The Head, Corporate Communications and Corporate Social Responsibility, Brava Hotel, Onyinye Onwuemene, in this interview with WALE OLAPADE, speaks on the premium services the hotel is bringing to Ibadan and other unique offers in store for customers’ satisfaction.
What is the concept of the hotel you are bringing to customers and why is Ibadan a choice location?
We are a premium hospitality service provider and Brava Hotel, Samonda is the flagship property for the brand. We are a boutique luxury-styled hotel with 26 different themed rooms and suites with an emphasis on efficient space allocation and functionality.
We are creating a new indigenous hospitality brand that would compete with international brands using our understanding of the market, experience, technology and people. This is a legacy we would be creating for generations to come.
What informed the name, BRAVA Hotel?
It means well done, very good, excellent, it is used to praise a female performer. It also means brave or courageous. Some of the female shareholders and stakeholders have done some phenomenal work worthy of praise, which are instrumental to the set-up of the team and brand.
The dream and vision is to be the traditional hospitality brand of choice for everyone looking for great value in premium accommodation, exclusive and private fine dining experience and excellent customer service in a secure and prime location anywhere we are operating as either management or franchise under the Brava brand.
What is the service innovation you are bringing to break even in the saturated hotel business in Ibadan?
Space. Our standard rooms are 26 sq metres, which is what you would find as executive size in other hotels of the same standard. We have 26 different themed rooms with a 65” smart TV with access to Hulu, Netflix and YouTube. Our rooms are also equipped with recliner and rocker chairs that can recline up to 180° for maximum comfort. Our beds are California king-sized, which gives the feel that you are sleeping on a bed meant for royalty. Our lightings are dual function, giving white or warm white for whatever feel you may desire. Our staff are trained to give personalised services to our guests and not the generic type of services you find in major hotels. We are very different and miles apart from our competitors. We are basically offering more and charging less.
Orbit RestoBar caters to a wide array of Afro-Asian cuisines, Nigerian dishes, events and corporate catering. We have designed the concept and themes using functionality, chic, classic and warm colour designs and marble floors, gothic lighting and furnishing for the indoor restaurants for guests and buffet.
The outdoor bars and pool view restaurants are designed to create a soft and green atmosphere using gabion designs of granite stones and teak and mahogany wood for the furniture and fluted paneled feature wall designs giving multiple and variety of options for photographs.
We have one of the best hospitality properties in Ibadan. You would be impressed with the amount of detail put into the design and finishing of the hotel from the moment you drive into our entrance gate to when you check out.
With the effect of climate change, do you have any eco-friendly hotel innovation to sustain a green environment?
We have all our ACs as dual and smart inverter, which saves as much as 74 percent of the usual energy consumption while all our lighting are low-watt energy-saving bulbs, as low as four watts. The hotel is also broken into clusters, which makes us systematically power only the units that are operational at every point in time, which has also helped in areas of energy and operational efficiency. Each of our clusters is also built to be powered by 40KVA solar energy with plans to increase capacity to the entire hotel within the next 24 months.
What kind of hotel are you introducing to the city of the first — leisure, business, or both?
We are a leisure, business and family hotel. We are on 16 plots of land in one of the most premium locations in Ibadan with access to major commercial and leisure areas. The hotel is built to create and meet all the needs of a business or recreational traveller, transiting customers, romantic getaways, wedding destinations and family and group travel.
We are creating a new indigenous hospitality brand that would compete with international brands using our understanding of the market, experience, technology and people. This is a legacy we would be creating for generations to come.
During a pre-tour of the hotel, you made mention of a celebrated spa brand coming on board. Would you expatiate on that?
We are in final talks with a major indigenous spa brand and hoping to conclude talks on partnership and set-up of the brand in our facility. This is a major milestone in the hospitality industry for Ibadan and Oyo State as a whole.
What is the range of facilities your hotel is bringing to town for customers’ satisfaction?
Our land size is more than 7,000 square meters and strategically located directly opposite Aerodrome, Samonda GRA, Ibadan and less than 1km away from a servicing mall and other interesting areas around town.
We have trained our staff to always delight and surpass all customers’ expectations from the check-in point till they check out. Our staff are well and constantly trained to deliver world-class customer service and surpass our guests’ expectations.
Brava Hotel offers a luxury and affordable accommodation experience with its unique design, tasteful furniture and spacious rooms. Our brand combines elegance, opulence, sophistication and practicality in the spacing, arrangement and details of each room. Our gardens and landscape are the best you will find around Ibadan.
What is your assessment of hotels in Nigeria and why did you venture into hotel business?
We have always been in the hospitality industry with the management of different hotels, shortlets, and extended stay properties in Lagos and Abuja. There is a big gap in the premium accommodation in Ibadan and the potential and prospects are high.
Nigeria has a population of over 20 percent of Africans and one out of every 40 human beings living in the world. That alone shows we still have limited hotels in the country and still need more to meet the growing population and economy.
What value are you bringing to boost customer services in the Nigerian hotel industry in terms of hospitality?
Get more and pay less. Our competitor is offering smaller spaces and facilities for more money; using cubic space, facilities, functionality, aesthetics, value and world-class customer service. We are definitely here to make a difference and ensure guests get more than what is commensurate to the price they pay us.
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