Starting a business during Covid-19 crisis: How a 28-year-old Singaporean kept hotel afloat in Australia
Starting a business during Covid-19 crisis: How a 28-year-old Singaporean kept hotel afloat in Australia
By TESSA OH
Riley Heng
Ms Riley Heng, 28, relocated to Sydney, Australia to set up and run a hotel, and then faced a bigger crisis than she expected when Covid-19 hit.
Published13 JUNE, 2020UPDATED 13 JUNE, 2020
388 Shares
SINGAPORE — In just six weeks, Ms Riley Heng packed her bags, moved to Sydney, Australia and transformed a dusty and bare building in the Darling Harbour district into a fully functioning hotel.
What she could not foresee was that a coronavirus was going to sweep across continents and leave its trail on her endeavours.
For the first three weeks, the 28-year-old Singaporean went from getting word that an empty building was ready to be taken over to putting almost all she owned in boxes and moving to Australia.
Then, she had another three weeks to quickly get the hotel operationally ready to welcome visitors.
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The building in Sydney's Darling Harbour district which Ms Heng transformed into a hotel. Photo: MetroResidences
This included setting up the hotel’s management systems, unpacking and arranging furniture that was still wrapped in plastic covers and sourcing for items such as linens and towels.
Read also: Seafarers rejected at ports, stranded at sea, tell of physical and mental exhaustion
After many restless days and sleepless nights, Ms Heng was ready to open the doors of MetroResidences Darling Harbour in the last week of February and the hotel started receiving a steady stream of reservations.
The boutique hotel, which has 60 rooms, is located right by the Darling Harbour in Sydney on the outskirts of the city’s central business district.
Soon after the opening, the travel industry was decimated by the Covid-19 pandemic and like many others, the hotel was hit with a wave of cancellations from frantic customers who were rushing to secure refunds for their various reservations.
Read also: Turkey hopes 'healthy tourism' scheme will conquer coronavirus slump
“At that point, we knew that there was a pandemic that was just starting, and we knew we may (be affected) and the market will be hit somehow, but we thought to just deal with it,” Ms Heng told TODAY.
“Our focus was still on making sure that the hotel was ready as soon as possible to start receiving reservations, so we were just powering through (the preparations).”
Australia moved to ban all international travel on March 20, shortly after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Covid-19 a global pandemic. At the time, Australia had 786 Covid-19 cases nationwide and seven deaths.
Read also: Thailand to tout 'trusted' tourism in coronavirus era
The Australian government also imposed strict physical distancing rules of at least 4 sqm a person, in tandem with other measures to curb the spread of the disease.
NO EXPERIENCE
As she was going through a rough patch in her personal life, Ms Heng was eager to take on a new challenge in her career. Therefore, when the opportunity to move to Australia presented itself, she knew it was one that she could not miss.
Read also: European tourist hotspots hope to lure Britons despite quarantine
“I was at this point in my life where I wanted to do something more. I wasn’t sure what I could do but I just knew that I was not comfortable being too comfortable… so on a personal level, it was a good thing for me to move and start things afresh.”
With a background in marketing and public relations, this was Ms Heng’s first go at setting up and running a hotel.
The three weeks of preparation leading up to the hotel’s grand opening was a two-woman show, consisting of just herself and another colleague who also did not have prior experience running a hotel.
Ms Heng said that she took inspiration from the hotels and Airbnb apartments she used to stay in and spoke to vendors and others in the industry to make connections and learn more about the market.
A view of one of the rooms at MetroResidences Darling Harbour. Photo: MetroResidences
“I was staying at another hotel (when I first arrived) so I tried to make use of the opportunity and look at how the hotel did its set-up and trying to find labels on the products used to see which suppliers I could approach,” she said.
“We were quite fortunate that we met really kind people along the way and they were very helpful and generous. (People in the industry and the suppliers) were very generous in sharing their networks and connections.”
SWITCHING TO SURVIVAL MODE
Challenges were expected when setting up a hotel from scratch, but a global health crisis was not something that Ms Heng expected to meet.
At the end of February, Ms Heng said that she was “keeping her fingers crossed” as customers were still making reservations for May and June.
“When WHO declared that Covid-19 was a pandemic, that was when all hell broke loose. We were just bombarded with calls, messages and emails asking for cancellations or to postpone their dates.
“Some customers even called in not knowing what to do. They asked, ‘What’s going to happen now?’ So I had to deal with a lot of human emotions at that point as well,” she said.
The most stressful part was appeasing angry and frustrated customers who were requesting refunds on non-refundable reservations, and having to make sure that these requests did not hurt the business’ bottom line.
