Pan Pacific Hotels Group obtains two trophies at SBR Management Excellence Awards

CEO Choe Peng Sum and his team recalibrated their corporate strategy during a crisis.

The hospitality and leisure industry has been greatly affected as restrictions have been imposed on cross-border travel in addition to lockdowns. During this public health and economic crisis, industry leaders not only have to ensure business continuity but also must seek new opportunities across the value chain. This is what the Pan Pacific Hotels Group is doing as they look beyond the pandemic, working together to overcome setbacks and preparing for recovery. .

Under the guidance of chief executive officer Choe Peng Sum, Pan Pacific Hotels Group has been re-strategising its business model with the goal of remaining financially viable.

Acknowledging his pragmatic efforts, the judges of the SBR Management Excellence Awards 2020 confer the Executive of the Year prize in the Hospitality and Leisure sector to Choe. The Sales and Marketing team of Pan Pacific Hotels Group is also recognised as Team of the Year in the aforementioned category.

Under Choe’s leadership, the Group responded to the circumstances by ensuring revenue preservation and making sure that the internal and external stakeholders know that the management cares for them. The Group also adopted digital and online transformation in the rooms; food and beverage; and meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions businesses and is harnessing technology as an enabler for growth with the agile digital transformation in rooms, F&B and MICE.

Even in difficult times, the Sales and Marketing team has steered the company towards increased market penetration and germinated creative strategies to generate revenue. The team has been instrumental in strengthening its loyalty programme, Pan Pacific Discovery, with the launch of a new mobile application this year for its guests and also introduced new F&B privileges to engage customers.

The Group is also leveraging the domestic market with new revenue drivers such as food delivery for restaurants, staycation experiences, and partnering tour operators to offer Singaporeans more than a good night’s sleep, but to explore their own city with the array of activities. They also introduced Ezymeet, a virtual meeting service for corporate business, participated in virtual wedding shows and has also been diversifying its local and global distribution channels with partners such as WeChat and CTrip.

Pan Pacific Hotels Group has re-strategised its business model to maintain long-term financial stability with emphasis on revenue preservation and generation. Being cash-flow positive has enabled the Group to retain its more than 5,000 associates globally while undertaking upskilling and retraining for adaptation to a changing business landscape.

Further, it has also launched the PARKROYAL COLLECTION brand, taking sustainability to new heights, showcasing green features such as rainwater harvesting and solar power. The Group was also able to secure new management contracts in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Australia, and embark on asset enhancement initiatives in Singapore and Malaysia.

It also transformed into a purpose-driven organisation with the launch of the Pan Pacific Cares programme, formed by four pillars—caring for guests through clean stays, caring for the community, caring for our associates, and caring for the environment.

Under the programme, the Group collaborated with Diversey in using healthcare grade disinfectant to ensure elevated standards of safety, hygiene and cleanliness, and launched Healthcare Employees Recognition and Ovation (HERO) initiative,which contributed 25,000 complimentary room nights worth $6.5m to honour Singapore’s healthcare heroes during the pandemic.

The Group believes that the crisis is an opportunity to build a stronger, more stable organisation, which can be future-proofed by investing in “heart ware,” that is, caring for the safety and skills development of hotel associates.

New resource structures have been formed or are being designed to enhance productivity and job satisfaction by means of upskilling, reskilling, and delayering strategies. Choe is recognised as a thought leader who shares positive messages and encourages critical thinking through panel discussions and forums with employees. Undoubtedly, his leadership style is the element that has kept Pan Pacific Hotels Group thriving despite an unprecedented industry downturn.