Hilton eyes more properties in Sri Lanka
William Costley
Hilton Hotels is looking at new property management opportunities in Sri Lanka while catering to a significantly large Chinese travel segment that continues to patronise the industry’s growth.
Moving forward the Hilton Hotels “would want to have more hotels in the country,” Hilton’s Vice President for South East Asia and India William Costley told the Business Times in an interview this week during a visit to Colombo for the Hilton Hotels-hosted conference for women empowerment.
He noted that they have plans to look for locations outside Colombo like Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Dambulla, and resort hotels under their resort brands in the south including Yala wildlife safaris and possibly Jaffna.
However, Mr. Costley explained they would first have to find a partner since they were involved (only) in the management of the hotels.
Within Colombo they were looking at the possibility of another hotel likely to come under the Hilton’s Double Three by Hilton brand, the Vice President noted adding that it would cater to a smaller room size compared to the Hilton Hotel’s full service options.
Hilton has 13 brands under its umbrella catering to different segments of the traveller namely the Hilton Hotels and Resorts, Waldorf Astoria, Conrad Hotels and Resorts, Canopy by Hilton, Curio A collection by Hilton, Double Tree by Hilton, Embassy Suites by Hilton, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton by Hilton, Tru by Hilton, Homewood Suites by Hilton, Home 2 Suites by Hilton and Hilton Grand Vacations.
Meanwhile, the city hotel also has plans to renovate the entire hotel and has currently completed work on the lobby.
The intention is to renovate every room in the hotel, Mr. Costley explained noting that a function room would be added similar to the grand ballroom located just off the lobby that could accommodate about 300 people within a 600 sq. metre extent of space.
This is said to the be the first time the entire hotel has been subject to a renovation since it opened its doors 29 years ago, it was noted.
About four floors have been renovated in 2006 and the hotel would be completing 30 years next year by which time it would be brought up to the modern requirements, Mr. Costley said adding that the hotel would also include a new Chinese restaurant in addition to the others already available.
Hilton also has plans to venture into the Colombo (Port) Financial Centre once it opens. If the hotel gets a strategic partner “we will look at going there as well.”
With the region, there are currently 42 hotels and 51 hotels are in the pipeline worldwide that would be opened within a three to five year period, Mr. Costley said.
Within the region next week the Hilton is opening its Bali hotel and another in Malaysia is also scheduled to take place, he said.
Hilton also has a Chinese centric customised solutions to ensure the future 200 million odd travelers that would travelling around by 2020 from the Far East market would stay at their hotels.
“It is a very important market by default,” he said adding that this is a market that would come up and stay on the top.
Hilton has a special service called “Huan Ying” launched about four years back with its hotels worldwide catering to Chinese with Mandarin speaking staff and specialised menus to suit their palette and Chinese TV channels.
Sri Lanka needs to work on its infrastructure development and the key to attracting travelers to its distant locations would be by improving on the current railway system, Mr. Costley explained who having married a Sri Lankan has come to love the destination’s rail journeys. He believes this is an untapped infrastructure.
Moreover, he pointed out that with a proper resort strategy for Sri Lanka through its wildlife and diving hotspots there is much to take in within this small island.
“If Phukhet (Thailand) can get 7-8 million people Sri Lanka can get 10 million easily,” he explained adding that however, the current hotel inventory falls short of being able to cater to this number.
| Hilton branded ‘good to work for’ | |
| Hilton was recently branded as a hotel that is a good place to work and is currently on a drive to induce its female workforce to continue in their jobs amidst having kids and an assurance of rising to the top. In this respect, the Hilton Hotel in Colombo held a conference to make women aware of the possibilities at the workplace, Hilton’s Vice President of South East Asia and India William Costley told the Business Times. With no biases made even in granting promotion for women he noted that preconception of the women themselves is mainly brought on through social values imbued to them, he explained. Hilton Hotels has a 43 per cent workforce that comprises women and Hilton Colombo had won the Gold title for being the best place to work. Women were assessed for leadership positions within the Hilton group, he said, adding that “we want to make them aware of the possibilities.” During the conference the Hilton management had attracted 250 students currently studying at the state-run hotel school along with their parents to help them overcome the challenge of cultural barriers in moving up the ladder into leadership positions within the group. |