefully by a lot of people from around the world because it is a pre-fabricated hotel. It is not brick and mortar, but alloy metal sheets filled with cellophane and all locked together, and filled with wood. The alloy metal sheets are filled with cellophane, and on top of that chips and boards, and on top of that it is clamp with wood. This design is normally used to build factories because it is very quick. Thanks to that choice, we had a 12-year start on the retainer investment.
How long is it going to take for you to break even?
Quite a while, because we took quite a heavy loan and every month the loan is revalued. Moreover, with the devaluation of the cedi, our exchange losses were quite heavy.
Do you have any expansion plan?
We are going to build 100 rooms very soon. We would rebuild a block, which would be exactly the same as this.
Are you planning to develop other facilities?
We are planning on developing the beachfront together with the Tourist Board, and we are planning to develop the Beach frontage for our guests.
Is it going to be a private beach?
It is going to be a semi-private beach, because you cannot privatize the beach. The beach is public, and as you know, very sacred to Ghanaians. On Sundays we have the ‘meet-me-there' and, during the Public Holidays, like for the ‘boxing' days, there can be about twenty thousands people on the beach. In fact, if I had not been in Accra, and if I were a South African, I would be amazed. There is a bigger white presence here, and I can tell you that I feel quite at home. It does not worry me at all. In fact, I am married to a Ghanaian.
Are you going to develop this private front beach project on your own?
What we would like to do, and in fact I have been talking recently to certain investors about this, is to try to develop the beach properly in the future. We would like to make it a water sport beach, which will mean the building of breaking waters. That will really enhance the area. We could have wind surfers and fishing charters coming here. One of the leisure segments in Ghana is fishing. I heard someone who went out last week in a day and caught six fishes in the day, whereas in Mauritius you will be lucky if you have one caught in a week. Our chef is from Mauritius and he used to catch one twice a week. There is every thing one might need here to be successful in this industry: the fish is here.
How many fishing companies do operate in the market?
There are probably about four or five boats only. One person from Takoradi has one or two boats, and there are about two or three boats in Ada. The idea has come up and people are starting to talk about it, but considering the fact that Mauritius has been fished out, and there are few marlines left at the moment, if we can have a tag and release policy, this place will boom. If you do not tag and release then it becomes like everywhere else, the place gets fished out. There is tremendous potential.
Going back to the beachfront, what are your exactly planning?
We would clear the illegal structures that are in front of the beach and put fences down the outside, patrol the beach, plant more palm trees, build a bar there and have sun lounges. We would do a lobster bar on the beach and make it more attractive. We would put chairs umbrellas, etc., out there, and if people want to come from the outside and utilize our section, that is fine.
How do you view the role of the Labadi Beach in this industry?
We must obviously maintain our market share, and continue to lead. Usually people look to us, and when we put our prices up, they put theirs up. However, now we have a larger market so maybe people will not look to us, and perhaps they will make their own decisions from now on. We will continue to maintain our status as the hotel with a “personal touch”. People spend a lot of time away from their homes in Ghana, rather than when they travel to other destinations. The average lodgers in the UK will stay about 1.7 nights, but in Ghana it is over 4 nights stay. That is a long time to stay in a hotel, so the comfort and the satisfaction of our guests is our main objective, and we will continue to struggle to achieve this end.
Where do your customers come from?
I would say our number one destination is UK, closely followed by America, and then Germany. Europe and America are our top cases, and they make up the majority of our clientele. We also have a few Japanese customers.
What would be your message to the investors that we are reaching about Ghana and its investment opportunities?
I would say if someone wants to invest, here is the best place to do it: the Gateway to Africa. All around us are very rich countries though not being correctly managed. Ghana is the springboard to West Africa. It is a stable country, the people are very friendly, it is very safe in Ghana, and the security is still far better than any country in Africa, including South Africa. It is very secure here. I would advise people to come and invest in Ghana—you cannot lose. You can see how the country is stable, and we can walk around here at night, whereas when I went to Togo, I did not feel safe at all. Ghana is a wonderful country. There has been tremendous growth in the industry, with the Labadi Beach being the leader. Thus, it serves as the ‘training school' for the industry. People like to poach guys from Labadi Beach Hotel, especially the new set-ups. A supervisor in Labadi Beach Hotel may end up being a manager in another hotel, because our standards are very high. I think for a hotel that is about 10 years old, Labadi still continues to set up very modern facilities, and I think this hotel is a good example of a good investment in Africa. |
