Jim Murphy - PREM Group’s Managing Director » 2009

Another hotel room of the future unveiled

Hotel groups are allways looking to launch the hotel room of the future and the latest version can be seen at the Pullman Paris Bercy hotel .

First the door lock. Ahmed Chekir, the manager on duty at the hotel, uses a special hotel key card with a radio frequency microchip to open it.

This technology is available in Samsung mobile phones, which Accor Hotels says in the next 18 months to three years, will be extended to all mobile phones worldwide.

Then you enter the room to see an oversized shower - 1.5m-by-1m - and equipped with special glass which can switch from clear to opaque. It has an adjustable rain shower offering a vigorous or gentle spray as well as different lighting options.

The hotel is in the Bercy area, in the 12th arrondisement, in the east of Paris, which in the 19th century was the centre for wine warehousing in the city, with the wine brought from other parts of the country by barge down the River Seine, before being sent to restaurants.

Designed by Natacha Froger, the concept room was aimed as a study in luxury accommodation for the individual, short-stay business customer.

In creating the room, the design teams decided that chilled water and coffee were more important than the usual mini-bar beverages and snacks, which are available through the hotel’s room service.

Venturing further inside, there’s a mobile, sliding luggage rack and a large closet. A side table carved from a single piece of wood also serves as a bedside table and includes a Bartech ice cube bar and Nespresso machine.

The centrally positioned bed is one of the super comfortable ones that are in all Pullman and Sofitel hotels. A new fabric was developed for the bed linens and a new fibre blend of brushed cotton and silk that is soft, luminous and more absorbent for bathrobes.

Next to the bed are two bedside tables, each equipped with electrical, ipod/MP3, broadband internet and PC/video projector outlets as well as lighting controls.

There’s also a touch-sensitive remote control that turns on all the room’s automated functions, including the bedroom and shower lights, video projector, lightproof blinds and interactive TV menu.

TV shows and exclusive interactive programs can be viewed on a glass screen with a video projector. Seemingly suspended in mid-air in the window is a 1.2m television screen. It uses thin film technology, providing exceptional resonance and sharpness. The advanced 5.1 surround sound system is hidden from view.

A large side table serves as a Le Corbusier-style desk, table or seat, from where you can see up the Seine to Paris.

In the bathroom, the natural stone washbasin features a large waterfall tap. The toilet area was carefully designed to minimise noise, with special soundproofing built into the lid.

In 1997, engineers from Accor Hotels’ Innovation and Design unit joined forces with designers to design the first concept rooms. Their goal was to produce “visionary spaces combining futuristic techniques and state-of-the-art design”.

Author: Jim Murphy | Posted on 31. March 2009 at 07:29 am | Filed in General, Prem Group Ireland, Prem Group UK, Prem Group in Europe | 0 Comments

PREM Group supports Daffodil Day

Today is Daffodil Day in Ireland and fund raising campaigns are underway throughout the country to raise funds for the Irish Cancer Society . PREM Group try and support this worthwhile charity every year by participating in different events . A few years ago I had the pleasure of “returning to the shop floor” serving breakfast in Days Hotel Galway . It was great fun for me , perhaps not for the guests . Today its someone else’s turn and Anne O’Regan volunteered to sell daffodils on Dublin’s Grafton Street . Her colleagues decided she would be more successful if she dressed up ! The attached photo highlights the extent her work colleagues went to in order to make sure that Anne stood out ?

High Resolution Press Images:

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Author: Jim Murphy | Posted on 20. March 2009 at 12:04 pm | Filed in Prem Group Ireland | 0 Comments

Those that Thrive and those that wilt

By Yeoh Siew Hoon

I am convinced there are two kinds of people in the world - those who thrive in crisis and those who wilt.

Last week, I ran into someone who’s on the hospitality real estate side of things - i.e. a hotel owner - and when I asked him how he was, he responded with nervous laughter, “It’s like someone just switched off the lights.”

He’s a wilter. I don’t blame him, I suppose. He’s probably watched his brick-and-mortar investments transform to bamboo-and-grass overnight.

In Singapore, real estate, like hotel prices, has come down as fast as it shot up. A newly-arrived expatriate friend found an apartment in a brand new complex and got it at half the rent it was going for six months ago - from $8,000 a month to $4,000. How crazy is that?

Then there’s the other camp that’s loving every minute of it. I find these are usually the seasoned professionals, the war horses that have fought in the trenches a few times and the sales and marketing folks who know this is the their time to shine.

In bad times, people need sales and as Robin Lokerman, boss of MCI Asia Pacific told me the other day, “You got to sell yourself out of recession.”

And so I ran into a positively glowing Ray Stone last week. The vice president-sales and marketing for Accor Asia Pacific is a veteran who’s been through a few bad markets in his time.

When I asked him how he and his team were doing, he said, cheeks a-flushed and eyes a-glow, “We have all guns firing on target, I love it.”

Staying in his line of friendly fire, I listened as he enthused about how exciting these times were for sales and marketing.

