The Sultan Hotel & Residence Jakarta, has quite the reputation as one of the largest and longest running hotels in Jakarta. It prides itself as a luxury hotel with Javanese ‘royal hospitality’, reflected in its design as well as their courteous service. But the hotel industry in Indonesia, is most thriving than ever. Dozens of hotels are popping up in all corners of the city, and a number of international luxury chains made its way to add competition to Jakarta’s hotel market. We sat down with The Sultan Hotel’s newly appointed General Manager Fintan O’Doherty, to discuss his hotel.
What do you think are Sultan Hotel’s strengths?
I would say, our very strategic location and the size of our property which include our sizable gardens. Our heritage too; I think the fact that we’ve been around for a long time, so everyone knows about the hotel. Sometimes people forget that we do have 700 rooms operating, so even when we are renovating, we are still a significant player in the industry. But of course we are currently doing massive reconstructions of major parts of the hotel.
What do you have coming up this year?
Currently we have 380 bedrooms that currently under re-construction, as we are going to convert them into 180 suites. Additionally, we are also building a massive ball room and conference center that will be able to accommodate 3000 people, set to open this July. Of course last year, we opened our Lagoon Garden as a marquee that can fit up to 1600 people for weddings.
When is new suites going to be ready?
I’ll say around the 1st quarter of 2019, and not only the rooms, but also the swimming pools and other facilities as well including the Kudus Bar located in the main tower that used to be very famous in Jakarta that we plan to revive. It’s like building an entire new hotel, almost. It’s going to be fantastic.
What kind of travelers that’s your main market.
We have a lot of Indonesian leisure guests and a lot of Indonesian business travelers that has been coming here for years and years. After that, we have a lot of Chinese, Japanese and Korean business travelers, many of those are here for trade show or exhibitions in the Jakarta Convention Center which is just located next door and accessible without having to go out in traffic.
How do you keep up with the competition?
I think constant training and retraining of our staff is very important. On the other hand, we are fortunate to have senior staffs that have been with us for a long time. For them traditional Indonesian hospitality comes naturally. Some of them have been here for more than 25 years and has learned different skills, working in different parts of the hotel. Secondly, we have a lot of trainees that are learning skills from all the senior staffs. We try to make sure that service is as seamless as possible, and utmost attention to the detail.
What’s your opinion of Jakarta, from an expat point of view?
We all complain about the traffic, but traffic is proof that there is something happening in the city. Of course we wished for less traffic but it won’t get better overnight. Jakarta is not really a tourist city, and more of a commercial hub. And there are definitely a lot of things that are happening in it.
What do you love the most about the city?
I like Jakarta because it is vibrant. It’s got a lot of life to it, it’s fast paced, a has a lot of young people in it.
How would you promote Jakarta to people back home?
I’ll talk about the people because they are genuinely hospitable and friendly. There’s a lot more English spoken too, compared to a lot of other Asian countries.
5 words that describe The Sultan.
Heritage, Service, Friendliness, Royal Hospitality
What’s New Jakarta would like to thank Mr. Fintan O’Doherty and his team for the time spared for the interview. For more information about Sultan Hotel, visit http://www.sultanjakarta.com
The post Profile of The Month: Fintan O’Doherty, GM of The Sultan Hotel Jakarta appeared first on What's New Jakarta.
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