Hospitality Management Brands set, maintain and defend their individual standards to ensure properties baring their names and logos have a recognizable qualities, styles and consistent layouts, a particular ‘feel’ that is consistent to the international traveler choosing their hotel on business or leisure.

The consequences to the hotel owner of choosing the right hotel brand will result in a partnership of equals, a design and development process which is well structured and with the minimum of conflicts; while the wrong choice can be the converse: the start of an extremely difficult development, many years of antagonistic relationship which does express itself through business, staff and guests.

Having created independent hotels and resorts from scratch, managed design and development for a multitude of owners and implemented brand standards of some of the world’s most prestigious hotel brands, we understand the implications of each step, and can make a difference in recommending and bringing partners together.

Often neglected in developing corporate sustainability, Procurement has a key role to play within every destination and its tourism and hospitality sectors. Development of consistent, high-quality local suppliers, and providing goods and services at competitive prices are the ultimately goals, but it takes a thoughtful and policy-driven Procurement department to achieve these outcomes.

The ability to reduce waste, avoid un-needed and unwanted packaging, and in particular reducing the use of plastics and harmful chemicals, falls onto the corporate buyers, and their role has evolved from buy cheap, to buy smart, and buy sustainably. Actively engaging with suppliers, adopting policy that develops better supplier awareness of sustainability issues, setting standards to ensure suppliers follow ethical practices and are not using illegal or irregular practices in their businesses should be prioritized.

With decades of experience across African, Middle East, Australian and Indian Ocean destinations there is wide-ranging experience in dealing with large, multi-cultural teams with diverse educational, qualification, and experience levels. This almost unique understanding of multi-cultural workforce dynamics provides some insight into HR Planning and enhancing team organization and efficiency.

Whether setting up the organization for a new National Tourism Office, a tourism business or planning a hotel opening, efficiency in reporting, proper division of workstreams and process management makes all the difference. The implementation of effective HR management tools and IT platforms can make a great difference, but it is the successful implementation of strong workplace relationships and motivations that ultimately create successful and balanced teams.

Sustainability is increasingly the visible edge of corporate practices, most open to scrutiny and criticism, and the greatest cause of corporate reputational damage. Thorough assessments, due diligence monitoring and record-keeping all contribute to keeping sustainability measures visible, from the boardroom to operations. The visible signs of these efforts are then the basis of sincere CSR programs that contribute positively to the business, environmental and social communities served. (See detailed analysis of CSR under Sustainability).

Architectural, Engineering and Hospitality design teams are complex mixes of specialisations, disciplines and soft service-driven needs; the difficult interface of operational management expertise, precise engineering, complex technical and IT-driven facilities management needs. Ultimately all this to is combined to achieve the creation of surroundings focused on guest comfort and the employee’s ability to deliver the services expected.However, managing design teams can be an exhaustive undertaking and is as much about understanding the needs of hospitality as it is about understanding design processes, and then converting these into practical, constructible resorts. From restaurants to some of the worlds’ best spas, to unique super-luxury suites and practical, efficient and strikingly ‘new’ hospitality concepts, there are tried-and-tested processes and well structured management approaches that can remove the often difficult conflicts that create project delays and later construction coordination impacts.These processes can last from 6 months through to 2-3 years, dependent on scale, complexity and the nature of the input required by owners, operators and management; and we are capable of forming and leading this process.