For him, it’s about getting back to the fundamentals and investing in existing relationships as well as creating new relationships. “It’s all about the customer. Anything that does not support that, you got to stop.”

So Stone and his team are still rolling along, attending trade shows, making sales calls and organising World of Accor in a couple of months. “You got to be out there to listen to and understand what the customer is saying.”

In times such as these, he says the most important thing is not to assume anything. “You have to examine everything you do.”

He confesses it’s not rocket science - “I am embarrassed talking about it” - but he reminds me of what Napoleon Hill said about selling, “The strongest oak tree of the forest is not the one that is protected from the storm and hidden from the sun. It’s the one that stands in the open where it is compelled to struggle for its existence against the winds and rains and the scorching sun.”

I must say I have always had great admiration for people who sell. The good ones can sell you anything.
Reprinted with permission, Yeoh Siew Hoon and The Transit Cafe (www.thetransitcafe.com)

Author: Jim Murphy | Posted on 11. March 2009 at 17:43 pm | Filed in General, Prem Group Ireland, Prem Group UK, Prem Group in Europe | 1 Comment

Staying optimistic in a recession .

The following is a brief excerpt from an article I read recently . The sentiment in the article is one that we in PREM would endorse .

By: Neil Salerno - Hotel Marketing Coach

This year, there are few things that are certain, but one thing is for sure; the travel business pie is shrinking. To compound the problem, so many people, in the business and public news media, are talking doom and gloom. I wish they would slow down their rhetoric, so we eternal optimists can take a long relaxing breath. I’m just concerned that too much talk of pending doom and gloom can become its own self-fulfilling prophesy.

Business will not be terrible for everyone; don’t let yourself, or your staff, buy-into the recession woes. Travel will not come to a stop; business will simply be harder to find. We will have to work smarter and harder.

We will, most certainly, be challenged to do more with less, but we’ve been through times like this before. Sharp hoteliers will survive, even thrive; they always do. They survive because they make the good decisions necessary to grow their slice of the business pie, while others are left shouting that the sky is falling.

Last week, I was privileged to make a revenue management presentation at the Twentieth Anniversary Conference for Hilton’s Homewood Suites.. I was totally thrilled to get a round of applause when I cautioned that hoteliers should stay optimistic and not buy-into all the recession hype. They get it. With that kind of positive attitude, the Homewood Suites team has obviously developed a winning posture among their properties. That will pay huge dividends in the days and months to come.

There will be opportunities to grow business during this downturn, but finding and acting upon those opportunities will depend upon the decisions hoteliers make. The recurring decisions, during times like this, are always centered around finding opportunities to make hotel operations as financially efficient as possible without negatively impacting service levels.

Author: Jim Murphy | Posted on 6. March 2009 at 09:12 am | Filed in General, Prem Group Ireland, Prem Group UK, Prem Group in Europe | 0 Comments

More updates from the trenches !!

Every two months we circulate an internal memo with news stories from across PREM Group . The news story’s relate to people leaving or joining, births ,marriages , promotions ,celebrity guests ,etc, etc .

The following is a brief selection from the latest newsletter :

Premier Apartments Manchester

· We have just had the Russian Ice Stars stay with us again during the performances of their acclaimed ‘Cirque de Glace’ extravaganza and next month we host the entire cast of the ‘Cirque du Soleil’s ‘Quidam’ show which will be playing 3 shows at the M.E.N. Arena.

Premier Apartments Nottingham · Since our last update we would like to welcome Steve Ebbrell our new Operations Executive, Steve has been promoted from office executive previously in Manchester Premier Apartments and is good example of progression working within the group. Hannah Skevington has also joined us as a part time office executive. Premier Apartments Birmingham

David Essex’s return - he enjoyed his stay with us last year and is returning in March and is performing at the Hippodrome

Premier Apartments Bristol

We look forward to the Cheltenham festival on 9^th – 13^th March. Over the course of the festival week, approximately 230,000 people are set to soak up the atmosphere. Across the country, well over £500 million will be wagered on the outcome of the 26 races, with the total Prize Money at £3.56m. This is an astonishing average of almost £140,000 for each Festival race in 2009! So if you and your friends haven’t yet booked your trip to Bristol, contact sales@premierapartmentsbristol.com

Holiday Inn Calais · The national volleyball men’s team will stay a couple of weeks in our hotel next May, in preparation for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Ramada Ostend

· Congratulations to Melissa Dejonghe with the birth of her son Georgi. She gave birth after having a car accident. Melissa is recovering now and everything is alright with Georgi.

Premier Suites Dublin: · We say a sad goodbye to Heather Wiktorski, as she leaves the position of General Manager of Premier Suites Dublin and completely takes up her new role as Website Revenue Manager in Head Office. We wish her every success and know we will still be in touch

High Resolution Press Images:

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Author: Jim Murphy | Posted on 5. March 2009 at 17:30 pm | Filed in General, Prem Group Ireland, Prem Group UK, Prem Group in Europe | 0 Comments

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