Hotel goes with the flow after flood woes

Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

It was just past midnight on Saturday, Feb. 2, and most guests at The Regent in Kuningan, South Jakarta, had settled down for the night, wary of going out on the town after a week of heavy rain and with yet another downpour outside their windows.

It was a prudent decision, for this was the big one.

Incessant rain sparked massive flooding throughout the city, devastating many areas indiscriminately. And the five-star hotel, located next to the Manggarai flood gate, was no exception.

In the early morning hours, some 60,000 cubic meters of water flooded the basement, and peaked at the first landing of the Regent Ballroom staircase just below the lobby.

Six elevators were affected, 13 vehicles plus 10 motorbikes were submerged, and so were the kitchen and storeroom, the health club and guest lockers, offices, laundry department, hair salon and clinic.

As many as 263 guests were then evacuated, and some 252 of them were assisted to find alternative accommodation or transportation to the airport, with photos of guests being transported in laundry crates splashed across newspapers. Thankfully, nobody was hurt.

Now, fast forward to today, four months afterwards.

There is no sign from outside the hotel of the devastation caused by the flood.

Entering the lobby, however, a brown plastic sheet covers part of the floor where a carpet used to be, a few steps from the revolving glass doors.

Apart from that, everything looked the same as it used to, except there were no guests. The black grand piano right after the staircase in the middle of the lobby stood still and quiet.

"But as you can hear, we put some music on so that it feels more lively," said the hotel's general manager Fazal Samad recently.

The hotel is still closed, due to the extension of the clean- up process.

The hotel was to be reopened on May 16, but the plan was postponed until early August.

"There are other things that we thought may take a month or two that apparently take longer than that," Samad said.

The major problem was electricity, as there are about 100 electricity panels in the hotel and all of them were submerged. Three power generators were also damaged.

"When we tried to reopen in May, there was a blackout. So, we decided to postpone it. We could still open, but we can't take any risks," said Samad.

Besides electricity, other things are also getting in order, as there are a lot of things such as carpets, which are custom made.

"The crystal lamps must be removed. Every single pipe must be cleaned. Everything must be removed, cleaned and decontaminated using chemicals. That takes time too," Samad said, as we took a trip downstairs from the lobby to see the ballroom.

The area, which used to be so grand, was unpainted and a bit dark. It was badly damaged when mud covered the whole area.

According to Samad, the reopening will not include the area below the lobby as it will still take a few months to complete the cleanup.

"The laundry, for example, will not be opened yet. We will send out laundry to other companies to do it.

"Right now, we're probably about 60 percent through. In July, however, we will open main outlets on a trial basis, like restaurants."

The repairs, he added, were costly, and more than initially estimated.

"I had an idea of what it would be, but it's very difficult to mention any figures because the hotel owners and the insurance company are negotiating the final settlement. It's a very complicated matter because it was not a simple accident, but quite significant," Samad said.

"I wouldn't say that there's a problem with the claim. But since the damage was so extensive, it involves a lot of documents, negotiations and the like."

Samad said that he did not the find public relations task of dealing with the closure and the evocative pictures of guests being shipped out of the hotel too difficult.

"Because no matter what has happened, I always tell people the truth. Whatever progress is made, we always publish it."

It is also funny and touching, Samad said, that former guests popped in once in a while to say hello. Some of them even still call to ask for help, such as in booking flights.

But the most amazing thing about the accident has been the staff.

"They're hanging in there, every one of them has stayed ... no one walked out to look for other jobs," he added.

During the ongoing repairs, all of the employees -- some 725 of them, from gardeners to reception staff to management -- have been working normal working hours.

They work eight hours a day, five days a week and receive full salary.

In June, however, they switched to four days on and three days off until operations return to normal.

While working, instead of wearing their usual uniforms, they wear T-shirts (different colors for different departments), jeans and sneakers.

"Approximately 60 of them have been transferred to sister hotels of our group (Four Seasons) all over the world, like Dublin, London, Singapore, Bangkok and Sydney," he said.

Those who remain are given a lot of activities, such as in- house training, general English tests and sports activities.

Despite the terrible material damage, training manager Imelda Pardede said that the incident was a blessing in disguise as training could be done without interruption.

"But most of all, it shows that we are really one, the management does care about us. There are many cases where hotels have faced trouble and they have had to lay off the employees. But not ours," she said.

Dian, a waitress, said she was content that there were no layoffs and that she still received a full salary. But she could not wait for the hotel to reopen.

"Well, I must admit that initially it did feel good as there were not many things to do. But, later on, it got boring. It's so quiet here now ... I miss meeting our guests. I really miss working."