GM Speak

Service with a passion

Drawing on his 20-odd years of experience in hospitality spanning various countries, Peter Simson, now GM of Hilton Kuching and Hilton Batang ai Longhouse Resort in Malaysia, discusses the fluid nature of the industry and the challenges facing it. By Hazel Jain

Hospitality in its broadest sense is a brief interaction between the provider and the guest. According to Peter Simson, where each party stands is important to understand where we are with respect to hospitality in today's global village.

"We mustn't forget that the person providing the service might be in the same situation as the guest - a foreigner in a foreign land - and unaware of the local customs and culture. What is deemed to be formal in one place might be construed as stiff and boring and correspondingly 'out of touch' in another," he says.

This only goes to show how fluid and active hospitality is. "So to generalising it would be completely inappropriate. A single philosophy, design, building or service standard to fit all situations would undoubtedly be incorrect. This is why hoteliers fragment the traditional segments to create subtle points of difference in terms of product and service whether they are full-service hotels, budget hotels, all-suite apartments, conference hotels, boutique hotels, luxury collections, contemporary, classical, resort, spa, eco, adventure, safari lodges and so on," Simson adds.

Challenge India

Deconstructing the hotel industry comes easily to this GM whose career spans various properties across the globe, from his native United Kingdom to France, Turkey, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and even India where he helped in converting a four-star hotel to a five-star Hilton International in New Delhi.

"That trip I made to the city in 1995 was my first-ever to India. Despite reading and talking to people about the country, nothing prepared me to face the country - the extremes, the inordinate wealth and poverty, the sheer mass of humanity from so many different regions, cultures, sects, beliefs. It was a vertical learning curve and a 'life-forming' experience for me," he reveals.

Speaking about the work he did there, he says it was "extremely hard" at the time but very satisfying in retrospect. "What I remember most was the car we bought - a Contessa - which was like a fridge on wheels. I also remember the extreme range of cooking styles and dietary requests and limited availability of 'international' ingredients. Moreover, the frequency of festivals resulted in not knowing who might or might not turn up for work on any given day. But the most valuable lesson I have learned is to have an eye, ear and feel for negotiation," Simson says.

The market changeth

The landscape of India, Simson says, has changed significantly since then. Associated with the Hilton brand for almost 17 years now, he adds, "The market in the mid 1990's was dominated by Oberoi, ITC and Taj along with many local entrepreneurs and the occasional international operator. Now there is a plethora of international operators vying for space in this rapidly changing market, across brands, segments, and states."

Simson is also of the opinion that the industry has lost the warmth that guests enjoyed a few years ago. "This is particularly so in the West where the society is becoming more insular and where the youth wants to achieve greatness on one's own, invariably in another country," he says.

This has led to seismic movement of people around the globe. "Although this has enriched lives through better wages, it also has the potential to impact our ability as an industry to constantly improve service standards with all variable elements slipping to the lower common denominator," Simson evaluates.

Although he believes that a reasonable level of attrition is a good thing, it needs to be very carefully managed. Hoteliers must therefore ensuring a healthy balance between permanent employees, contract persons, trainees and part-timers to ensure that there is a depth in bench and reasonable ability for a 'succession plan'. The dynamics between each group of persons ensures that the level of interest in the job remains high. Simson therefore believes in giving his staff opportunities for job transfers as promotions when someone shows the ability and desire to move on in their career: "If you have a reputation for developing people effectively, you will find that you potentially attract the brightest stars." Apart from that, he believes that the fragmentation of the market appears to be gaining pace with new brands and concepts being created almost daily through the ever-increasing ability to capture relevant data on guests through CRM techniques. "This will in my view provide the well-funded, creative entrepreneur with original ideas space in the market. However, I feel that the market will continue to consolidate with companies that enjoy multiple sub-brand structure thereby spreading their economic risks while covering all core segments," he opines.

Charging forth

The challenge, according to Simson, will continue to be high room rates along with extremely complicated tax structures that vary from state to state. While the supply and demand curves justify the rates being charged, sustaining them will depend on the levels of local, regional and global economic confidence.

"Despite infrastructure issues, Asia appears to be well placed in relative terms with interregional opportunities. The high fuel surcharges are going to impact the chance traveller who is shopping for last minute deals. So the reason to visit India has to be even more clear," he says.

Speaking about what Hilton Kuching and Hilton Batang Ai Longhouse Resort are doing to be more environment-friendly (see box), he opines that since putting together an ideal programme can be quite costly, the properties settle for doing every little bit they can to reduce energy. "All team members are aware of where we want to go with energy conservation and they consciously practice switching off lights and air-conditioning units when not needed. We take so much for granted. We need to become more respectful towards our environment. These initiatives can come in different forms, but the bottom line is that I feel it makes good business sense," he claims.

Evidently, the designation comes with a lot of responsibilities. Simson says, "Being a general manager to me means being responsible, firm and fair, objective and display integrity while being flexible and available at all times to all people and to be a good listener. A philosophy I believe in, whether in life or work, is to look after and respect other people as you would like to be respected. I believe that what goes around comes around." Life comes full circle indeed.