Interview with Andrew McLachlan from Rezidor
11. Aug, 2009
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Can you introduce yourself to the readers?
My name is Andrew McLachlan, Vice President Business Development, Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands, The Rezidor Hotel Group and I am based at Rezidor’s Business Development office in Cape Town, South Africa.
I am responsible for further growing the company’s dynamic portfolio of hotels and brands in Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands. In 2007 I was appointed Managing Director of Afrinord Hotel Investments, a 35 million EUR financial Joint Venture Agreement the Rezidor Hotel Group formed with four Nordic Government Investment Funds to expand its presence in Africa.
Before your current position, what were you doing?
Before joining Rezidor, I was with Protea Hotels for 15 years and my last position was Regional Manager Africa.
What is your educational background?
Originally a hotelier with an operational background, I worked my way from an in-house hotel management trainee 18 years ago to Hotel General Manager. This was followed by a stint in hotel marketing and brand communications and special projects before the current opportunity arose.
Please tell us about Rezidor Hotel Group, and your future goals?
The Rezidor Hotel Group is one of the fastest growing and most dynamic hotel companies in the world. We have seen unparalleled growth, taking our company’s portfolio from 29 hotels in 1994 to today boasting more than 380 hotels open or under development, in 59 countries in EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa), operating more than 80,000 rooms and with over 30,000 brand staff caring.
Andrew McLachlan, Vice President Business Development, Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands, The Rezidor Hotel Group
Rezidor offers a portfolio of great brands from high class comfort to high class luxury. With five unique brands to choose from, each with its own distinct character and style, Rezidor is in a class of its. Our five distinct brands are Radisson Blu Hotels & Resorts, Park Inn, Hotel Missoni, Regent Hotels, and Country Inn & Suites.
Building on the success of Rezidor in Europe, Russia, CIS Countries and the Middle East, Rezidor has turned its focus on Africa with an attention to both business and leisure destinations. I opened the Africa Business Development Office 2 ½ years ago from Cape Town responsible for the groups’ growth on the African Continent and Indian Ocean Islands.
Our vision is to become the leading hospitality management company in EMEA and to be recognized for our innovative, dynamic business culture and our Yes I Can! service.
Our goal is to bring a strong portfolio of contemporary hospitality products to the market in the shape of attractive, high-performing hotels, restaurants and bars that create great value and trust for guests, property owners, shareholders and other stakeholders.
What three blogs do you read daily, to stay abreast of the industry?
Our PR agency provides daily online monitoring services. They offer intelligence on competitors and also the issues affecting industry, and would counsel me on the most important issues and news as it breaks. I subscribe to the HVS Global Hospitality Report and HOTELS’ Daily News Service
Say an unhappy guest, published a negative review on Twitter about your hotel, how would you handle the damage control?
Again, Marcus Brewster Publicity manages all reputation and crisis communication activities across communication channels, including social media. We’ve placed an online crisis communication strategy in place that will minimize damage to our brands on social media sites like Twitter. If online monitoring picks up negative reviews we will immediately contact the guest via the social media channel they’ve used to obtain further information to undertake an investigation of the incident. Once we resolved the problem or issue and provided a solution, we request that they Tweet about the outcome to counterbalance negative perceptions about our brands in their social network / followers.
Social media is the current buzz word, is the Rezidor Hotel Group active in that space?
Absolutely. Our global PR agencies along with the GMs and sales teams of hotels use Facebook and Twitter as additional communication channels to promote our brands. In SA, our PR agency monitors these social media networks for activity. We also have clips on YouTube from time to time (the Zurich Grand Opening was online). Our brand Park Inn has a very dynamic Facebook presence, and we undertake various strategies to harvest members and ensure regular communication and interaction.
Are the Rezidor Hotel Group properties listed with any booking engines?
Basically it’s all about reach! We are reaching out and engaging more customers in more places all the time with our e-commerce initiatives. At Rezidor, we are constantly looking for ways to create a deeper and more lasting connection with our customers – a connection that gives our global message at a local level.
Through our partnerships with worldwide leaders in travel services, various brands websites and websites owned by our distribution partners, Hotel Reservation Services, our Central Reservation System – Curtis-C, and other affiliate marketing including Carlson’s network, we are able to access a variety of booking systems and channels to drive revenue to our hotels.
We on the GDS – Amadeus, Galileo, Sabre and Worldspan, we on branded web – Expedia, Hotels.com, pay per click partners – Travelocity and Lastminute, Affiliate partners, HRS and other web partner.
Do you share notes with your peers in competing hotels?
No – never!
Say Travelwires.com arranged a Travel Distribution Summit, would your hotel find value in such an event?
We would certainly look at the opportunity seriously.
My name is Muzi Mohale a full-time travel blogger, your host at Travelwires.com responsible for all editorial on this blog. I blog about the travel and tourism industry in Africa. Apart from blogging about tourism, I also run 
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