The Community Based Hotel Model
HOTEL DREAMZ : It is not surprising that many in Malaysia will take a Historical Building and possibly change it into a Museum or a Luxury Hotel. Speaking about the latter, are there not enough luxury hotels in the vicinity of The Kuala Lumpur Train Station (Now known as Kuala Lumpur Komuter Station) like Hilton Sentral, Le Meridian, Carcosa Sri Negara, Gardens Hotel at Mid Valley and the upcoming St. Regis and Majestic Kuala Lumpur? Many of these properties are owned by Multinational Corporations that have the financial, political capability to sustain such luxurious ambiance as well as the monetary resources to keep the operations going. This is not necessarily a bad thing for a historical building, but I ask you, do we really need another luxury Hotel?
The MV of Malaysian Boy by Astro for the Suara Kami Concert recently had scenes shot at The Kuala Lumpur Train Station (now the Kuala Lumpur Komuter Station) and it brought back fond memories for me. This was what I had envisioned it to be; the idea was to turn The Building into one big Local Community Hotel. After all, historically, there was a hostel in it’s premises when it first opened [Note : Historically NOT a Luxury Hotel ok?]. Wait. Is there really such a thing as a Community Hotel? Surprisingly, the first lesson you learn in the Hotel business is; we make our money from rooms, we make our reputation from food & beverage. By saying food & beverage, they mean by being close to the local community. Ok, I dread the idea of doing a couple of charitable events on special holidays and call it “being close to the local community” or Corporate Social Governance. Furthermore, this is a Historical Building [Bangunan Warisan Negara] which many locals have forgotten, should we not revive and restore this old grand dame? Problem is, I am of the opinion that Malaysians are quite stereotyped when it comes to our Historical Buildings … come on, many Historical Buildings in other parts of the world have become popular local as well as foreign tourist attractions … so why cant the Kuala Lumpur Train Station?
Life is an Experiment!
THE THINK TANK : The date is 02 January 2006. The location, Siem Reap, Cambodia. I had just touched down at Siem Reap International Airport on my next assignment – To take charge of an ailing hotel, tasked of turning it around. This property had a turnover of 3 Hotel General Managers over a period of 4 months and was swimming in, almost to the neck, in hot water. I was taken aback when my HQ in Kuala Lumpur decided to pick a nobody like me, with no prior experience in Cambodia, unlike the former Hotel General Managers.
Jayavarman VII's Smile : Mysterious yet beckoning.
Checking out of the Airport, I was filled with a myriad of emotions, excitement, anxiety and fear all at the same time. It was kind of like a dream …. I was physically in the historical yet mystical Land of Angkor Wat, Cambodia! Looking out of the taxi, reality slammed into my face, for the entire journey to town, the roads were lined right to left, with Hotels, Hotels and nothing but Hotels! Somehow, the realization of my foolish impudence began to surface. However, if not for Cambodia, The Lab Ratz may never have been born. The extreme competition of Hotels coupled with the incredulous market forces forced me to be creative and resourceful, something I normally have a knack for, but had to up my game a couple of notches up. It was Cambodia who taught me about survivability in it’s dense, unforgiving Hotel Jungle. Part of my survival gear was online marketing; so I took a deep breath, jumped off the deep end, sinking into the the abyss of the world wide web …..
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