…
Sometimes improvement comes in small, barely noticeable increments, more rarely in broad, vivid reinventions. Movenpick Hotel Saigon has chosen the latter model in an accelerated, USD $15 million construction schedule that entails closing its doors for business on March 8th and reopening anew on August 1st.
“Several factors persuaded us that this was the best course of action,” said Dominik Stamm, the Movenpick’s general manager, “but first on the list was, and is, customer service. Not only will disruptions to guests from an ongoing renovation process be eliminated, we’ll be able to better serve them during the resurgence in traffic that’s now widely anticipated for the fall. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have been fully operational until December, halfway through peak season.”
A veteran of a couple of substantial renovation projects at other properties, Stamm’s enthusiasm for the Movenpick’s rebranding is palpable and infectious.
Congruent with that goal, Stamm stresses that the hotel’s permanent staff has been assured they will be retained following the renovation process, during which time their benefits program will remain intact.
“It’s been great to see that people grasp the need to take decisive action in order to achieve the desired results,” said Stamm, who added that guests holding reservations during the interval the hotel will be closed have also generally been understanding.
“Naturally, we’ve done everything possible to help them find alternative accommodations,” said Stamm. “So many of them are frequent travelers that they already comprehend the magnitude of the undertaking and that sometimes long-term improvement requires a bit of short-term sacrifice.”
The bold approach to rebranding also makes sense in the context of Movenpick Hotels & Resorts’ comparatively recent entry into the Vietnamese market, where they also opened the Movenpick Hotel Hanoi last year. The Movenpick Hotel Saigon’s previous incarnation – the Omni Hotel Saigon, which opened in 1994 and converted to the Movenpick a year ago last July – has proved a durable identity.
That’s part of the reason that Stamm will convert OJ’s, the casual eatery near the entrance to the hotel, into a sort of “presales” office, including a pictorial history of how the hotel has changed over the years (During the War, it incorporated the headquarters of the American Central Intelligence Agency, though that structure was razed in the early 1990s, when the Omni was built).
“That will be one measure of the success when this total remake is complete,” laughed Stamm. “First and most important, our customers will be happier. Also, nobody will refer to us as the Omni.”
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales. She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
