Delivering innovative service

Morley, a hotel veteran with more than 20 years of experience, flew down to Bangkok last January to prepare for the opening of Holiday Inn’s second resort property in Phuket.  Although the Holiday Inn Resort Phuket Mai Khao Beach was not scheduled to begin operations until September 9 last year, he moved down to Phuket in April for his Filipino wife to give birth to their first daughter, Claire. They also have a four-year old son Justin.
As a family man, Morley has some advantage in knowing how to run this new Holiday Inn property, which belongs to a brand widely recognised for its family-hotel accommodation. Starting as a hotel bellboy who carried the bags of guests, this Australian hotelier has accumulated a whole range of experiences in the hospitality industry.
He first joined the InterContinental Hotels Group as a front-office manager at InterContinental Resort Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates, and later as revenue manager of Crown Plaza Hotel Dubai, Morley has moved across regions, working in Melbourne, Australia, as a cluster revenue manager, and as executive assistant manager at Grand InterContinental Hotel Seoul, before returning to the Middle East to work as a resident manager at Al Bustan Palace InterContinental Muscat, Oman. Prior to his current appointment, he was the general manager at Holiday Inn Clark, Pampanga, Philippines.
Morley said Holiday Inn Resort Phuket Mai Khao Beach caters to all types of travellers, not only families with kids. For example, the hotel has allocated a zone where couples can enjoy their privacy at pool-access rooms where no children are allowed; a wedding package on a beach-front and garden areas; a conference room package for group meetings; a Thai cooking class, etc.
Unlike the first Holiday Inn property in Phuket, which is located on the famous Patong beach, the new Holiday Inn enjoys the more private view of the “unspoiled” Mai Khao beach, which is a part of the Sirinat National Park. There will be no vendors chasing tourists to sell their goods or services on the beach, he said.
Morley said Holiday Inn Resort Phuket Mai Khao Beach has tried to “move away from many traditional offerings”. For example, it does not put mini-bar in the rooms but instead has a kind of mini-mart in the hotel, with more competitive pricing. Guests are also offered free newspapers to download instead of printed newspapers. Other “unique” offerings include iPod docking and DVD player in every guest room; a kid club; teen zone; its “signature Tea Tree” spa treatment that offers various packages, including a special package for family and kids; a library where guests can offers books, DVDs, and iPads; Macs for guests at business center, etc.
Nevertheless, what Morley believes really set his hotel apart from its competitors is its “stay-real service” culture that encourages staff to “Be you”, “Get ready”, “Show we care”, and “Take actions”.
All the staff – from housekeeper, chef, doorman, to manager – is being encouraged to “always show your passion” and make a service difference to guests.
“When being yourself, the guest knows, and the guest can feel,” he said.
Since culture has to be lived and practised every day, Morley said the hotel has made its “back house” a very active workplace where staff photos are put on the wall to show off their passions to other staff. Morley himself expresses clearly his passion to be a professional golfer, while some other staff demonstrate their liking for body building and singing, among others.
There is also a board to display daily revenues of the hotel and positive comments from guests. Negative feedback is not included on the back-house boards. “We take care about it through other ways such as through briefing and education,” Pornpimon Choosakunpattana, the hotel’s marketing and communications manager added.
Morley said as a new hotel, Holiday Inn Resort Phuket Mai Khao Beach enjoys an advantage from the energy of the fresh and young staff. The hotel started from the time it opened a recruitment booth at a HomeWorks branch in Phuket where it demonstrated through colours and signboard with the slogan “Great hotels, Guests love” in a red heart-shape, the hotel’s energetic and fun atmosphere, in bid to screen job candidates with the right attitudes that meet the hotel’s values.
“It’s a challenge [to cultivate a corporate culture].  But I didn’t create anything new.
Everybody gets the same onboard. They are taught about our company and our hotel. The staff understand how their role can make a difference,” he said.
All staff are encouraged to not be afraid to talk to guests and “go extra miles” to show his or her care. For instance, a housekeeper put a flower on a guest’s bed while another wrote a special note to a guest.
“We don’t tell you have to do A and A only,” he said.
Other staff are self-motivated enough to follow the pact as they see some staff who lead the way receiving compliments from guests.
Thanks partly to the “Stay-Real Service” culture, Holiday Inn Resort Phuket Mai Khao Beach achieved more than 50 per cent occupancy rate within a few months of its opening and is targeted to get close to 60 per cent occupancy on average for 2012. The open culture has also made staff initiate many unique guest services such as a cultural biking tour, a “healthy break in a spa” for conference guests (instead of coffee break), and a “dinner in the water” where the dinner table is placed on a pool of water.
“I believe the only way to engage customers is to continue to be innovative,” concluded Morley.

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