Hooked On Asia

Have you ever thought of running your own hotel? Maybe a little bed & breakfast on the coast?

Andrew and Kate Kemp had a dream along those lines except their’s was perhaps a bit bigger than most. Rather than a B & B, it was more like a luxury resort in Thailand; and it was to be a hotel that wasn’t a hotel!

The couple had met when they were both 18, they travelled the world together and settled down in Hong Kong for 10 years. They both had good jobs. Andrew was in the service industry, working for a major real estate developer and managing private clubs and leisure facilities. Kate was in sales and marketing for international pharmaceutical and electronic products. It took some 2 years of planning and searching but finally they obtained the finance and the land in Khao Lak, southern Thailand, to build their dream property.

They had been fortunate to stay in many hotels around Asia and therefore knew what both good and bad hotel experiences felt like. They also knew they had to be different so they created a mythical character called Lady Sarojin: an Asian lady renowned for her hospitality. This character was to represent the essence of the hotel around which the business would develop.

In order to deliver the high standard of hospitality that the Kemp’s wanted they based their whole recruitment policy on two things: language skills and attitude. They knew everything else could be taught.

When I met Andrew back in 2005 he explained that “You start with an idea, and then the people. The people we have got have bought into the idea. They understand it and I think they quite like the idea of doing something different.”

The hotel was scheduled to open on 10 January 2005. On 26th December 2004 the Indian Ocean Tsunami struck and wrought havoc on the region.

Andrew and Kate were lucky; because they were not open there were no guests in-house and no loss of life. But much of their dream was washed away. By Boxing Day night they had decided they would start again and that, critically, they would retain as many of their staff as wanted to stay: financially an irrational decision but they were agreed “it was the right thing to do”.

They set the team to work doing things they were not employed to do: the housekeeper was liaising with the Interior designer, the Spa Manager with the landscape contractor and the Front Office Manager managing the project. Probably for the first time in their working lives people were crossing departmental boundaries and really working as a team.

The Sarojin Thailand finally opened on 7 October 2005 and was by then a shared dream.

By 2006 this 56-room boutique hotel had already made it on to the Conde Nast Traveler US Hot List for both Spas and Hotels; and it has won a string of awards including Asia’s Leading Boutique Hotel 2006, 2007 and 2008.

Of course a lot of credit for the success must go to the Kemp’s management skills but for me the most crucial element is their authenticity. They have a purpose that goes beyond shareholder value.

Although I never got to work with the Kemps (I sold my business in March 2005), this is the type of company that I will actively seek out because I want business partners who share my values.

For me it is this type of company that will survive no matter what. The Sarojin might be feeling the pinch at the moment, along with the rest of the world, or it might not; but whatever, the hotel will continue to flourish because Andrew and Kate have the support of their staff, their customers and, equally as important, their community.

In my view, over the long-term, companies that focus on building stakeholder value will always be stronger than those which put shareholder value first. The tourism industry is ideally placed to tackle many of today’s social ills and the world would be a richer place if there were more people like the Kemps in the business.

If you know of any other travel and tourism companies (big or small) working in South East Asia that, in your opinion, are making a contribution beyond shareholder value please leave a comment or email me: tony AT hookedonasia dot org.

N.B. For the record only, I first told Andrew and Kate’s story in my audio book Warts and All: A practical, plain-English approach to branding your business.

The Sarojin images courtesy of: WhiteKaps Resort Company Limited