From a distance, the Oakwood Premier OUE Singapore looks and runs like any longstanding branded accommodation property in the city; smoothly and seemingly effortlessly, like a duck floating on the water.

As many in the industry know, this reality is often far from the case as each property faces its own series of trials and tribulations leading up to its opening.

Opened mid-last year, Oakwood Premier OUE Singapore comprises 268 units (including studios, and one- to two-bedroom apartments). It has a guest base of C-suite and higher-level executive business travellers on extended visits.

In a recent interview, Roy Liang (general manager, Oakwood Premier OUE Singapore) talked about the trials he faced in opening and running this latest Oakwood property and the deeper challenges it reveals about the hospitality industry in general.

Roy Liang, General Manager of Oakwood Premier OUE Singapore

First: manpower. Liang was faced with the challenge of finding and building his core team and opening Oakwood Premier OUE Singapore, all in a span of four months. “That includes everyone from department heads to their staff… and then training them [or] waiting for them to serve notices.”

For this, he sought out primarily online resources to scope out talent. “90% of my department heads, I contacted through LinkedIn… [where] you can get 70% of the information you need to assess a candidate.”

From there, it was a matter of efficiently scouting and meeting these potential hires, to verify that what they said online was in fact who they were in reality.

Read the full story here.