Making Hotel Industry a Success Story

<div align="justify">An interview with Mr Conrad Bergwerf - General Director Melia Hanoi Hotel</div> <div align="justify"><b> </b></div> <div align="justify"><i>I know that you have been working as a General Manager of Melia Hanoi for several months. What do you think of the business environment in </i><i>Vietnam</i><i>?</i></div> <div align="justify"> </div> <div align="justify">The business environment in Vietnam is still good but as everywhere in the world will be affected by the world economy slowdown due to several factors like the increase of energy, gasoline and food prices. I&rsquom convinced the slowdown of the economy will be the temporary situation and we will overcome it in the near future.</div> <div align="justify"> </div> <div align="justify"><i>What are advantages and disadvantages in doing business in tourism and hotel industry in </i><i>Vietnam</i><i>? What does </i><i>Vietnam</i><i> have to do to promote this industry?</i></div> <div align="justify"> </div> <div align="justify">Like any part of the world, doing business in hotel industry in Vietnam is a growing demand of the country. It can be leisure or business. Vietnam for the last years has enjoyed very fast growth in tourisms as there are many new hotels, new tourism projects coming up but for that Vietnam needs to carry out many plans in order to be able to fill up the hotels. The handicap that we have is substandard of infrastructure in terms of roads, airports, communication. At the same time, as the hotel industry in Vietnam has been booming in the last three or four years and it requires professional staff prepared for the hospitality industry and meets the needs of the clients. <span>it&rsquos not the question of building the hotels. The question is to fill in up and give good service in order to create a good environment. The exposure of </span>Vietnam to the world for the last two years has been bigger. The positive image of Vietnam is creating interest for the client to come and visit the country and learning about the culture and the people. But then again, we have the handicap that international flights to Vietnam are limited and most of the connections are done in half outside Vietnam. It will be a matter of time for the country to be an attractive destination. </div> <div align="justify"> </div> <div align="justify"><i>Your hotel has just been given Top Ten Hotels Award 2007, what do you think of this award? As a new General Manager of Melia Hanoi, do you have any new direction for the hotel&rsquos development?</i></div> <div align="justify"> </div> <div align="justify">It is always good to have an award of being the best hotel in Vietnam. But I don&rsquot think the award is for the hotel, it&rsquos for each employee who spends more than 8 hours working in the hotel to fulfill the need and expectation of the guests.</div> <div align="justify"> </div> <div align="justify">For nine months I have been here, the recommendation for the opportunities to have a good tourism tem to meet the needs of our hotel not only in quality of labors but also in the quantity of labors for the industry.</div> <div align="justify"> </div> <div align="justify"><i>There are many big hotel groups investing in </i><i>Vietnam</i><i>. Is Sol Melia group boosting its investment in </i><i>Vietnam</i><i> in a near future? </i></div> <div align="justify">At this point, we are interested to invest in Vietnam and Sol Melia wants to do it wisely in order to make sure that the expansion that we are planning will have same success story as Melia Hanoi. </div> <div align="justify"> </div> <div align="justify"><strong>Reported by Ha Anh</strong></div>