Hallam at the Hilton

Rupert Hallam, [pictured right] the Director of Business Development at the Fiji Beach Resort & Spa Managed by Hilton, in Denarau, is a long way from home, having been born in the UK, worked in the UK, USA and Australia and is now in love with Fiji, with Rupert telling The Mole his wife Nicky and daughter Gracie and he were very happy in Fiji, although he had worked in Fiji through two coups with little impact from either.

The Fiji Beach Resort & Spa Managed by Hilton [pictured below, one of the three Hilton pools!] is one of the newest hotels in the S Pacific and Rupert said, “Having been brought up and worked in the UK, worked in US and then ended up in NZ and then Fiji and Sydney with Thomas Cook, then Cairns and Sydney with Hilton and now back to Fiji with Hilton, he and his wife were delighted that they could bring up their daughter in the tropics and were loving the lifestyle and the idyllic location.”

The Hilton as 129 rooms and six months or so later, The Mole asked Rupert what the real impact of the coups was, with some operators perhaps having glided the lily saying everything was OK and others and saying it was pretty bad, so what is it like now and what needs to happen?

“There was a lot of stuff leading up to the coup, including the elections earlier in the year, the increased VAT and then hotel turnover tax, so even before Dec there was a lot of instability that created difficulties for wholesalers in loading rates, so the coup was only part of the scene with all this having its impact with for a travel perspective other destinations perhaps easier to sell so we had a double whammy last year.”

He said that the TAG specials campaign did work for them and did stimulate the market, but it had to be remembered that this was at rates 40% lower than normal so that made things difficult, so technically you have to increase your occupancy by the same amount to get back to where you were although we are now slowly trying to get the rate back up and we have since moved away from the 40% discounts to 33% and now 25% off the normal rate and that will remain in place for now.

When asked that some tour operators were saying that the discounting may have taken Fiji hotel prices to a more realistic level, Rupert said that may well be the case for existing product that had been around for a while, but the Hilton is brand new and top of the range in Denarau and in Fiji, I believe that the existing pre discounting pricing is spot on bearing in mind the quality of the product and there are some products that need refurbishment.

He added, “This hotel is modern and contemporary Fiji with a taste of Fiji, with all the mod cons you need, and that makes us unique, and our positioning statement in two words is “effortless luxury” and that is what we are all about, from being met at the airport by a Hilton meet and greet staff member and being transferred to the hotel in a brand new white 7 series BMW.” “Breakfast is included and so is the Freedom Fridge, which is ten free drinks a day in your room, so it is all about flowing through with that position statement right down to the modern room and everything that you would have at home.”

“We are also finding more and more people coming to stay here as a mono destinational resort, not using us for few days at the beginning or end of holiday to the islands.”

“We had a great Easter and were full for Easter week, and the first couple of weeks in July are the same pretty well, mostly with Aussie and Kiwis.”  “The challenge for us flattening out the troughs in between and we are working hard to do that and the coup has not helped, but all the large chains’ global sales teams will help to lift all arrivals to Fiji, not just to our hotels – everyone will benefit.”

“The Fiji, Australia and New Zealand Governments need get together and sort this out and the respective travel advisors should not be used as sanctions against Fiji.”  “They have been lowered but also post the coup the pay cuts to Fiji’s civil servants had to be reinstated and they can then go on strike if the state of emergency was lifted and that would have a serious economic impact on Fiji which already has some serious economic issues to resolve, which is why the Interim Government had not lifted the emergency rules and that it was really nothing to do with safety or security.”

Looking forward The Mole asked Rupert what he thought about the future of tourism in and to Fiji and his response was it can’t get any worse so it can only go up!

He added that new products like the Hilton, the Sofitel, The Radisson, and the Marriott would all help to lift the game and drive the future, but the path to getting there was going to be long and could be rough, but for those in the industry for the long term there will be a good future. 

When asked how long and how rough and could properties survive, he said that this year will still be very tough and you will not see buoyant figures coming back to previous levels until the first quarter of next year, probably Easter.

He added, “This hotel will definitely ride all that it faces and we are here for the long term, but the crazy thing is that I have ridden out two coups, but because this coups was so slow coming, the recovery period may well be longer than the last one, which was a snap happening with recovery into high season, whereas with this one recovery is also into low season, dragging it on with all the other issues that are impacting on it.”  “There is also no one day that you can say that recovery starts from here, there is a lot of grey and that is the difference and that is impacting on our recovery.”

On December 5 when the coup happened many guests did not know that the about it and it was business as usual with many only picking it up from Australian and New Zealand media who made it look like some massive revolution which is what is was not – the low key nature of it all was quite amazing

In terms of a message to the trade in Aus and NZ, I say if you have any doubts about selling Fiji, get on over here and have a look. 

We will support you and so will the FVB and all the other hotels in hosting and looking after you and there is nothing untoward going on here with Fiji totally safe, the only thing missing is you and your clients. 

The sunsets, the amazing Fijian people and welcome, the clear water, the relaxed Fijian way of life and everything else that is Fiji are all still the same.

Thank you Rupert.

Report by The Mole on location in Fiji, brought to you by Pacific Blue