Garnier: Radisson Group Has Clear Expansion Plan for Nigeria, Africa The Radisson Hotel Group’s Senior Director, Development-Africa, Mr. Erwan Garnier speaks with Dike Onwuamaeze about the Group’s expansion plan an
Dike OnwuamaezeGive us an overview of the pace of recovery of the hospitality industry after the COVID-19 disruption?The hospitality business, and hotel business specifically, has been highly impacted by COVID-19. It is one of the industries, along with the airline business that have been the most impacted because of the travel restriction and lockdown. Now, if you focus more into the African continent you can see that the continent and the hospitality business are fairly resilient.
How devastating was the COVID blow on hotel businesses and Radisson’s strategy that enabled it to remain afloat and still thriving?During COVID the result was devastating. We were trying to maintain minimum service to cover the basic costs. So, we were not talking about profits. In fact we were losing money as a company and we looked for support from our main shareholders to keep the company afloat. So, COVID was terrible for the group.
What are the creative or innovative packages Radisson intends to introduce that will be a game changer in hotel business in Nigeria?We innovative by making sure that the product we have is something that does not exist. If you look at when this hotel opened in 2011, this positioning of the hotel does not exist then. So, this hotel has been successful after a decade and we see that it is still a leading hotel in Lagos.
It is one of the most challenging markets because of the devaluation of the local currency which is the main challenge that we are facing. We see a future that is bright and expanding. We are very owner driven. Today we have the fastest growing hotels in the continent and the reason is that we are providing more hands on solutions, which is very owners’ centric with focus on clients’ satisfaction, which is also owners’ satisfaction that allows us to have faster and more viable business.
What are your environmental sustainability plans in terms of managing wastes and consuming water and energy?It is part of our five-year plan to go net zero in the coming years and manage energy and waste in a very sustainable way. Originally the Radisson is from the Nordics where sustainability is extremely important. This is part of our dashboard to ensure that all the energies are being managed and saved in a sustainable way by our own management team in every aspect of the business.
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