Hotels have responsibility promoting Indonesia
Maya Lilaani, COO of Sunlake Group of Hotels talks about the tourism sector in Indonesia.
Maya Lilaani, COO of Sunlake Group of Hotels talks about the tourism sector in Indonesia.
You mentioned this supply/demand imbalance in Jakarta. That’s true; that’s visible. There are many properties which are going to be opened, but the foreigner arrivals have not matched the supply. Indonesia is now running a promotional campaign. Maybe it will help. Maybe not. Regardless, these hotels have to adapt to the new normal. What is your strategy? How do you try to compete or gain that market share?
This is a very good question actually. As a player in the tourism sector actually, it is our duty, our responsibility when we go to exhibit our property outside of Indonesia in the bigger platform, we have to promote Indonesia, its hidden treasures, what is happening in Jakarta. We do not merely promote our hotels. A property presentation is very uniform. We talk about coming to Indonesia, then Manhattan. We want them to come to Indonesia, to Jakarta, then once you’ve made up your mind to come here, then choose the Manhattan.
On the slideshows, I do a lot of my homework before I go to really promote Indonesia to these guests on these bigger platforms. I show them mountains, islands, so many places to go, we still have plantations—everything is so abundant and ready to host if only you know about it. Within the proximity of our hotel, we have a business area and we try to appeal to people there. You are a business traveller coming to Indonesia for a particular trip? Our hotel is this. Practically, we have covered south Jakarta, central Jakarta, north Jakarta, so we cover three sectors at least. In the future, hopefully a fourth will follow.