hotel TAUZIA Management is best known for,!, four stars Harris hotel and the hotel budget Pop and next month will see the opening its first hotel 'Netizen' Yello. Born and raised by French entrepreneur Marc Steinmeyer, vision is to export Indonesian marks of origin to other Asian countries.
Why did you choose Indonesia as a base TAUZIA Hotel Management when he was born in 2001?
Previously, I was with Accor as CEO of the region in China, India, Indonesia and Malaysia. Accor I left in 2001 to set up my own business in Indonesia. I was well aware of the region and I had two options to venture into launching a major national network. In 2001, there were great hospitality Rush China and that I would go in the opposite direction of the people, I crossed China in the list. Then I had the choice of India or Indonesia, but I am concerned about the unpredictability of the acquisition of land rights in India, which can sometimes take years. In Indonesia, the disadvantage at the time was that the country out of the economic radar, but I thought it was an interesting point and I decided to see it as positive. This was the new era of Indonesia - democracy is on the rise -. And because a large percentage of the population being below 35 years, and I saw this as a huge potential
What inspired you to become a entrepreneur after working at Accor for so many years? What is it like to be an entrepreneur in Indonesia?
I did not like the idea of retirement and I was 50 at the time. I wanted the freedom to be creative. In large companies, above you, the more your packet, which is something you become increasingly concerned - rather than your freedom. I did not want to be forced by the system.
Being an entrepreneur in Indonesia is the same as everywhere else in the world. You must be bold and have the courage to start from scratch. Working for someone else, you are like a bird in a cage - fed and watered and comfortable, but stuck. If you are outside of the cage, you are free to discover your own world, but you have to find your own food, I like to do.
Let's talk about your hotel brands: Harris, Pop! Yello and Hotels. What is the difference between these brand concepts?
First, we Harris, who was an investment 3-3.5 stars with five-star service. My goal was that all my employees would be confident and effective; if your employees are confident, the customer will finally happy.
I felt there was a big market for a local budget hotel, so I started Pop! Hotel. Budget hotels seem simple, but are even more complex than the four star hotels. The lower part of the star, the greater the transfer of responsibility to headquarters. In five-star hotels, 90 percent of the responsibility is at the hotel itself. With budget hotels, 80 percent is with the headquarters.
To bridge the gap between Harris, the 4-star and Pop!, Budget hotel, I created Yello. The first hotel will open this July, with 12 hotels in construction. I think people buy products because of the image that the product bears, which applies for hotels. My goal is under 30 years, and I see how Indonesians are dependent on technology, so this hotel will focus on that. I call the hotel "Netizen". My dream is for customers to be able to upload their own television content and music and include games in the rooms as well.
Where did the idea for the theme iconic green and orange of Harris hotels from?
Orange is a positive and energetic color and wanted to revisit the 60 Green is the main color, but we needed to find the balance. If orange is the yang and yin is green.
You should have around 100 hotels across Indonesia now. Where are your key areas and where are you developing?
Yes, we have 110 hotels. First, we focus on the quality of the relationship with the owners. Of the 110 hotels we have only 30-40 owners. We focused on Jakarta, Bali, Surabaya and Java early and slowly, step by step, we went beyond the owners we have already worked. With this system, there is more understanding and fewer cultural boundaries. We have developed in Kalimantan, but not in eastern Indonesia.
Where have you Kalimantan hotels? What kind of hospitality industry development you see in this particular region?
we Harris Hotels in Balikpapan, Pontianak and Banjarmasin, Samarinda with opening next year. Indonesia is used to make money for commodities, which ultimately shelf life and expiration date, and based on the raw materials are not durable. The consequence of this is that people who have a lot of money on commodities have had time to go to the real estate business.
growing middle class in Indonesia, a majority of people under 35 age, and budget airlines stimulate a trend local travel yet. Do you foresee that more and more?
The trend will continue, but in the hotel sector in the last 5-6 years, there has been a tsunami of cheap hotels. I think this excitement of the budget hotel will start to go down. There are too many brands. The market will still grow, but the dream of the owners or developers in terms of the speed of return on investment (ROI) is a bit excited because the land is too expensive, costs increase, so the return on investment may not be as good as you dreamed, unless you have an exceptional location.
You are a lawyer to improve people's lives. Tell us how you do this through business.
I think Harris is responsible for developing awareness on healthy living to all our customers. From a marketing point of view, we should fight like hell to educate people about eating well, starting with our own employees while educating customers.
We also encourage the arts in Indonesia through our brands. In Harris, we focus on photography Yello and we will focus on street art, providing platforms for artists to show their work for everyone to see. We run a lot of competitions and will continue to do so to provide photographers and artists a chance.
Many people living in Bali are not satisfied with the massive scale of new hotels popping up everywhere. What do you that the real problem here? Does supply and demand to overcome now in Bali?
Yes, there is an oversupply. The government is busy with many other things. I think banks can play a role, because if they are stricter on loans giving, this may slow down the development. When money is too easy, it can be dangerous. Until 2010, the scars of the 1998 economic crisis have always remained, and from 2010, we saw a healthy investment. From 2015, we started to become complacent and forgot the crisis of 1998. So now there will be some cleaning; Bankruptcy sales, but some people will survive. I think we will survive, but there will be damage.
Can you tell us how Pop! Hotel uses solar energy and reduces the consumption of paper and plastic? What are TAUZIA and its brands are doing to be environmentally friendly in these modern times?
We are doing all we can do at our level - it is not easy to build an ecological hotel in Indonesia, the government does not fund as they do in many foreign countries. Here, each time you try to do something that is environmentally friendly, you pay double the price. Nevertheless, we have buildings that reduce the heat from the outside inwards. We also use solar panels to heat water in hotels and have appropriate systems water treatment. We fail 100 percent because it is difficult to convince some of the hotel owners to adapt this method because of cost, but we will never give up fighting for what we believe.
In the hotel, make us aware of the environment to our customers. I think the garbage problem is a disaster and we need to educate our customers about it. People can also bring their used batteries in all our Pop! Hotels for recycling.
What is your company doing to continue to maintain control of the changing trends in the hospitality industry?
We were the first to charge a net rate to Harris, and the charge for the only room without breakfast. We do our best to think "outside the box" - to be bold - but it is not easy to follow because people are very conservative. We want to create trends, not follow them.
And finally, what is your vision for the future - both personally and professionally
Professionally it's easy? - I wish to extend our Indonesian-born Asian brands. In the context there may be a French flag, but the main mast is Indonesian. We see many foreign hotel brands in Indonesia, but if we can be the leading exporter of Indonesian hotels, I would be very proud. That is my mission.
Personally, it is the question of how I pass the baton to others to share my knowledge and wisdom. I prefer to be a good adviser and mentor in the future so I'm not running the business more. If I have the energy, I would like to fight for the environment. I'm so sick of seeing what is happening in the world in terms of the environment, so I would have enough time to focus on this issue.
For contact, please email: yosua@tauzia.com