Villa Monticello is Ghana’s first boutique resort and has obtained quite a few accolades for its excellent service and facilities. One of the notable facets of this resort is its possession, which is predominantly feminine. In addition to the possession, girls additionally maintain key management positions inside the organisation. This inclusion of ladies in management roles is a testomony to the resort’s dedication to diversity and gender equality.
By empowering girls and selling their skills, Villa Monticello is setting an instance for different companies in Ghana and past. It demonstrates that when girls are given alternatives to succeed, they’ll make vital contributions to the success and progress of an organisation.
Its newly appointed General Manager, Matilda Mikekpor (MM), shares her journey within the hospitality business with the B&FT’s Chike E.A. Njoku. After finding out communication after which taking a course in hospitality administration, Mikekpor joined Villa Monticello as a Front Desk Executive and labored her manner as much as the General Manager place.
She plans to take care of the resort’s status as the most effective in Ghana and the world, deal with customer support, and discover alternatives for enlargement and progress. As a girl within the hospitality business, Mikekpor stated: “The challenges we face is always staying professional and grounded in serving our guests so that our actions and inactions are not misconstrued, but can only be described as professional and ethical”.
She believes that expertise has impacted the business positively and can proceed to evolve, with a better emphasis on ethics, sustainability and eco-tourism.
B&FT: Can you inform us a bit about your background and the way you ended up within the hospitality business?
MM: Sure! Prior to becoming a member of Villa Monticello, I studied Communication Studies at AIJC, which is now AUCC. After ending my Communication diploma, I went into modelling and located that I cherished interacting with individuals. I needed to remain in an setting that allowed me to work together with individuals and gave me the chance to play the host. So, I made a decision to take a course in hospitality administration at GIMPA, and I realised once more I’d profit extra if I took a job within the business in order that I might kill two birds with one stone – earn and achieve much-needed expertise.
B&FT: What impressed you to hitch Villa Monticello?
MM: I examine Villa Monticello successful an award for being the perfect resort in 2012 on the World Travel Awards – which is just like the Grammys of the hospitality business. I used to be intrigued by the truth that they’d been in operation for somewhat below two years and had already made such a huge effect within the business. I needed to be a part of the successful group, so I utilized for a place there.
B&FT: You began as a Front Desk Executive and labored your manner as much as General Manager. Can you inform us about your journey to this excessive workplace?
MM: Yes, I began as a Front Desk Executive and was nonetheless a pupil on the time. It was a priority for the administration as a result of they’d by no means employed a pupil earlier than. However, they gave me an opportunity, and I labored exhausting to show that I used to be devoted to the job. I used to be finally promoted to a Front Desk Supervisor, and that confirmed that I used to be capable of juggle college and work successfully. After that, I used to be given equal alternatives to use for different positions inside the firm, and I labored my manner as much as General Manager.
It has been an superior journey for me – stuffed with priceless alternatives and classes. I’ve learnt many classes alongside the best way, each good and unhealthy. I can not element every thing, however the expertise has been superior and stuffed with alternatives to develop. Rising through the ranks to succeed in the top of administration of the resort has been an awesome accomplishment.
B&FT: One research carried out in 2020 urged that throughout the globe, solely 20 p.c of common managerial positions are held by girls, and ladies make up lower than 8 p.c of boardroom members in publicly listed hospitality firms. What might account for this? Have there been any distinctive challenges you have got confronted as a girl within the business? Do you foresee any in your new function? As a girl in your place, what distinctive challenges have you ever skilled in your area?
MM: Fewer girls are within the boardroom as a result of our tradition and societal bias don’t encourage girls to take up management roles, and these biases prolong to our office. What will assist carry gender parity into the boardroom is when organisations intention at decreasing biases in recruitment and growth processes, and roll out mentorship and sponsorship initiatives to assist girls. The company world ought to encourage gender quotas, retention and ascension of extra girls within the office.
As a feminine lead enterprise and female-run firm within the hospitality business, one of many challenges we face and must take care of continually is to remain skilled and grounded always in serving our visitors in order that our actions and inactions will not be misconstrued however can solely be described as skilled and moral. Finding the wonderful steadiness has been one of many achievements of VM within the final 12 years, to mastering that and getting it higher.
