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By Sunday Ani
The hospitality industry in Lagos had witnessed the launching of a new hotel, the Mountain Top Suites and Apartments, over the weekend.
According to the General Manager, Goodman Ifeanyichukwu, the hotel, located in the Ojodu area of Lagos, promises an unparalleled experience of luxury and comfort for customers.
The opening of the hotel attracted music stars such as Shina Peters, Eedris Abdul Kareem, and Praize.
Speaking with the Daily Sun during the event, Ifeanyichukwu said the facility has 21 single rooms and 11 apartments. He also added that the apartments consist of three bedrooms and parlour as well as two bedrooms and parlour.
He said: “The truth is that the new space of accommodation and hospitality is an apartment. Apartment is trying to be like the 5G and not that you don’t make money from the single rooms but people are more convenient with the apartment. Technically, it is also cheaper because about three people can come and take an apartment of probably N150,000 but you can’t see a single room of N50,000 that gives you what the apartment gives to you.
“And the apartment itself is self-serviced because you don’t do anything with the hotel; all your services are provided. So, any hotel that doesn’t have an apartment now will suffer because the apartment is the main thing in hospitality. That is why we have to incorporate the apartment into the hotel scheme. If you go to the apartment and the single rooms, you will know the huge differences, and statistically, since we did our soft opening on June 28 to now, more people have come for the apartments compared to the single rooms.
“We have space for everybody irrespective of how funny the economy is because our least room for now is N30,000 and our least beer drink is N1000. So, practically you can’t see these prices in this kind of standard that we have, but we just have to do it because, technically, we don’t have customers yet.
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We are doing everything to incorporate everybody into our scheme.
“The challenge of the hospitality business is huge, and funny enough they are so repetitive that you as a hospitality person cannot even adjust. Pricing is affecting us because what you see for N10,000 in the market today, the next day the same product will go for N15,000 and you are already selling your plate of rice for instance for N6000, but the customer does not want to understand.
They want you to keep maintaining that particular price, so it is a big challenge. And all of us know that electricity is what keeps business afloat; the money for diesel is not funny either.
“So by the time we will start adding money to our prices, customers will always want to protest but the truth is that the economy has a big role to play. The government has a big role to play in helping the hospitality sector, because no matter how difficult it is, the hospitality sector is one sector that employs a lot of people, mostly non-formal people.
“It is a sector that helps a lot of people because I have people with senior secondary school certificates and old people working here. But, the government is not paying attention to it, they just think it is a fun place but there is something beyond that fun in the sector.
In this hotel, our policy is safety first before anything else. When it comes to security we have different departments that handle it. We have regular security that is at the gate, we have the Mobile Police stationed within the premises and we have a private security firm that monitors customer’s physiology.
“So, these are the structures we put in place to ensure 100 percent security because we also need to secure ourselves. So, our customers are always a top priority for us. Currently, our staff strength is within the range of 95 to 110.”
On his part, chairman of Ojodu Local Council Development Area, Femi Abiona, prayed for the management of the hotel, assuring that the investment would attract development within the community?
