BUSINESS

Hotels & Preference Hualing Tbilisi GM on Running a Hotel During a Pandemic & Recovery Prospects for the Hospitality Industry

INTERVIEW BY ANA DUMBADZE

The coronavirus pandemic, apart from bringing signifi cant hardship to the population worldwide, and the healthcare sector, also affected companies and businesses. However, for businesses with a previous crisis management strategy, it has been possible to dampen the impact and continue successful operation in the market and to maintain high service quality.

Running a hotel during the coronavirus pandemic has surely been no easy task, considering the lack of both human and fi nancial resources. Yet, in Georgia, there are many hotels that, despite the challenging times, maintain their service quality and are ready to host and protect customers by following all safety regulations.

One successful example of managing a hotel through the pandemic is Hotels & Preference Hualing Tbilisi, managed by BTL Hospitality Group. Located in a sleek building in a residential area at the edge of the city, the staff and management have been working tirelessly to offer its traditional best service to its guests.

Notably, this high-class business hotel has a new General Manager, Mr. Patrick U. Buder, whose views as a foreign specialist about the future of the hospitality industry in Georgia, a very important fi eld for the local economy, were most inspiring.

He was appointed as the new cluster general manager for Georgia in February 2020. Prior to his arrival in Georgia, Mr. Buder worked at the hotel’s corporate management offi ce, BTL Hospitality Group, in China, as Director of Projects & Operation, during his time there launching ‘BTL Collections’ and overseeing the expansion of the brand and supporting existing portfolio on operational issues.

Having started his career as a chef in a 5-star hotel in Switzerland following his graduation in 1998 from the Hotel & Restaurant Management School HGF in Thun, Switzerland, his career path has taken him from the Middle East and South East Asia to China and now Georgia.

With work engagements ranging from Leading Hotel of the World to Small Luxury Hotels, Buder accumulated a wealth of know-how in the luxury hotel segment before taking on the GM roles in international hotel management companies like Accor, Hilton and IHG.

“I was delighted to join ‘Hotels & Preference’ hotels in new and vibrant tourism destinations such as Georgia. The team and I aim to engage with the clientele to achieve even higher levels of hospitality, delivering our guests the kind of experience that only Hotels & Preference by BTL Hospitality Group can offer, and to build an enduring love in them for our hotel and Georgia,” Mr. Buder told us.

GEORGIA TODAY spoke to him further to fi nd out more regarding the hotel’s pandemic crisis management strategy, and business in general during such challenging times, as well as the current activities and future plans of BTL Hospitality regarding Georgia.

“Thanks to my working stints in Asia, prior to my appointment here in Georgia, I already had experience in managing crisis situations such as other smaller pandemics or economic crises.

Since my appointment at the corporate offi ce, of course, I’ve been observing both the local business environment and the hotels I am managing. Hotels & Preference Hualing Tbilisi has already established its niche and a high reputation in the Georgian market. Tbilisi had a fastgrowing and diverse and creative tourism industry prior to the pandemic, which I found exciting and a positive surprise. As we are already an established player in the Georgian hospitality market, our priority is to be brand ambassadors for BTL Hospitality Group, with its luxury boutique brand such as WEI retreats & resorts, YU Boutique Hotels, and DU House.

THESE ARE STRANGE TIMES FOR BUSINESSES WORLDWIDE. HOW CHALLENGING HAS IT BEEN TO RUN A HOTEL DURING THE PANDEMIC, CONSIDERING THE LACK OF HUMAN AND FINANCIAL RESOURCES?

Of course, there have been signifi cant challenges, but everything depends on how you manage not only during such times. I think our hotels have a good foothold here in Georgia, because we developed a good success planning program in the past and therefore a lot of in-house talent over the last fi ve years. Furthermore, our managers have longtime experience.

Another advantage is that having an Asian investor/owning company, loyalty is highly regarded. And, as such, when employees bear with us through both good and bad times, it’s always rightfully appreciated. Every business had to reduce employee numbers, it was an unavoidable step, but we tried to keep as many of our staff as possible. We communicated with our employees for them to understand and buy in to all the decisions we made, so that they will support us as well.

Regarding fi nances, everybody had or still has fi nancial constraints, but having proven and strong fi scal management in place during good times and bad is our responsibility as a management company. Our hotels have built up sufficient resources, as we monitored our cash fl ows over the years and, to date, we have been able to run our business successfully without any extension of loans or capital injections. Being careful during normal or good times always pays off in bad times.

