About BWP Sonasea PQ

Best Western Premier Sonasea Phu Quoc Hotel & Resorts is part of CEO Group which is perceived as one among 250 largest private enterprises in Vietnam (VNR500) by 2021. 

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The hotel branding belongs to Best Western Premier Collection which provides independent hoteliers the opportunity to retain their local identity and individuality while harnessing the power of The World's Largest Hotel Family® The World's Largest Hotel Chain®.

Being opened in January 2019, Best Western Premier Sonasea Phu Quoc Hotel & Resorts has been recognised within & outside Vietnam with the following awards:

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• 2020 Travelers' Choice by Tripadvisor

• 2020 World's Best Awards for Travel Leisure 

• 2020 World Luxury Hotel Awards

• 2019 Premier Partner by Ivivu.com

• 2019 The most favorite hotel in Vietnam by VCCI 

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Above of all, the hotel culture has been known as caring for people & sustainability more than short-term monetary benefits. 

Key Challenges

Best Western Premier Sonasea Phu Quoc Hotel & Resorts faced few key challenges that newly-opened hotels normally experience, which were intensified in Covid19.

1. Low Team Alignment before Covid

• 15 Departments in the Hotel were poorly aware of inter-departmental cooperation in operational management;

• Front-end departments (Marketing, Sales, Customer Services, etc.) & back-end depts (Finance, Human Resources, Engineering, etc.) only focused on their sole responsibility & barely sat down discussing how to achieve business goals;

• Heads of Departments struggled with planning ahead with key resources. They only fire-fighting without "helicopter view" mindsets;

• Lowest-level staff worked hard yet struggled with customer-focused service mindsets & significant motivation to complete their daily tasks;

2. Dilemma to stay open or close amidst Covid19

• Leaders faced the dilemma to close or open the hotel at the first outbreak;

• The hotel was newly open & closing was costly especially when it reopens

• The cost to stay open was also high & the risks to contaminate the virus were high

• The time to make decisions was anticipated to be long due to high disagreement among leaders 

Key Successes

Best Western Premier Sonasea Phu Quoc Hotel & Resorts gave RespectVN an opportunity to introduce WEATWORK at the hotel to help 15 teams gain consensus on Hotel OKR (Objectives & Key Results) & aim high to achieve them:

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1. OKR Consensus on Business Model Canvas reached

• Hotel Leaders developed & agreed with 2019 Hotel Objectives & Key Results (OKR) on only one page of Business Model Canvas;

• 15 Heads of Departments (HOD) developed & agreed on their Departmental OKRs which were smartly cascaded from Hotel OKRs;

• Team-based OKRs were smartly cascaded from Departmental OKRs;

• Individual OKRs were smartly cascaded from Team-based OKRs; 

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OWNERSHIP: The hotel still applies WEATWORK until currently & the model was duplicated in other facilities within CEO Group

2. Three-scenario Covid-responsive proposal approved

• Hotel General Manager with 9/11 experiences & good knowledge of the hotel operation tried to persuade the owners to keep the hotel open as the cost to close was much higher;

• With WEATWORK's OKR Consensus on Business Canvas, he developed the Covid-responsive hotel plan/proposal in 3 scenarios - The Worst, the Medium & the Best;  

• The proposal was backed up with reliable data from 15 Departments who already practiced Weatwork before Covid19;

• The proposal was customer-focused with special Covid19 long-stay packages & the full staff-engagement to respond to new customer needs & new situations;

• The proposal was made & approved by leaders within 3 weeks 

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KEY SUCCESSES: The hotel was one of very few hotels in Phu Quoc staying open during Covid19 outbreaks, still generating revenues, maintaining 5-star standards with a focus on Vietnamese guests, & retaining the most loyal & suitable managers & staff (200/370 workforce) - November 2020 set an inspiring record of some weekends at 60-70% of occupancy.