Last year marked the first group wide celebration of the ‘Annual PREM Group People & Property Awards’. This year the group will also be awarding individuals and properties for the excellent customer service and professional performance they provided throughout 2008. While there may not be the opportunity to have everyone come together in the same venue, it doesn’t take away the fact that these awards are an enormous achievement for the individuals, properties and our group as a whole.

The wait is over, the votes have been counted, nominations have been assessed and the judges have made their final decisions!  - PREM Group is ready to reveal the 2008 ‘Persons of the Year’ & ‘Property of the year’! So everyone, hold your breaths while we announce the winners…. Benelux & France‘Person of the Year’ awards - individual properties

   ‘Regional Property of the Year’ awardsPREM Group Property of the Year 2008 for Benelux France – Crowne Plaza Hotel BruggePREM Group Property of the Year 2008 for UK – Premier Apartments LiverpoolPREM Group Property of the Year 2008 for Ireland – Days Hotel Park West ‘Overall PREM Group Property of the Year’ award & ‘Regional Person of the Year’ awards These results are remaining a closely guarded secret for the time being. The overall property of the year as well as the individuals who have been awarded person of the year for their region will be surprised over the coming weeks!!!  Celebrations will be taking place at each location to recognise the awards so keep an eye on the blog over the coming weeks for updates on what events took place…. and some photos too!

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”.

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) 

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.

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  

hams.ppt Over the last few months we have seen a lot of hotels go into receivership or administration. In most cases the banks have taken steps to protect their investment and have taken control of the business. There is a real need in the current economic climate for a hotel management service to operate distressed hotels. Most of these hotels will be taken over by the bank who holds the debt on the property. In order to get these contracts it is important to get in front of the right people in the different banks. PREM Group have set up a joint venture with a professional consulting firm Amethyst to create Hotel Asset Management Services. Amethyst is headed up by Mr Ronan King who is a former partner with BDO Simpson Xavier and is a trained insolvency specialist .Over the last few weeks HAMS has met with the major banks in the Irish market . We are optimistic that a number of opportunities will materialise from these meetings. HAMS will be looking at short term contracts to manage distressed hotels with a view to stabilising the business, adding value and sharing in any upside in value when the property is sold in the future. Independently, PREM Group will continue to pursue normal long term management contracts in hotels that are not distressed. HAMS is making itself available to operate hotels in Ireland, England and Northern Europe.The attached presentation will give you some more information on HAMS. 

We have being reviewing our business over the last few months through a series of brain storming sessions . The main premise of these sessions has been to identify what added value service could we give to our business customers . One of the main feedback we got from our GM’s is that our customers are looking for good Internet connectivity . We already offer free Wi-Fi in our Irish and UK Hotels ,but as a result of these sessions we now provide the same service in our Belgium Hotels . With this in mind I was very interested in the following report when it landed in my inbox .
Amadeus, a leading provider of technology to the travel and tourism industry, is today launching a report commissioned from the Economist Intelligence Unit, into the effect of the economic downturn on executives’ choice of hotel. Titled, “The Austere traveller - the effect of corporate cutbacks on hotels”, the report finds that executives will make fewer, shorter and cheaper business trips in 2009 and prefer basic efficiency and good service over ancillary services. Fully one-fifth of the 354 executives who responded to the survey in Asia, Europe and North America thought an internet connection was more critical than a quiet room.

“We are entering an age of visible austeritywith regards to business travel,” said Antoine Medawar, Managing Director, Amadeus Hospitality Business Group. “With the eyes of their organisations and shareholders upon them, executives are anxious to make business trips as productive as possible. Forget gyms and restaurants; instead concentrate on efficient check-in and check-out and internet access. Good Wi-Fi connectivity is now rated above any other extra. There is a flight to trusted brands and the expectation of a common level of good service no matter where you are in the world.”

61% of executives surveyed said a trusted brand with uniform levels of service across locations would be a decisive factor when choosing a hotel in 2009.

When asked which features they simply could not do without, business travellers were impressively devoted to productivity on the road: internet connectivity is indispensable to more business travellers (76% of respondents) than a quiet room (56%), good transport links (54%) or central location (52%). 

These findings suggest that business travellers measure value by price and guaranteed uniform service and efficiency. Respondents cited efficient check-in and check-out (68%), flexibility to change requirements (64%) and rapid resolution of problems (59%) as the best indicators of good hotel service. Almost a third (29%) also appreciate hotels which remember their preferences.