We thank God individuals have develop into subtle sufficient to understand our wonderful service as the corporate grows. People have develop into extra educated on being respectful and sort to girls and open-minded about girls’s management. That credit score goes to the visitors who’ve understood us as a enterprise over time; they assist and patronise us, they’ve completed nicely in standing by us for all these years, and we’re extremely grateful to them as a result of with out them, we’d not be who we’re in the present day.
B&FT: Do you foresee any distinctive challenges in your capability because the General Manager of Villa Monticello?
MM: We are in a spot the place challenges will not be essentially a foul factor. We flip them into alternatives to be taught and get higher.
B&FT: How has the business developed in your time?
MM: As a predominantly enterprise resort, our site visitors primarily depends upon the inbound site visitors of enterprise travellers and if I needed to put a determine to it, I’d say 80 p.c of our enterprise comes from in-bound enterprise travellers. During the summer season, December and weekends, site visitors is sluggish and there are fewer prospects. However, because the authorities launched the Year of Return in 2019, there was a big change within the tourism and hospitality business. We have seen an inflow of shoppers, and the business has develop into busier, particularly on the finish of the yr.
B&FT: How have components like expertise impacted your enterprise?
MM: We have invested in expertise, and it has helped us enhance our companies. For occasion, we’ve applied a cellular software that enables prospects to test in, try, and get details about our companies. We have additionally launched a digital concierge that gives prospects with every thing they should know concerning the resort and the encompassing space. Technology has made our companies extra environment friendly and improved our buyer expertise. Our key promoting level is personalisation, so we’re making use of expertise to boost this – not substitute it.
B&FT: What are your ideas on the way forward for the business?
MM: The business continues to be younger and has numerous potential. As the financial system grows and extra individuals journey, there can be better demand for upscale and opulent lodging. The problem can be sustaining the non-public contact whereas assembly this demand. However, with the fitting investments in workers and visitor expertise, I consider that the business will proceed to develop and thrive in Ghana.
I consider the business will proceed to evolve, and we’ll see extra adjustments sooner or later. One of the numerous adjustments would be the elevated use of expertise, and we might want to adapt to those adjustments to stay aggressive. We may also see a better emphasis on sustainability and eco-tourism, and we should be aware of this as we plan for the long run.
B&FT: Are there any regulatory interventions you consider will improve the business?
MM: It could be nice if the oversight authority might revise its score system. The business has shifted from an emphasis on buildings and exhausting services and has develop into very service and experience-driven. If star scores are nonetheless relegated to the scale of the constructing and whether or not there’s a tennis courtroom or Olympic-sized swimming pool, we’ll proceed to do ourselves a disservice.
B&FT: For the uninitiated, are you able to clarify what a boutique resort is?
MM: The fundamental distinction is {that a} boutique resort is extra upscale and opulent than a visitor home. On the one hand, it’s extra bespoke than a sequence resort. While all varieties of lodging supply private service, a boutique resort has a extra tailor-made and distinctive method to assembly visitor wants. The rooms are additionally extra distinctive and opulent in a boutique resort. The variety of rooms in a boutique resort is normally restricted to take care of the non-public contact, whereas chain motels can have extra rooms. That is why rooms at boutique motels are not often over 60, and there will not be as many stiff guidelines.
B&FT: How do you preserve a private contact at Villa Monticello?
MM: As the primary boutique within the nation, we got down to and proceed to try to be versatile and tailored in assembly the distinctive requests of our visitors. This implies that we spend money on workers who purchase into the tradition of our firm and are aligned with its mission. We additionally deal with growing people and giving them the liberty to take possession of their roles. I’m a testomony to this. We don’t rely solely on an individual’s CV but additionally on their potential and expertise.
B&FT: Similarly, how do you make sure that your resort stands out in a aggressive business?
MM: We deal with the individuals, each workers and visitors. Our workers are invested in and educated to offer distinctive service. We additionally spend money on the visitor expertise by making certain that our rooms are distinctive and opulent. We consider that the soul of the resort is within the individuals, and we try to create a tradition that aligns with our mission and values. Ultimately, our price proposition is so distinctive, that it’s exhausting to duplicate. Some have been capable of copy the decor, others the menu, however there’s a sure ‘soul’ that should carry all of them collectively.