COULD YOU ELABORATE ON THE MISSION AND PROJECTS BEING IMPLEMENTED BY BTL HOSPITALITY?

Using the Hotels & Preference name here in Tbilisi is an exception, as BTL (Bo Tai Lai) Hospitality Group has its own range of brands. Currently, the hotel brands founded and managed by founder Mr. Philip Wei Li include luxury range WEI Retreat (Oriental Elegance), YU (With YU), luxury 5* star full-service hotel BOLUN, French fashion hotel brand FAUCHON, theme hotel DU HOUSE, and DOMUS.

BTL Hospitality Group is a hotel management company with offi ces in Beijing and Shanghai. Hotels in operation are situated in Japan, Georgia, and China. There are also projects in the Philippines, Laos, and the Middle East. Obviously, due to the pandemic, the international pipeline has slowed, but in China, BTL Hospitality Group still has fi ve hotels under construction at this moment, due to open soon.

For example, our property in Japan, Hokkaido, is called WE TOYA and was design by star architect Kengo Kuma who also designed the stadium in Tokyo for the 2020 Olympics, as BTL hotels are usually very design-oriented, with a vision of “From the Orient providing Global Hospitality Service”.

For the Georgian market, we also have a hotel under construction, YU Boutique Hotel, a luxury boutique hotel with 120 rooms in downtown Tbilisi. The opening is slated for 2023, as the process was hindered due to the pandemic, but this year the construction is in full swing and on track. It will have a rooftop garden, rooftop bar, and unique spectacular recreational facilities.

HOW DO YOU SEE THE FUTURE OF BTL HOSPITALITY GROUP?

BTL Hospitality Group is active both internationally and in Georgia in terms of attracting investors, providing feasibility studies, technical service, and management in order provide quality service for customers. We might represent a relatively small group, but the advantage is that we can adapt and react faster to new and upcoming trends or individual preferences of investors and developers, and we are more fl exible than larger operators. Plus, our experience in the luxury sector and in Asia allows us to understand Asian tourism segments and markets better than the competition. I believe that Georgia can and should attract and consider these markets, and we have active plans in this direction. The Asian and Chinese markets have very specifi c requirements, such as food, but it depends how you present and sell the products your country can offer. As such, in Georgian cuisine, just as in Asian culture, meat and pork occupy an important role. These two countries have certain similarities, and the same applies to drinks. So, Asians can adapt and feel quite comfortable while traveling in Georgia, as they are curious about history and culture.

HOW DO YOU SEE THE FUTURE OF HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY IN GEORGIA POSTCOVID? WHAT SHOULD BE DONE FOR ITS EFFECTIVE ECONOMIC RECOVERY?

with creative minds. There is talent around, there are more development prospects, this is my honest opinion. We always see the challenge, but we hardly see the opportunity. So, we need to see and use these opportunities! Georgia is a beautiful country with amazing landscapes, history and culture, and it has a lot to offer. Unfortunately, I’ve seen too little of it yet due to the pandemic, but there’s a lot of things to explore, and I’ll defi nitely do that once the situation improves. I managed to visit the Kakheti region recently and was pleasantly surprised by its amazing nature and landscapes. The local people are very nice and friendly.

I’d say that there are basic similarities with other nations. We might look and speak differently, but there are always basic similarities, we just must look at the basic values, which make relationships easier.

The pandemic had such a negative effect worldwide, and the recovery will take time. This applies to Georgia too, as the country has a small population in comparison with China or Japan. It can’t rely only on domestic tourism. Georgia needs to make up its mind and focus on what kind of tourism they want, as not all kinds of tourism fi t the country. They need to concentrate on a few segments and develop them well to create sustainable growth. The country can have both summer and winter tourism, but summer tourism is best known regionally, while the winter season is more a niche market in the internationally perspective. Medical tourism is a rather new target segment; hence its volume is relatively small. But it has very good potential with the right infrastructure. There are also issues to be addressed regarding airlines, though the air traffi c has increased, which is very good. We need to sit together and discuss it more to have a sustainable long-term strategy for the entire tourism industry!

Blocking It In: Etseri, Svaneti

BLOG BY TONY HANMER

The background: autumn is coming in Upper Svaneti, as the bushes and deciduous trees lose their chlorophyll and their leaves turn their actually natural reds and yellows. Covid is now, only now, raging through the village, along with the whole gamut of responses from conspiracy theories and fatal silliness to mask-wearing and isolation. School, here as everywhere, is online only, with groans all around and a new decision marked for October 4 if anything has changed by then. Elections loom, which also means that local infrastructure (gravel on the roads) is being improved in a hurry to make the Dreamers somehow look good.

