GLOBAL LEADERS: Girish Jhunjhnuwala

FOR WHAT SEEMS like ages, every New Year we wrap up the last by saying “this has been another challenging year”. As true as that is, it’s time we overlook the challenges and look towards the positive. “Challenges” are no longer unique to a person, a companyor an industry – everyone is bearing the brunt. So, what can we do with what we've been dealt?

2021 has been decently kind to Ovolo, as far as kindness in a pandemic goes. We have managed to solidify our brand by putting our customers first and letting them experience hospitality the way we know best. Therefore, we do anticipate an uptrend in performance, following on from our optimism for our new hotels: Ovolo South Yarra and Mamaka by Ovolo.

We were repeatedly told that opening one hotel during a pandemic was brave enough, let alone two. But just because the world was taking a recess, it didn’t mean we had to. So we kept the cogs going on new campaigns, strategies, and ways to continuously improve so that when the world returns to normal (or whatever variation of normal will persist), we are leading the way.

One of the areas we put a spotlight on was our people. There is a shortage of staff and skills in every industry and every city – you couldn’t read the news without hearing about it. So, I learned to make HR my best friend.

We believe happy employees equal happy guests, so we worked equally as hard refining our people strategy as we did any guest-facing campaign; in line with our ethos to place both guest and employee experience in equal measure. We emphasised workshops, resilience programs, open communication, as well as scrutinised every element of the employee journey. We are also looking into employer branding in the longer term to ensure that we not only continue to keep our rockstars but are able to attract more.

We are aware that new shifts birthed by the pandemic are becoming prerequisites to a successful brand. One of the biggest examples is ESG – which, to its core, is respecting the people and environment around us.Kicked off with our Plant’d launch, a continuation in our venture into ethical eating and conscious cuisine, ESGwill become a large focus point, and is an area that we look forward to further weaving into our operating fabric.

Lastly, growth and development are naturally on the table for us. There will be many more opportunities in2022/2023 – entry into West Coast Australia (Perth and Adelaide) as well as our neighbour, New Zealand, are all possibilities we’d love to explore.

So, while “this has been another challenging year”, we, as well as the hospitality industry, came through the other end and will undoubtedly make it through the next.

Current number of hotels & rooms (Globally): 13 hotels and 1146 rooms

Current number of hotels & rooms (Asia-Pacific): 5 hotels and 527 rooms

Current number of hotels & rooms (ANZSP): 8 hotels and 619 rooms

Year the company was founded: 2010

Year first hotel opened (Globally): 2010

Year first hotel opened (APAC): 2010 (HK)

Year first hotel opened (ANZSP): 2012 (Melbourne)

Number of brands in the organisation: 2 – Ovolo Hotels and By Ovolo Collective

Head office locations: Hong Kong, Sydney