Premier is set for further growth

Premier is set for further growth

Mark Jakins, a highly experienced commercial and hospitality executive who recently joined the Premier Group, is determined to position the Premier Group for growth. Mr Jakins joined the group earlier this year as group sales, revenue and marketing director.

Mr Jakins is a man with marketing and delivery in his veins. Honed through a successful career spanning over 25 years, he has held senior executive marketing and commercial positions, which included over 15 years as group marketing and operations executive at Peermont Hotels and Resorts, and chief executive: commercial enterprises at the SABC when the financial turnaround happened in the early 2000’s.

He has also held senior management / director positions in Budget Car Rental, Southern Sun and Sun International.

How did Premier Hotels & Resorts begin?

The story of Premier Hotels and Resorts is a fascinating journey of entrepreneurship led by a remarkable man, Samuel Nassimov, who has built one of South Africa’s most special hospitality group’s from humble beginnings in East London in the early 90’s. The recent acquisition of the Faircity hotel group has provided Premier with a footprint of 24 hotels and resorts to woo business and leisure travellers wishing to enjoy real hospitality from a group obsessed with excellence, as well as genuine, caring standards for guests.

What is your current focus?

Currently on growing market share and revenues – a big concentration on a new central reservations based in Cape Town, building awareness and decent marketing campaigns whereby guests are made aware of our brand, as well as our properties, with great value-for-money leisure, conference and business packages to explore various cities and towns whilst on holiday or business. We are also focusing on creating a successful sales team to service the travel industry and represent the many exciting new developments and locations we offer.

How are you growing Premier’s market awareness?

We’ve chosen a variety of marketing channels to grow market awareness including B2C and B2B platforms including airline magazines, consumer magazines, radio, selected outdoor sites as well as focused digital channels that can identify existing and like-minded audiences to spread the Premier word, and deliver ROI. There is also a concerted drive to secure strategic partnerships with companies who can add value to our customers. Our positioning as a Proudly SA brand with real family values and excellent property standards with a strong service ethos delivered by caring staff is paramount.

What is happening within the Group?

We are also now putting the final touches together to upgrade and open up a cutting edge Central Reservations department in Seapoint, Cape Town to better service guests and our expanding portfolio of properties, at the new head office. With our properties located all over South Africa, we are trying to create our own routes and reward customers globally for their loyalty.

There is a concerted effort to upgrade properties with a host of renovations, refurbishments and improvements with modern and contemporary attractions in the pipeline. Over the next few months we will open Premier Splendid Inn in Bloemfontein and the two fantastic properties on one site in Umhlanga.

It has been a pleasure to welcome Faircity staff to the family and for the next few months we will be integrating and settling everyone down with no disruption to the market or guests.

How important is training?

Vital. We are also continuing with our training programmes and academy in East London which provides job opportunities for many whilst improving the hospitality skills of others. As the dominant hotel player in East London, the Premier-owned hotels, ICC and Mpongo Private Game Reserve allow versatility for training.

What do you think when you think of Premier Hotels & Resorts?

A very personal experience for guests and where they can really ‘feel at home’. Caring and efficient staff who really want to look after customers, comfort food prepared fresh, with variety for personal tastes, comfortable rooms with all the amenities, meeting rooms and conference standards for clients who require absolute commitment and then locations perfect for business and leisure. We are very fortunate to enjoy prime locations on key tourism routes now as well – from Sandton to Pretoria, White River to Cape Town, Knysna to the Drakensberg, Durban to Bloemfontein.

What will the acquisition of Faircity Hotels and Apartments mean for existing Premier Hotels & Resorts clients?

The group now offers a massive presence in Gauteng for clients. Travel agencies, corporates and government have a wide variety of hotels to choose from in excellent locations. All have unique characteristics, but will carry the Premier badge with pride. We will try persuade clients to broaden their support for both Premier and Faircity hotels. The Premier Rewards programme will stretch to include the Faircity Hotels and Apartments. We are already working on an exciting project to upgrade and improve the loyalty programme to include more properties, benefits and partners, with a simple user interface to make life easy. More will be revealed later this year.

Are there any more exciting developments on the way?

Yes, there will be – further announcements will be made by the company in due course by Sam Nassimov on other hotels or refurbishment projects. He is working on establishing a Premier footprint in all major cities in South Africa, either through ownership or management contracts. Exciting times and a lot of hard work await on this journey.

We are also keen to deepen our understanding of our guests, how to serve them better and request feedback through online booking channels, TripAdviser, Google etc to further improve operating standards. Of course the new loyalty programme and social media platform enhancements will assist this focus.