The foreground: This is what 800 cement blocks look like, each weighing 13 kg, for a total of 10.4 tons. They came by dump-truck (itself weighing over 12 tons empty) from the factory just outside Becho, 10 km up the road from us, a leftover from the Saakashvili years of frenetic renovation in Svaneti. It can hardly keep up with the demand for blocks, such is the ongoing pace of house- and hotel-building in the Mestia region. Better a trip of 10 km to us than, say, 100 km from near Zugdidi! We did that once, when building the garage; the “blessed” truck arrived at 4 am, and Lali’s father, brother-in-law and I had to unload 2000 of them at that ungodly hour.

This time we were dodging rainy weather and trying to coordinate blockmaking, transport and local help for unloading this new load. Finally, a dry enough window opened, and some phone calls began to set the thing in motion. Blocks ready, check. Transport confi rmed, check. Blocks loaded and on the way to us, check. But we were running into problems with our pool of young men (most still in grade 10-12 of school) at our end, a crucial last step. And afternoon was turning into evening.

The 22-ton vehicle and cargo arrived and pulled into our yard from the barnend gate, which I had newly remade since the last load (gravel) had been, delivered, and destroyed that old gate without anyone telling me; I was away at the time. They sort of propped it up and hoped silently that the cunning local bovines would not test its now-rickety mode, smelling our irresistible grass and barging silently though to wreak havoc. I got to it beforehand, though, replaced it, and we were once again safe from marauders.

Two of our help showed up early, with a third joining them soon after the truck arrived. As the sun set, the nearly full moon rose, and by its suffi cient light we began unloading at about 7:30 pm.

I realized after a few minutes that someone must get inside the box of the truck to move bricks to its edge for the three boys to take from there. This became my job. The driver, soon seeing that our efforts to summon even one more helper had failed, also pitched in next to me, a great help.

Two of the boys and the driver took a 13-kg block in each hand for the entire run; one younger boy and I took one each in both hands. My two-cow milking days are a few years behind me now, and all that strength I built up from fi ngertips to shoulders has returned to its norm from that zenith, sadly. But I did what I could. We stopped for a break of Coke, ice cream and a smoke for the driver at the halfway and ¾ points, but got it done in about two hours.

Apparently, the blocks will actually be made harder if some rain douses them, otherwise we would have covered them with a tarp from the shop. The last, similar size load comes in a few more days and, as I write this the next day, I can honestly say that my upper body isn’t as sore as I had feared it would be. I can DO this, not alone, but at least as one of the crew. Better by sunlight than moonlight, true, but at least the weather’s cool enough to not make us break into a melting sweat.

Then the workers will return from near Zugdidi to block in the kitchen and bathrooms of our new café (which is what all this effort is for) and get the roof on before winter comes. Enough for this autumn’s building season!

Tony Hanmer has lived in Georgia since 1999, in Svaneti since 2007, and been a weekly writer and photographer for GT since early 2011. He runs the “Svaneti Renaissance” Facebook group, now with nearly 2000 members, at www.facebook.com/ groups/SvanetiRenaissance/ He and his wife also run their own guest house in Etseri: www.facebook.com/hanmer.house.svaneti

Nona Gaprindashvili - The Real Queen of Chess

Continued from page 2

“After all, it’s a TV series, and it will be aired and watched for many years in future, meaning more damage will come,” she and her lawyers argue.

When I interviewed Nona herself in January this year via Zoom, together with my son, a graduate of the Bristol Media University, the movie was already accelerating interest towards her persona, and chess in general. She was not very pleased with the outcome of the Netfl ix TV series, to say the least. Despite not being a big fan of TV or movies in general, this particular one was keeping her very busy with phone calls and messages.

“My family asked me to watch it [The Queen’s Gambit], but I was not very enthusiastic,” Nona told me in the interview, noting that she was told about the mistakes in the fi nale of the series by her family members. “I will be polite and say ‘mistakes’. The main character is fi ctional, which is fi ne, in which case you can make up stories, but when you use real characters, then I don’t think it’s forgivable to use unrealistic facts, especially when talking about the main Grandmaster title.”