“Within a day or two, we started to change the way we speak to customers and started to offer more flexible options,” she said.
For example, she began to ask customers who had made non-refundable reservations to hold their reservations and postpone them to a later date.
She also started to be more transparent with customers about the hotel’s struggles, explaining that it would not be able to survive the crisis should they offer all customers free cancellations.
“When we started being really honest, I was actually surprised by the really kind responses we got in return… Some even wished us well and told us that they hoped to stay with us after the pandemic is over.”
Then there was a need for her to rethink the hotel’s business model in order to cope with the declining reservations as travel restrictions were imposed by governments all around the world.
“Initially I thought the difficult part was launching and growing a business in a new market, but… it became this whole survival game,” she said.
“When we started to lose the travel market, the next we did was to pivot to the residential market, which was really what MetroResidences has always been doing in Singapore and Japan, its two key markets.”
Singapore-based residential firm MetroResidences was set up in 2014 and operates residential apartments, hotels and co-living rooms in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore. As of 2020, the company has more than 2,000 accommodation listings.
For MetroResidences Darling Harbour, the strategy to offer accommodation to a different set of clients turned things around and helped the business stay afloat.
It now runs on a 70 to 80 per cent occupancy rate each day, through medium and long-term rentals by students and professionals.
NO REGRETS
Ms Heng said that she will be staying put in Sydney to see the business through the pandemic.
When that time comes, the plan is still for the hotel to cater to millennial travellers, with the eventual aim of branching into providing social and leisure experiences for visitors.
In the immediate future, she will be keeping busy as updates to the hotel’s brand, including a possible name change, are still underway.
When asked if she was still glad she made the choice to relocate, Ms Heng said that the experience has been a significant milestone in her career.
“The fact that I had to turn this newly renovated building into a proper functioning hotel, and have all the amenities and systems in place to run — it is definitely a learning opportunity that is very hard to come by.
“At the end of the day, I’m just the kind of person that if you tell me I have to choose between a difficult route (or an easy route), I would choose the difficult option anyway,” she said.
“So if I have to turn back time and know what exactly I am signing up for, I would probably still say that I would take it on.”
Topics
Covid-19coronavirushoteltravelbusinessAustralia
Read more at https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/starting-business-during-covid-19-crisis-how-28-year-old-singaporean-kept-hotel-afloat-australia
https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/starting-business-during-covid-19-crisis-how-28-year-old-singaporean-kept-hotel-afloat-australia
By TESSA OH
Riley Heng
Ms Riley Heng, 28, relocated to Sydney, Australia to set up and run a hotel, and then faced a bigger crisis than she expected when Covid-19 hit.
Published13 JUNE, 2020UPDATED 13 JUNE, 2020
388 Shares
SINGAPORE — In just six weeks, Ms Riley Heng packed her bags, moved to Sydney, Australia and transformed a dusty and bare building in the Darling Harbour district into a fully functioning hotel.
What she could not foresee was that a coronavirus was going to sweep across continents and leave its trail on her endeavours.
For the first three weeks, the 28-year-old Singaporean went from getting word that an empty building was ready to be taken over to putting almost all she owned in boxes and moving to Australia.
Then, she had another three weeks to quickly get the hotel operationally ready to welcome visitors.
ADVERTISEMENT
The building in Sydney's Darling Harbour district which Ms Heng transformed into a hotel. Photo: MetroResidences
This included setting up the hotel’s management systems, unpacking and arranging furniture that was still wrapped in plastic covers and sourcing for items such as linens and towels.
Read also: Seafarers rejected at ports, stranded at sea, tell of physical and mental exhaustion
After many restless days and sleepless nights, Ms Heng was ready to open the doors of MetroResidences Darling Harbour in the last week of February and the hotel started receiving a steady stream of reservations.
The boutique hotel, which has 60 rooms, is located right by the Darling Harbour in Sydney on the outskirts of the city’s central business district.
Soon after the opening, the travel industry was decimated by the Covid-19 pandemic and like many others, the hotel was hit with a wave of cancellations from frantic customers who were rushing to secure refunds for their various reservations.
Read also: Turkey hopes 'healthy tourism' scheme will conquer coronavirus slump
“At that point, we knew that there was a pandemic that was just starting, and we knew we may (be affected) and the market will be hit somehow, but we thought to just deal with it,” Ms Heng told TODAY.
“Our focus was still on making sure that the hotel was ready as soon as possible to start receiving reservations, so we were just powering through (the preparations).”
Australia moved to ban all international travel on March 20, shortly after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Covid-19 a global pandemic. At the time, Australia had 786 Covid-19 cases nationwide and seven deaths.
