INTERVIEW: Bring on the Encore Olivier Berrivin

Bring on the Encore

Would you say that you’re a specialist when it comes to opening hotels?

I wouldn’t say I’m a specialist but I’ve certainly been involved in a lot of openings. I spent 14 years working for Sofitel Accor for which I opened properties in China, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan. And prior to joining Ramada Encore, I was working for the Wyndham Hotel Group at the Ramada Hotel Dubai, which was voted Wyndham’s ‘Hotel of the Year 2008 EMEA.”

What made you decide to come back to Thailand?

I had always wanted to add Dubai to my resume so I did my two years there, but after that I was very keen to come back to Asia. I like it here, both professionally and personally. And when I was given the opportunity to open the first Ramada Encore in Asia, it sounded like the perfect challenge. 

When will the property have its grand opening?

The full building will be open by September and will feature 188 rooms, spread across seven floors. All rooms will have free internet, 40 inch LCD screen, and a work desk. At the moment we have 50 rooms open, and as we talk we have 37 of these occupied, so that’s quite good. We have a staff of about 91 people, but we plan to go up to 135 – 140 when we open the whole property.

What does your hotel offer that’s different to the other hotels which are opening at the moment?

We have a great location on Sukhumvit Soi 10 and we are the only branded hotel on the Soi. We also have an excellent product which is very similar in style to that of a boutique hotel. Even though we are too big to be a true boutique hotel, everything we do at the hotel is done in such a way to create a casual, modern, chic, and trendy feel, and this shines through in our atmosphere, décor and service.

Do you think travelers nowadays prefer an informal boutique style atmosphere?

I believe our target segment, which we call the Gen X market (aged 35 – 45), want to enjoy more personalized, casual and friendly service. Of course, five-star hotels are great, but sometimes they are very stiff and have rigid policies. Here we are a four-star hotel, and have the flexibility to meet customers’ demands on a person to person basis. In our own way we want to bring something new and different to Bangkok – a new style, a new flavour, a new spirit.

Opening a new property must be exciting?

I love it because you see things changing daily.  It’s your own baby, and you can really bring your own style, tastes, and ideas into the mix. Together with your team, you can come up with something really nice.

Of course we have to follow brand standards but there is a margin of flexibility which allows you to put your own stamp on the place. For example, traditionally when guests check into a hotel they normally get a welcome drink. Here we give ice cream. We also propose a dice game. Guests roll two dice, and if they total 15, they get a free pizza. If they lose, they get 20 per cent off F&B. So they never lose. We try to come up with something different like this at every step of the stay.

What dining outlets do you have at the hotel?

At the moment we just have our all-day-dining restaurant ‘The Hub,’ but at the end of August we’ll open our rooftop outlet on the 8^th floor called ‘Leapfrog.’ It will be a combination of restaurant and lounge bar, both indoor and outdoor, and the concept will be ‘Californasia.’ We plan to host wine dinners and networking functions here.

What about the price range of F&B?

It will be very competitive. At The Hub we currently have an ‘All-you-can- eat pasta’ promotion which is 290 baht net. Come as two persons and one person dines free. We also do a great buffet breakfast for only 350 baht.  In terms of positioning we try to be very competitive without cutting the quality and I believe we’ve achieved that.

What about meeting facilities?

We have one meeting room which is located near the lobby. Its capacity is 44 people in a classroom style; 22 in a U-shape.

Is working in Thailand very different to Dubai?

In terms of Sales and Marketing, Dubai is the most aggressive market I have ever seen. It’s out of this world. In Dubai you have competing sales teams turning up at your hotel and asking your customers how much they pay. They’ll then offer them 10% lower prices. And they do this in front of you! In Bangkok this doesn’t happen, and hopefully it never will.

Bangkok is a challenging place in other aspects, though. The market, for example, is close to oversupply, and there are a lot of new openings coming up. In the meantime the number of arrivals is not changing much. So we’re all eating the same piece of cake and the portions are getting smaller.

So to make your property stand out do you plan to offer special rates?

Absolutely. We already have our soft opening rate in place which is 2,011 baht (room only). We’ll have to see what the situation is in September to see if we can maintain this rate or adjust it based on market conditions.

What are the greatest challenges you face before opening in September?

The main challenge will be having a full opening on time but I’m confident we will do it. The second challenge will be introducing this new brand – this is the first one in Asia. It’s always challenging to introduce a new brand because people don’t have any references. So we’ll have to work very hard in terms of setting standards, level of services, marketing communications and so on. We have very strong support from the owning company and very strong support from the management company Wyndham in Hong Kong. The idea is to finish the year in line with the market conditions, in line with the competition. And we’re very confident we’ll do it.

Ramada Encore Bangkok
21 Sukhumvit Soi 10, Sukhumvit Road
Tel: 02 615 0999
email: info@ramadaencorebangkok.com
www.ramadaencorebangkok.com