Hotel Ciputra launches unique executive club
JAKARTA (JP): Staying in a hotel during a business trip can be very annoying if you have to wait in line in the time you are meant to rushing to an important meeting.
Hotel Ciputra, a four-star hotel on Jl. S. Parman in West Jakarta, is meeting the demand for fast and good quality service by offering numerous extras to guests staying in its newly launched Executive Club rooms.
The hotel's vice president, Dieter C. Becht, said Friday that the decision to launch the Executive Club was based on the fact that 90 percent of the guests were businesspeople.
Businesspeople, he said, were hard workers and for them, time was very precious. Sometimes, he said, these people had to travel from one place to another in a very short time.
"So, we're trying to pamper them by giving many complimentary extras to make them feel special," Becht said before launching the new club.
Among the extras offered by the new service are express check- out, an executive club lounge, airplane ticket reservations, a business center and a wide range of concierge services, including a city tour.
The club offers 58 rooms on the top floor of the 17-story hotel.
By paying US$170 for single occupancy and $180 for double occupancy, the club's guests are also free to enjoy tea or coffee with their relations anytime, or they can have free snacks and cocktails from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the executive lounge.
With green the dominant color and a distinct style to meet businesspeople's taste for simple but elegant designs, the club promises simultaneously a relaxed and working atmosphere.
Hendra Gunawan's painting, Pohon Beringin (banyan tree), also gives a special feel to the new club.
"We have chosen this particular piece because the size of the tree, which can only be planted in special places, offers protection, enjoyment and warmth to the activities surrounding it," said public relations manager, Harti Hadisoemo.
Asian guests
The presence of Mal Ciputra next to the hotel is an advantage for the hotel and a bonus for the guests.
Becht, who has 30 years experience in the hotel industry, admitted that the shopping mall, which has 250 shops and 60 restaurants, was one of the hotel's biggest attractions, especially to Asian guests.
Asian guests, he said, like to buy souvenirs for relatives and friends.
At present, he said, one third of the hotel's guests were Indonesians, one third from other Asian countries and the remaining one third from other countries, such as Australia and the United States.
He said that Jakarta was unlike Bali, where hotels could anticipate high and low seasons.
At Hotel Ciputra, he said, the number of guests usually peaked from March to May, reaching 78 percent occupancy, and from September to November, when the rate exceeded 80 percent.
He expressed certainty that the hotel's current occupancy rate of 66 percent would not be affected by the country's monetary crisis.
"In fact, the crisis will make Indonesia attractive to foreign visitors, especially tourists," Becht said.
The 330-room Hotel Ciputra, which is owned by the Ciputra Group and managed by Swiss-Belhotel International Management Ltd., was officially opened in 1994. (ste)