B&FT: What challenges do you face in sustaining a boutique resort?
MM: One of the challenges is sustaining a steadiness between private contact and commercialisation. We have to take care of a sure ratio of rooms to take care of the non-public contact, however we even have to make sure that we’re worthwhile. Another problem is sustaining consistency in our service and the visitor expertise. We have to make sure that each visitor feels particular and distinctive, which may be difficult when we’ve many visitors coming and going.
B&FT: Could you stroll us through the method of changing into a workers member at Villa Monticello?
MM: Of course, past the interview, we usually have a five-day trial interval throughout which potential staff observe and get a really feel for our tradition and expectations. If they’re nonetheless after the trial interval, we transfer ahead with coaching on all facets of the resort, together with our merchandise and goal market.
B&FT: Who is your goal market?
MM: Our goal market consists of company travellers, high-net-worth people, company establishments, and people in search of an expensive expertise – maybe for a weekend.
B&FT: How do you attraction to those goal markets?
MM: Our enterprise is 80 p.c repeat prospects, so we prioritise sustaining a excessive stage of high quality and repair. That is why we’ve companies just like the concierge and membership.
B&FT: How has your goal market modified over time?
MM: We have seen a shift from mining firms being our major company accounts to extra oil and gasoline firms in recent times. It took us a while to find out our goal market, however we now have a transparent understanding of our core goal classes.
B&FT: How do you prioritise sustainability at Villa Monticello?
MM: We use natural, sustainable merchandise for our cleansing and bug management, and keep away from dangerous chemical substances every time doable. We have additionally eradicated plastic utilization and we now use biodegradable packaging as a substitute. Our objective is to minimise our impression on the setting and set an instance for our visitors.
B&FT: Can you discuss concerning the administration philosophy at Villa Monticello?
MM: Our philosophy is ethics, tradition, equity, respect and dedication. For us, as I stated earlier, it’s about main by instance. We need all managers to reveal management by doing issues truthfully and with braveness. We need individuals to behave out of conviction and never out of comfort. If we start to do issues out of comfort, guidelines develop into unhealthy. We take possession of our tasks and train our workers to take possession, in order that they care about what they do.
B&FT: Have improvements, reminiscent of Airbnb, had their impression on the resort business in Ghana?
MM: While Airbnb has a big impression in locations like New York, it’s not on my listing of targets for Villa Monticello. Our goal prospects are enterprise travellers, not leisure travellers. We will not be a seashore resort, and our resort isn’t for lengthy stays. So patrons of 1 are unlikely to go in for the opposite.
B&FT: Any present collaborations with different establishments within the hospitality house?
MM: The deal with personalisation ensures that collaborating with different luxury motels isn’t a direct necessity for us, however we glance as much as different motels like The Saxon (South Africa) to be taught from them and develop into higher, and we’ve a line of communication with them. Locally, we appear to have a one-way relationship with some motels the place we make referrals after we are overbooked.
B&FT: How does Villa Monticello give again to society?
MM: We consider that charity begins at house. So we spend money on the event and well-being of our biggest asset, ‘our staff’. We assume you can’t give that which you wouldn’t have. We can solely present stellar service as a result of we’re at our greatest emotionally, educationally, psychologically, bodily, financially, and many others. Based on that precept, we’ve instituted instructional scholarship choices for our workers and their households. We intention to increase the scholarship programme past our group and their households quickly.
B&FT: As the General Manager of Villa Monticello, what plans do you have got for the resort? What would you describe as success on the finish of your tenure?
MM: As a lot as it’s a nice pleasure, I do know that the tasks are greater than the pleasures. I’m cognisant of the shoulders I stood on to be the place I’m, and I do know I’ve to get my shoulders prepared for different individuals to face on them to succeed in better heights. That means I’ve to go away a company tradition higher than I met, an organization higher than earlier than, a strong steadiness sheet sturdy sufficient to hold on all tasks, initiatives and initiatives, and a worthwhile enterprise for shareholders.
Source: thebftonline.com
