Singapore’s most famous hotel investor Kwek Leng Beng had the idea for his M Social brand some six to seven years ago, when millennial-minded hotels weren’t yet the rage.
The first M Social hotel, designed by Philippe Stark, opened in Singapore in June. But while design is a key element of such brands, the competition also rests on how well the hotels can ‘speak the language’ of this customer set, particularly when the brand creators and operators typically come from traditional hospitality.
M Social is a good example. Ensuring that the first M Social hotel in Singapore “gets it right” are Millennium Hotels & Resorts president for Asia, Cetin Sekercioglu, and Ting Huong Tak, general manager of the hotel. Both previously worked with Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts – for 21 years and 28 years, respectively.
No doubt, a mindset change was required. And, looking younger-at-heart and less ‘corporate’ at this interview, they shared with HOTELS the rethinking done to operate M Social successfully.
HOTELS: A new brand, the first hotel. What’s essential to ‘get it right’?
Cetin Sekercioglu: We spent a lot of time building the M Social culture, and it starts with getting the right people for it. At the early stage, it’s important to understand whom our target audience is and what kind of staff are needed to serve those guests. We did not do the traditional way of hiring, for example.
H: How did you hire?
Ting Huong Tak: We looked first for personality, not experience. We don’t judge people by the color of their hair or the piercing on their nose. We believe skills can be taught; attitude is more essential for us. For our mass hiring, we did an open house poolside party at one of our sister properties. We ran a half-page ad in the papers saying we’re looking for super heroes to save the world, not the usual we’re looking for captains, waiters, etc.
There were colorful floats in the pool and people were free to take a dip or help themselves to the BBQ. From there, we could see who were the sociable ones and pulled them aside.
H: What did you get?
Ting: A mix of Singaporeans and foreigners, a lot of candidates from the Philippines – they are naturally fun. A lot of those we hired are new to service and that’s the element of surprise for our guests. I even hired a magician who wanted to be in F&B service. The first thing he did when we met was perform a magic trick. He asked if he could perform a magic trick while he served. I said, by all means. We want engagement and interaction with guests. To me, coffee is coffee, as long as you get it hot and prompt.
Sekercioglu: It’s not what you serve, but how you serve it.
H: How many staff do you have?
Sekercioglu: Around 100 staff to 293 rooms. The old staff-to-room ratios no longer apply with the changing customer who wants to enjoy the hotel facilities without going through the usual hassle of having to check in, get their key at the counter, etc. (the hotel is the first in Singapore to implement self check-in and check-out kiosks in the lobby).
Thus, when we looked at the concept of the guest experience, we had to redesign the standard operating procedure to include multi-tasking and come up with new training materials and programs. We spent a lot of time on creating the tasks and jobs which could be performed by many people rather than specific people.
Ting: I see each candidate before hiring, regardless if you’re a dishwasher or manager because everyone has to multi-task and you need a certain attitude for that. We don’t have the conventional doorman, bellman, waiter, etc., and the multi-skilling cuts across all departments, though of course not areas such as engineering. But if we’re busy at breakfast, our front office ambassadors or even my secretary will jump in to help. We’re one happy family.
H: We often hear that service in Singapore is rather ‘stiff’ – even if you empower people or ask them to have a bit of fun with guests, they dare not do it. How do you change this?
Sekercioglu: I think once people know the scope of their job, they will perform. The problem is perhaps we (as an industry) have been too hierarchical – who needs 18 layers of hierarchy in the kitchen such that you don’t know who’s cooking anymore?
We’ve flattened our layers in any division to just two – the management and the staff. It’s not about titles or positions.
Also, it is important to have the right GM who understands the concept of the brand. How he behaves will cascade all the way down and create the culture.
Ting: It has to be top-down. As a GM or department head, if you want your staff to be engaging and sociable, and you go walking with a long face, how will it ever work? You also have to interact with the people you’ve hired – many of them are millennials and they are pretty unique, self-opinionated in a good way, dare to speak their minds, and you just have to make sure they are not off-track.
H: You both came from the traditional hotel background. Why are you able to make a next-gen hotel successful?
Ting: You need to have a millennial mindset, and even though I’m old I’ve always been young at heart. And I’ve learned so much from my experience in the industry that I can take the best from established organizations and incorporate the fun and humor in this new environment.
Sekercioglu: I’ve worked in 12 different countries in different industries – airlines, cruise lines, Michelin-star restaurants, 5-star hotels, summer resorts, large convention hotels… I’m the kind of person who is continuously interested in learning. I brought in an artist for the breakfast set-up, for example, to learn about merchandise display. Traditional chefs tend to do the traditional displays as opposed to someone from the outside.
H: What’s the expansion plans for M Social?
Sekercioglu: We’ll be opening in other countries. This first baby is important and it is about how you create the perception of difference, from the customer’s point of view, on both the hardware and software. It’s also about their perception of value – is the value proposition acceptable for the market you’re going after?
H: Chairman Kwek has appointed Marriott International to manage South Beach as a JW. Might he outsource this, too?
Sekercioglu: We are confident this brand will be successful in Singapore and, having seen what we offer, more developers will be interested. We are already in talks for a few projects. It’s not a one-off. We want to launch globally.
As well, this concept is very much focused on acquiring customers through e-commerce rather than the traditional distribution channels. We’ve been signing deals with major partners to make sure it’s booked through online and mobile, which is part of the model. We’ve also created a unique M Social website where you can find the brand videos, etc. So it’s a very technology-driven channel management approach.