“It is clear business travellers’ expectations are changing,” said Bill Ridgers, chief analyst for travel and tourism at the Economist Intelligence Unit. “Economic pressure means executives care less about extras and are instead concentrating on whether hotels deliver on the simple things. In an age of increasing time pressures, security fears and greater bureaucracy - when the conventional wisdom sometimes seems to be that business travel has become something of a chore - perhaps the most heartening finding of the research is that executives still enjoy and see the benefit of travelling for work.”

wintersucks.wmv

Those of us who have endured the Arctic winter conditions over the last few weeks will appreciate this video ! Roll on the spring .

videoconference.wmv 

Given the growth of PREM Group into the UK ,Belgium and France over the last few years ,conference calls have become a way of life for all of us . On a daily basis there seems to be a conference call happening throughout the company . this is set to continue as we look to expand in Northern Europe over the coming years . With the increase in conference calls we have seen a huge increase in the costs and given these recessionary times we have been looking at ways to reduce the cost of these calls . The latest plan is to make these calls on SKYPE ,it will be interesting over the next few weeks to see if this system can work in a business environment like hours with people dialing in to a conference call from multiple locations . At least we avoided the temptation to go down the video conferencing route . One of my favourite adds of all time is this one which highlights the pros and cons of video conferencing ,it is also one of the funniest adds around . Click on the link above and enjoy .

I want to wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year . Lets hope it is prosperous because all this talk of recession is really beginning to get people down . We have to try and be positive ,a lot of what is going on around us is beyond our control ,we can only have an influence on the things that are within our own space . We can only manage what is in front of us and in PREM Group we are focused on the opportunities that are available to us .

Now that most of us are back at work following the Christmas break ,except the politicians  of course , most people I talk to seem to have spent the holidays relaxing ,recharging the batteries and preparing for the challenges that 2009 are going to bring . Thats how I spent the break except for three hectic days in London with the family . London is one of the great cities of the world and I enjoyed seeing the city again as a tourist . With the weakness of sterling and the recent VAT reductions England is great value at the moment . Whether the UK Government meant to devalue Sterling ,or not, it certainly has given a boost to business . London was packed with European tourists ,all the major tourist attractions were experiencing volumes normally only seen in the summer . On Oxford street is was difficult to walk on the pavements with the crowds shopping .There is a feeling in the UK that 2009 is going to be a bumper tourism year  . While there may be some fall off in corporate business ,visitor numbers are going to be up . Having said that our property’s outside of London have got off to a positive start to the New Year and corporate bookings are holding up for January .Their is a sense in the UK that ,while things are bad , the UK Government is pro active in providing whatever stimulus that is necessary to boost that economy .

Returning to Dublin ,the optimism we saw in London is nowhere to be seen . There is a real sense of negativity in the air ,daily reports of job losses don’t help . A lack of clear direction and leadership from our Government is a cause of grave concern . In our industry we are seeing hotels panicking and dumping room stock on to the market . Today I was able to buy a 4 star hotel room in Dublin for €20 ,that’s a double room for two persons sharing . Before the hotelier gets this money €1.50 commision is given to the booking engine ,that leaves €18.50 for the hotel which then has to remove VAT before paying for light,heating,linen,toiletries,staff ,etc,etc. This sort of  madness is counter productive and will only serve to damage the hotel business in the long run . But we are in a crisis and people need to do what the think is right in order to save there business . We are not against discounting rates ,but not to a level that the basic cost of serving the room is not been covered .

In situations like this we need leadership and the man on the street knows that ,yet we appear to have a government that is out of touch with what is happening on the ground .The Government need to show that , while things are bad , they are in control of the situation . They need to regain the confidence of the general public.I listened to Taoiseach Brian Cowan (Prime Minister for the benefit of our non Irish friends ) on the radio last Sunday and in over the course of an extensive interview I heard nothing that would give me confidence that he knew what he was talking about when it came to the economy .

One of the best commentaries on the Governments performance this week came from small and medium business group, ISME. They have called on the Government to show decisive leadership in dealing with the deteriorating economic situation.

It warned that there was no time left to build consensus in the light of the appalling exchequer figures and swift action was required to stop the headlong rush to economic ruin.

According to ISME Chief Executive, Mark Fielding, ” the reported tax revenue shortfall of E8 billion clearly shows that the economy is a ’shambles’ and the business sector expects an immediate action plan to get us out of this mess. What has been received to date is a mishmash of aspirations based on never-ending discussions with the Social Partners.”

“The Taoiseach must realise that the ‘Unelected Social Partners’ represent only a fraction of the population and the process slows down needed decision making for which he and his Government were elected. No other Country in the world would concede such authority to a grouping that does not, nor could not represent the majority of the population.”

“Business confidence is being drained and 2009 projections showing a worsening position, urgent action is required to introduce policies that will have immediate benefits for the economy. By consulting with the Social Partners on each and every issue, valuable time is being wasted, companies are going to the wall and jobs are being lost.”

In conclusion, the Association outlined that the SME business community, which has been particularly badly hit by the dramatic downturn has lost its patience. It expects an immediate consolidated action plan, based on the requirements of the overall economy and driven by the elected Government. Any further delays will only exacerbate a problem that continues to deteriorate on a daily basis.

Hopefully for the sake of all of us in business the Government will heed the advise offered by ISME .

 In the meantime ,we in PREM Group are fortunate that our business is spread over Ireland ,England ,Belgium and France . We plan to grow into the recession by seeking new hotel management contracts in these four regions and beyond . We are not going to sit around waiting for government action ,instead we will manage what we have control over and take every opportunity that comes our way to ensure that PREM Group not only survives this storm but becomes a bigger and stronger company as a result .