Since my last writing in March, pace has increase with many decisions being finalised.
In the past 2 months, we have confirmed with the owners:
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Layouts for all Public space
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Layouts for all Back of the House (BOH) offices
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Final signage – location and numbers
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Leased space
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All furniture designs
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All carpets design
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Uniform design and style
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Food and Beverage line and concept
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Preparation for Mass Recruitment
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And more…
As such, time has been limited yet, and as promised, I find it necessary to share the progress of my opening.
Confirming the product
Over the past 2 months, many discussions and meetings have been held to firm up the end product. Whether in Rooms, Public space or Food & Beverage, confirming before proceeding is extremely important.
Case in point: In all kitchens, there is specific anti-slippery flooring. Before proceeding with the purchase of an such item, the owner provided us with samples to ensure that we install the right flooring in accordance with Safety and Hygiene standard. This part of the process is critical as many owners (or suppliers) do not necessarily have the expertise of operating an international 5-star hotel. What can be good for a shopping center or hospital, for example, is not applicable to the hotel industry.
Case in point: Public and Rooms furniture design are provided by the design company to the owner's selected manufacturer. Manufacturer's shop drawings should then be approved by the design company leading to a prototype being made and receiving approval of the designer. Only in following these steps, can the product quality, durability and functionality be confirmed.
Case in point: Public and Rooms carpet basically follow the same process where the carpet artwork design provided by the design company will require strike offs to be sent to the design team for approval. As multiple designs are commonly used, omitting this step can lead to a visually disastrous result and poor quality.
Crunch time
When making a jig-saw puzzle, the beginning is always quite easy. Then as you progress, it gets more complicated as you close in on the middle. The more you advance, the more challenging, yet you are driven to complete it. Once the end is in sight, your adrenaline runs through and there is no stopping you in finishing placing the final pieces together.
A new hotel opening is much the same. And this is where we, the hotel and owner's team, are at putting together the final pieces to achieve our common goal of a successful opening.
Each step needs to be carefully reviewed and most importantly, followed-up.
I, along with my key Associates, do more walk-throughs, as workers "tend to cut corners and adjust as they go" which is obviously not in line with our standards. We argue a little more, as we can feel the time to opening closing in. Lead-times are being monitored closely by all. Critical path is being discussed with each key Executive Associate weekly with "red flags", being identified, fully discussed and when necessary, reported to my company for their input or at times, assistance to discuss directly with the owners.
We leave the minor adjustments for after the opening and concentrate on the major issues with safety and security as well as hygiene standards in mind.
Soon we will do our mass recruitment followed by the hiring of the many Associates who will help us open this new property.There will be much multi-tasking, as the installation of systems, kitchens, laundry, and mechanicals will be followed by testing, training and of course, final checks will be performed.
I can easily envision the coming months and only wonder how will this all fit together into my puzzle.
Yoland Perras is the General Manager at the Sheraton Wuhan Hankou Hotel. His series of articles brings ehotelier readers a first-hand account of what it's like opening a hotel in China.
