Hotel groups start cooperate
Hotel groups start cooperate
JAKARTA (JP): PT Hotel Indonesia International (HII), a state- owned company operating seven hotels, signed here yesterday an agreement with the American Hotel and Motel Association (AHMA) to cooperate in hotel industry training programs in Indonesia.
Under the agreement signed by HII's president, Widjaja Sugarda, and AHMA's vice president for institutional programs, Roy Kennington, HII will hold a five-year license to conduct a number of courses and publish textbooks under the name of AHMA.
The license allows HII to use AHMA's brand names in conducting training activities related to technical skills, methods, products, programs and the association's other services.
"This cooperation is aimed at the improvement of human resources in Indonesia's hotel industry," Widjaja said, adding that there are some 900 people in the country already undertaking AHMA's educational programs.
I Gede Ardika, the chief of the education and training division of the Ministry of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications who attended the signing ceremony yesterday, said that Indonesia needs to improve management skills in the hotel industry in order to face global competition over the next 25 years.
He also said that such an agreement will hopefully bring the quality of human resources in the country up to international standards.
Kennington said that the relationship between HII and the Michigan-based association began in 1972.
"Indonesia is the seventh party licensed by AHMA after those from Singapore, Malaysia, Cyprus, Greece, Sydney and Melbourne in Australia," he said, adding that AHMA was established in 1952.
Attitude
HII's vice president, A.A. Gede Rai, said that yesterday's agreement is also expected to improve the attitudes of the personnel working in HII hotels, many of which are aging properties and conducive to unfavorable moods.
HII merged with Natour, another state-run hotel management firm, in 1993. The combined-company, temporarily called Hotel Indonesia International Corporation & Natour, has had financial problems refurbishing the aging members among its 17 hotels.
Rai said that a team comprised of officials from the Ministry of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Finance, the Government Audit Agency, the National Development Planning Board and the State Secretariat is still discussing the future of the company and whether it will become a merger with a new name or a holding company with a number of subsidiaries.
Unless the team finalizes the discussion soon, the company is unlikely to have supporting money to refurbish its properties in the near future.
Both HII and Natour suffered total losses of Rp 16 billion in 1993, much more than the Rp 620 million they lost in the previous year. Widjaja said recently that HII will likely continue to suffer losses in the next two years, with projected losses of Rp 12.18 billion this year and Rp 2.87 billion in 1996. HII is expected to gain a profit of Rp 6.9 billion in 1997 and Rp 17.13 billion in 1998.(icn)