Imagine waking up feeling fresh after a great night's sleep without the pressure of having to report for an early morning shift; imagine getting ready for work, without a blackberry in hand and putting on your comfortable pre-opening T-shirt.

Well that's the typical start to a day in the life of a hotel pre-opening team member. In this blog article, I'd like to share my experiences of the three different hotel pre-opening teams that I have been given a chance to work on.

—Redifining the concept of ‘Smart-Casual'. Check us out in our comfortable pre-opening t-shirts at Holiday Inn Amritsar.


My three pre-opening experiences

My first hotel opening also happened to be my first job. I was fresh out of hotel school where I got recruited as a part of the team. I was responsible to set up the sales and marketing function for a new stand-alone hotel in Chennai (Madras). I was thrown in the deep end and had to learn how to swim! Everything was new to me – new markets, and new teams. It was my first experience working in a hotel and made me more confident and better prepared to work in any situation.

—Watch this space! Signage on the main building façade to promote the opening of Holiday Inn Mumbai.

The next two pre-opening experiences were both Holiday Inn hotels. I was heading the training department and quality department of the hotel. First I joined the team at Holiday Inn Mumbai International Airport which was also the first Holiday Inn in South West Asia to be built under the new Holiday Inn brand concept.

The entire region was looking at us to set the standard and become a flagship for future Holiday Inn hotels in India. I'm sure you can understand that meant we had huge expectations to live up to! With immense support from the IHG corporate office, we managed to deliver a truly great hotel which our guests love!

My next new hotel opening assignment is the one where I am currently working: Holiday Inn Amritsar. This hotel happens to be the first managed Holiday Inn in northern India!

It's all about setting up your people and processes!

However different these hotels have been, the overall experience in all of them remains more or less the same from morning to evening. Here is how a typical day unfolds…

After entering the office, it feels good not to jump straight into checking my email inbox to plow through heaps of reports and revenue figures from the previous night.

Instead I enjoy planning my day together with the entire team during morning meetings. The morning meetings are held at all sorts of different locations in and around the property. Whether at the tea stall (Chaiwala) under the tree opposite the hotel or at the poolside on the first floor, the overall feel of these meetings is the same. We update each other about developments happening around the property.

As I go about my various tasks for the day, I constantly feel a sense of pride in knowing that I am actually building the systems and procedures that will soon be used to run my department and at the same time, help me deliver on the hotel's vision. However, I also can't avoid the feeling of anxiety about the actual success of all this when the hotel finally opens.

As the day proceeds, we get the chance to sample a large variety of products that are being considered for the various areas of the hotel. Having the IHG recommended specifications and requirements really help in choosing the ideal product for each department.

There are days when I am faced with back-to-back interviews with potential candidates for my team. During the interview process, I see some familiar faces and plenty of new ones! To develop these teams, you are also responsible to provide the right environment for colleagues to work in. That is where the IHG commitment comes into place with engaging brand trainings and programs.

The very best part of the pre-opening experience is being able to bond so well with the team. As the team grows slowly in number you get to know and understand you colleagues more deeply. From the team lunches and outings to the group brain-storming sessions and decision debates, you build strong relationships which will pave the way for smooth operations ahead.

As the hotel grows from rubble and stone to chandeliers and marble columns, your patience gets tested all the time in the process. Working conditions on the site can become really extreme. I've even lost a few kilos in sweat while working in an office with the air-conditioner not yet operational. Internet and electricity are constantly taking you on an unpredictable ride, but those moments of lost connectivity also give you an excuse to catch up with the team around the water cooler.

—Stuck in a spider's web. Entangled in cables, the IT manager assembles the server room.

No matter how well you plan, the construction process will always have its fair share of hiccups and unexpected delays. In fact, some days you wonder whether there has been any progress on site at all.

Nonetheless, you can't help but be excited as each area of the hotel gets handed over one at a time. That's when the task of ‘snagging' and ‘testing' each area begins. During the testing process, we simply can't afford to miss out on any discrepancies.

Well… I hope this blog article has given you a bit of a sense for what the pre-opening process feels like from the inside! Being part of a pre-opening experience has always been a mixed bag of emotions. It's like seeing a flower develop from the bud to the blossom stage. As a contributing member of the team, I feel partly responsible for the building blocks of the hotel, and it's a beautiful sight to be part of.

—The future's looking bright. The Holiday Inn Amritsar hotel façade and structure as we first saw it at Holiday Inn Amritsar.


—No diving please. Here's a photo of the team inspecting the swimming pool.


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