Five star
Executives of the InterContinental Hotel Singapore are calling the property “The Lab”, for it has become the test bed for some of the “experiments” the InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) is conducting for the brand.
The hotel’s general manager and IHG regional vice-president of operations for South-east Asia, Mr Steven Hicks, said successful experiments at the Singapore property were likely to be exported to other InterContinental hotels in the region.
Three focus group discussions have been conducted since November last year to gauge the sentiments of regular and potential guests and staff towards the hotel.
The objective was to brainstorm ways the hotel could instil confidence in the product and create a character for it that inculcated a sense of Singapore.
Mr Hicks said: “The five-star market is very competitive. We decided to do something to appeal to people and have things in the hotel that would help them to identify with the destination that they are in.”
For instance, Mr Hicks said the group had started to introduce aromatherapy oils in its properties.
In Thailand, guests are greeted by the smell of lemongrass and in Singapore it is bunga rampai, which is a mixed smell of Peranakan (or Straits-born Chinese) spices.
Many other changes are in the area of the senses – sight, smell and touch. One experiment at the Singapore property is working on providing mood lighting and music to go with the time of the day and the weather.
The biggest change so far is in the staff themselves and it goes beyond the cosmetic change of uniforms, whose design now reflects the hotel’s Peranakan heritage.
Staff feedback sessions had revealed they did not feel they were working for a five star, as they thought the way things were done were not characteristic of a five-star hotel.
This has sparked off a series of re-education programmes for every staff on every aspect of the hotel, including its artwork.