Read also: Thailand to tout 'trusted' tourism in coronavirus era
The Australian government also imposed strict physical distancing rules of at least 4 sqm a person, in tandem with other measures to curb the spread of the disease.
NO EXPERIENCE
As she was going through a rough patch in her personal life, Ms Heng was eager to take on a new challenge in her career. Therefore, when the opportunity to move to Australia presented itself, she knew it was one that she could not miss.
Read also: European tourist hotspots hope to lure Britons despite quarantine
“I was at this point in my life where I wanted to do something more. I wasn’t sure what I could do but I just knew that I was not comfortable being too comfortable… so on a personal level, it was a good thing for me to move and start things afresh.”
With a background in marketing and public relations, this was Ms Heng’s first go at setting up and running a hotel.
The three weeks of preparation leading up to the hotel’s grand opening was a two-woman show, consisting of just herself and another colleague who also did not have prior experience running a hotel.
Ms Heng said that she took inspiration from the hotels and Airbnb apartments she used to stay in and spoke to vendors and others in the industry to make connections and learn more about the market.
A view of one of the rooms at MetroResidences Darling Harbour. Photo: MetroResidences
“I was staying at another hotel (when I first arrived) so I tried to make use of the opportunity and look at how the hotel did its set-up and trying to find labels on the products used to see which suppliers I could approach,” she said.
“We were quite fortunate that we met really kind people along the way and they were very helpful and generous. (People in the industry and the suppliers) were very generous in sharing their networks and connections.”
SWITCHING TO SURVIVAL MODE
Challenges were expected when setting up a hotel from scratch, but a global health crisis was not something that Ms Heng expected to meet.
At the end of February, Ms Heng said that she was “keeping her fingers crossed” as customers were still making reservations for May and June.
“When WHO declared that Covid-19 was a pandemic, that was when all hell broke loose. We were just bombarded with calls, messages and emails asking for cancellations or to postpone their dates.
“Some customers even called in not knowing what to do. They asked, ‘What’s going to happen now?’ So I had to deal with a lot of human emotions at that point as well,” she said.
The most stressful part was appeasing angry and frustrated customers who were requesting refunds on non-refundable reservations, and having to make sure that these requests did not hurt the business’ bottom line.
“Within a day or two, we started to change the way we speak to customers and started to offer more flexible options,” she said.
For example, she began to ask customers who had made non-refundable reservations to hold their reservations and postpone them to a later date.
She also started to be more transparent with customers about the hotel’s struggles, explaining that it would not be able to survive the crisis should they offer all customers free cancellations.
“When we started being really honest, I was actually surprised by the really kind responses we got in return… Some even wished us well and told us that they hoped to stay with us after the pandemic is over.”
Then there was a need for her to rethink the hotel’s business model in order to cope with the declining reservations as travel restrictions were imposed by governments all around the world.
“Initially I thought the difficult part was launching and growing a business in a new market, but… it became this whole survival game,” she said.
“When we started to lose the travel market, the next we did was to pivot to the residential market, which was really what MetroResidences has always been doing in Singapore and Japan, its two key markets.”
Singapore-based residential firm MetroResidences was set up in 2014 and operates residential apartments, hotels and co-living rooms in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore. As of 2020, the company has more than 2,000 accommodation listings.
For MetroResidences Darling Harbour, the strategy to offer accommodation to a different set of clients turned things around and helped the business stay afloat.
It now runs on a 70 to 80 per cent occupancy rate each day, through medium and long-term rentals by students and professionals.
NO REGRETS
Ms Heng said that she will be staying put in Sydney to see the business through the pandemic.
When that time comes, the plan is still for the hotel to cater to millennial travellers, with the eventual aim of branching into providing social and leisure experiences for visitors.
In the immediate future, she will be keeping busy as updates to the hotel’s brand, including a possible name change, are still underway.
When asked if she was still glad she made the choice to relocate, Ms Heng said that the experience has been a significant milestone in her career.
“The fact that I had to turn this newly renovated building into a proper functioning hotel, and have all the amenities and systems in place to run — it is definitely a learning opportunity that is very hard to come by.
“At the end of the day, I’m just the kind of person that if you tell me I have to choose between a difficult route (or an easy route), I would choose the difficult option anyway,” she said.
“So if I have to turn back time and know what exactly I am signing up for, I would probably still say that I would take it on.”
Topics
Covid-19coronavirushoteltravelbusinessAustralia
Read more at https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/starting-business-during-covid-19-crisis-how-28-year-old-singaporean-kept-hotel-afloat-australia
https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/starting-business-during-covid-19-crisis-how-28-year-old-singaporean-kept-hotel-afloat-australia
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