Nona recalls that even her childhood started by her competing with boys. “I was a happy child, and used to play with the boys in many kinds of sports- volleyball, tennis, table tennis, even football,” she recalls. The pure chance of replacing her brother at a chess tournament was a life-changing turn. She fast became a winning machine and, at the age of 21, was crowned World Women’s Chess Champion after beating Russia’s Elisaveta Bykova in 1962.

“Ms Nona Gaprindashvili was very insulted, of course,” Nona’s lawyer, Maya Mtsariashvili, told me in an interview last week. “The TV series had a huge impact on people who watched the series, the last episode in particular. Many calls were made to her, asking why she was mentioned the way she was and treated that way.”

“The whole essence of the lawsuit is exactly that Nona Gapridnashvili is a chess player and sportswoman, and she was the first Grandmaster woman amongst men,” the BLB lawyer told me. “She was the breaking point in woman’s chess-playing, and took part in the men’s tournaments successfully. This was the height of her career and achievements. This is not a case about a regular woman chess player: she was the fi rst female Grandmaster, and her whole career has been highlighted by that fact. She believes that this episode of the TV series has had a serious negative impact on her career achievements.”

Nona told me how she took part in the men’s tournaments, competing with famous males, highly ranked Grandmasters. She told me how she was mentioned and refered to as Russian during the Soviet era, but always corrected them. As such, it was a surprise to see such a highly acclaimed and researched movie made with trivial errors, especially with Gary Kasparov as the consultant, whom she said she doubts would allow such mistakes.

Nona and I talked about how the main character of the TV show, Beth Harmon, sees the chess moves on the ceiling or in her mind. Nona smiled at that, and said it is not quite realistic, though you do “have the game in your head.” She recalled the Ukrainian player Ivanchuk fondly, remembering that when walking around, he would stare into space, like The Queen’s Gambit character, seeing the games on the wall, possibly working out tactics in his mind.

I knew that Nona would not let go of these false details about her life in the Netfl ix show. At the time of our interview, no lawsuit was mentioned, but I was not surprised when the news broke: There is no doubt that Harmon’s character plainly draws on Nona’s achievements. The lawsuit states that the main character of the series is in many respects an Americanized and fi ctionalized version of the real-life female Georgian prodigy, who was the fi rst to break gender barriers in international chess in the 1960s.

Nona’s lawyers prepared a lawsuit which, according to them, is simple in its factual and legal predicates. They claim Netfl ix lied about Gaprindashvili in a profound and obvious manner, that Netfl ix thinks this is just a “harmless story” and doesn’t contain defamatory statements or damage Nona’s name, reputation, and honor.

“We believe this completely disregards her career and achievements, and we do not understand why [it was done], with her name deliberately lowered to elevate the fi ctional character,” Mtsariashvili says. The lawsuit also states that as Gaprindashvili’s name is mentioned, an actor is shown sitting in the audience, watching the game, obviously meant to be Gaprindashvili, who I have to agree is striking similar to how I remember Nona Gaprindashvili.

Georgian social networks have been awash with news of the lawsuit. Many argue that Nona has a very slim chance of winning against Netfl ix, while others stand by her fi ght. I am on the fence about it, because I’ve seen Quentin Tarantino change history many times onscreen, going on to face criticism and lawsuits to no avail. But Nona and her team are doing nothing unusual in their fi ling a claim. They are protecting her image.

“We will be serving the papers on Netfl ix and they will have 21 days to fi le a responding plea,” Nona’s lawyer told me. “Its fi rst fi ling will be an answer in which Netfl ix will have to state whether it admits or contests the allegations in the complaint.”

Nona Gaprindashvili is a true female hero of the times. Born and raised in a rural area of Georgia alongside four older brothers, she was already a champion of female empowerment then. Nona says one of the best features of a good chess player is to have steady nerves; talent is not enough, as you also need patience, training and physical power.

She has all the above traits, and they will be needed while she waits for the outcome with Netfl ix, a true Queen in her strong yet humble personality, as well as in her colossal achievements.

After my mother, a chess lover who occasionally played with her grandkids, saw me recording that Zoom interview with Nona, she recalled how in Soviet times, “Nona Gaprindashvili” and “Nana Aleksandria” (another great chess player of ours) name-sake perfumes were released. She apparently had them both; Nona was featured as the Queen, and Nana was a pawn. I double-checked this with Nona. She told me she had no idea why they did that.

“A pawn is just as good and as important as the Queen,” she said with a smile.