Kayode Adenugba, the General Manager of the over 70 years old Lagos Airport Hotel, recently addressed journalists on some developmental strides his administration in the hotel is carrying
Kayode Adenugba
out. He also dwells on the challenges of managing a hospitality outfit in Nigeria. Senior Reporter, Anthonia Soyingbe, was there.
Can you tell us some of your experiences in managing this facility?
It has not been easy managing this hotel knowing fully well that it is one of the oldest hotels in Nigeria. We are working hard to update and renovate our facilities with the little resources that we have. My team and I are working assiduously to ensure that the hotel is at the forefront and to ensure that it competes favourably with other hotels in the country.
What do you intend to achieve with some of the renovations?
Our aim is to ensure that we turn around the facility, so that the rooms can compete with other hotels around. We just want to ensure that all our facilities are in good shape. We are doing all these to give our customers more value for their money. People love this place and they all want to continue to stay with us. There will be little adjustment and it will still be pocket friendly.
Your predecessor once said he was spending not less than N2 million weekly to generate power here. How are you coping with this?
We now spend more than that on a monthly basis. It will continue to be like this until there is a positive turn-around in the power sector. Hoteliers in other parts of the country don’t really care about water and providing constant power supply but we just have to do that here. We generate water and every other thing ourselves. All these contribute to the charges of hotels in Nigeria.
There is a new global policy that hoteliers should create green environment, are you also thinking in this direction?
We are looking towards that direction while also inviting investors to come and join us. We have the wherewithal to do that.
Having being in the business for over seven decades, don’t you think this hotel has outlived its relevance and probably should give room to other new hotels?
We are still very relevant. We have the capacity and we train our staffs. You will see our staffs in other hotels who are doing well. We are contributing to capital development. We are old and very relevant.
Most hotels complain about multiple taxations, what is your experience in this regard?
We are looking into that area and we are one of the hotels that went to court then challenging Lagos State Government. They got a Supreme Court judgment because of the law by the state’s House of Assembly. All these things will bounce back to the guests who in turn will complain. Hotels in Lagos are facing this but we are handling it maturely.