Below is an interesting talk with Philip Jones, General Manager for the Mövenpick Hotel Hanoi on his new service philosophy.

After working in various countries as true hotelier what brings you to Vietnam to helm Mövenpick Hotel Hanoi?

Over the past 20 years I have worked in many locations; from my native country of Ireland, to multiple cities in the United States and most recently in Dubai in the Middle East. I had always wanted to travel to Asia and experience the hospitality industry in this location and when this opportunity presented itself I was extremely excited as Vietnam is one of the fastest growing tourist destinations in Asia. The potential of the country in terms of cultural diversity, climate and landscapes are unique and offer a great experience for travelers. The friendliness of the Vietnamese people combined with the vast development of tourism makes Vietnam a prime market for domestic as well as international tourism. In addition, 2012 has been designated as the year of “Heritage tourism” with a concentration on the northern coastal region. This effort will create huge demand and opportunities to grow tourism throughout the region, especially in the internationally branded sector, as this is still underdeveloped.

Is it a good timing for boutique luxury segment?

Absolutely, there has never been a better time for internationally operated boutique hotels. This segment has the ability to provide extremely high levels of personalized service, engaging guests through an individualized approach which recognizes their unique preferences. In addition, most discerning travelers want the quality assurance of a brand such a Mövenpick, whose values of quality, reliability and care with a personal touch are appreciated by most.

As a hotelier what do you think of the biggest challenge for hospitality industry and how will Mövenpick Hotel Hanoi overcome all of these challenges? Do you bring in any new values for your brand to embrace and ensure a firm positioning in the market?

The biggest challenge in the hospitality industry is to understand what the customer wants. Years ago, hoteliers were notorious for sending chocolates to diabetics and alcohol to alcoholics, because we thought we knew what the customer wanted and we just assumed everyone liked chocolates and champagne; except of course, for diabetics and recovering alcoholics!

Recently, most hotels chains have placed an increased focus on individual preferences; collecting them and then providing personalized experiences based on the information they have gathered. In their efforts to provide unique experiences to each and every guest, a lot of hotel companies developed tools and processes for the front line professionals to use and follow and as a result the art of providing a personalized experience became too systematic and almost robotic. We at Mövenpick were in danger of allowing this to happen as well. In order to combat this, Mövenpick has recently launched an internal service philosophy which focuses very much on outcomes and empowering the employees to make decisions which will bring to life their thoughtful and imaginative ideas.

One recent example of how this service philosophy has manifested itself with the guest, came when a security employee noticed a guest had a soft tire on their car and took the liberty to inform our driver who was able to use our air pump to put enough air in the tire so that the guest could, either get home or go to the garage. This was not the job of the security officer or the driver, but they did this because they genuinely cared for the wellbeing of the guest. It is through our colleagues and giving them the service tools they need to surprise and delight our guests that we will be able to position ourselves as: “…the preferred and most enjoyable upscale hotel management company for guests….”

Thank you very much.