Do hotels sleep off and die? Then what?
By Doris Yaa Dartey. The WatchWoman column
Businesses may just be like living beings: born today, dead someday! Humans can thrive, and they can also decay. Similarly, businesses can prosper but they can also decline and even collapse. In the past month, I have visited two hotels that used to thrive beyond measure, but which appear to have now fallen on their knees.
The two hotels are the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel and Coconut Grove Regency Hotel. They are both located in Accra. La Palm is a 4-star hotel at a prime beach-front location; whilst Coconut Grove is a 3-star hotel tucked in the centre of Accra within the general business district.
From what I had witnessed, it is painful to even remember and acknowledge that these hotels used to be bustling with customers. Today, it appears as if the two hotels have sleep-walked their way into a state of retrogression.
Some enduring questions: Did the managers/owners of these hotels see the degeneration coming? Did the waning of their high patronage happen suddenly? Are the managers in shock over the new reality of affairs? What did they do wrong to have resulted in this substantial deterioration of their affairs? But most importantly, will these hotels ever come back to their former glory amidst the ever increasing competition, or they are just dying off before our eyes?
LA PALM BEACH HOTEL IS DOSING OFF
The La Palm Beach Hotel is our national bright and shining star! It is one of our national prides! It is imposing; it commands respect; it is located by the mighty Atlantic Ocean. It has infrastructure that competes very well with that of other world-class hotels anywhere in the world. It has welcomed guests from across the world. So what could have gone wrong?
A month ago, when I spent a full day on a Saturday at La Palm and noticed a certain emptiness, it struck me as very abnormal. I was with a group for a workshop. With the exception of a white couple, we were the only people in the hotel. It felt eerie. If you had been to La Palm in its days of glory, you will not miss the present unsettling feeling of emptiness. You may be tempted to scream out a question: “Hello, where have all the people gone?”; and your voice might echo back at you because you might be alone.
My shock was when I took a walk by the magnificent swimming pools with clean blue waters. Around mid-day, there was not a single soul there for a very long time. I spotted three workers seated around, idle. It was not until later in the afternoon (after 3 pm) that some guests arrived to use the swimming pools.
During lunch time, what used to be a very busy restaurant, was empty—with the exception of my workshop group. In the course of the day, I had side conversations with some of the staff. They whispered, “Hmm, these days, people don’t come ooh!” Why has the La Palm shine faded away? Ghana cannot own such a magnificent facility and watch it to be empty. That constitutes a waste of a very valuable national resource.
COCONUT GROVE REGENCY HOTEL
For several years, I have dreaded going to the Coconut Grove Regency Hotel owing to the difficulty with finding a car parking spot. The few and woefully inadequate parking spaces inside the hotel premises filled up quickly. So one had to hope and pray that space along the narrow roadside will be available for you to squeeze in your vehicle. You would think that the hotel owners did not factor in the likelihood of customers driving to visit the facility! As if people would walk there! So to resolve the challenge of parking, I often resorted to going to Coconut Grove by taxi.
Then I got the surprise! Two weeks ago, I had a commitment at Coconut Grove for two days. As usual, I left home dreading where I will park. As I approached the entrance, the spaces by the roadside stared at me, welcoming me with open arms. So with relief, I pulled up and parked in one of several spots available and beckoning me. As I crossed the street to enter the reception, I noticed that the hotel’s own parking spots inside were mostly empty. So innocently, I expressed my surprise to the security folks. They smiled politely!
As I walked towards the conference room area, I noticed that only the conference room allocated to my session was occupied. The usual busy flow of people out-flowing onto different floors, and the hectic movements at the staircase that used to be so full of life with people, was visibly absent.
During lunchtime, the near emptiness of the restaurant was profound. Over the years, I have had lunch on numerous occasions at Coconut Grove. The restaurant was always packed and the guest overflows were served in an adjoining section. But during my recent visit, the restaurant was so unoccupied. The only people present were the six of us in my group. For a hotel restaurant that used to cater for crowds at lunchtime, watching half-a-dozen of us go for our food as if we were orphans, just broke my heart. Three European colleagues of mine who stayed at the hotel as guests, remarked that they were very alone on their floor.
So clearly, something had happened to Coconut Grove. And that something is not good for business. That something seems to have placed the hotel in a difficult state.
WHAT IS REALLY HAPPENING TO THE SLEEPY HOTELS?
What does it really mean for two of our busiest hotels in Accra to be sleeping off? As matters currently stand, it is as if the famous La Palm Beach and Coconut Grove hotels are on life support. I dread to think that someday soon, someone will pull whatever remaining plugs that are keeping them alive and with that, declare their deaths.
These hotels need to be revived. They must take their pride of place in Accra. They have both seen good times and it is heart-breaking to think that the good days might have ended.
It is worth pondering over some critical questions: Are other major hotels in Ghana also collapsing, similar to the situation in the banking and microfinance sectors? Can there be a point at which it could be said that a city has too many hotels? Whose responsibility is it to caution would-be investors and entrepreneurs that the space and opportunities in the hotel/hospitality sector may be choked so they will be saved from investing to build hotels that may not be patronized because there is a glut, rendering it difficult to succeed? A hotel requires a large outlay of investment in infrastructure.
And there are the human beings who work in various areas to provide the needed hospitality. So when well-established hotels like La Palm and Coconut Grove go to sleep, many jobs are lost and livelihoods suffer.
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