TWENTY-one years of industry experience and global exposure have allowed Brett Patrick Hickey, Seda Hotels group general manager (GGM), to discern the hair-splitting difference between service and hospitality.
“To do service, you got to have the ‘want’ and the ‘will’ to serve,” he said. “When somebody needs help, or when somebody needs something, there are those who care, and those who do not. Those who do genuinely care are the ones who fittingly belong to the hospitality industry.”
Hickey surely knows what he is talking about, having been an integral part of world-class luxury hotels in China, Canada, Vietnam and, eventually, here in the Philippines. At the fore and at the helm, he was previously connected with other local establishments in an executive role, being involved from their construction phase, pre-opening stages, and up to their actual inauguration and mainstream operation. The Canadian hotelier shared with the BusinessMirror that he spent his formative years and until the time he had held offices in managerial capacities in some of the world’s luxurious group of hotels, such as those in Toronto, the US, as well as in China.
Leader’s deeper why
FOR someone who considers his deeper “why” as “genuine service”, and whose leadership style is to develop and motivate, Hickey shared that he would rather identify himself among the people who share his beliefs. He thinks of his present role as “not so much of a manager”, but more of “a leader”.
From that length of time devoted to a full-time career in hospitality, the Seda GGM has this to say: “Anybody can enter the hospitality industry, but not everyone is meant to serve genuinely.”
To illustrate his point: “Suppose you are walking inside a mall; the lady in front of you reaches into her pocket and, without noticing, accidentally drops her purse. If your heart beats a little bit faster because you recognize there is a scenario going on; if you immediately go out of your way, pick up the wallet and return it to her; and if your stress level increases and you perspire, then you are the kind of person that I want to have in the hotel.” That particular scenario is what the seasoned hotelier is particularly talking about: the proverbial Filipino brand of service and hospitality. It is the kind of personality he envisions Seda in Vertis North and the rest of the hotel chain to embody: a Filipino hotel that can compete head-on with any international brand operating in the Philippines.
Touted to be the largest in Quezon City, the first five-star hotel of the Seda brand could be considered as a step-up among other players in its side of the Metro. From the onset, it has veered away from being a straightforward “businessman’s hotel” to a full-service facility. Hickey revealed that its grand launch is slated sometime in September this year,
The Ayala Land Hotels and Resorts-owned and operated 438-room property within the sprawling mixed-use real estate houses premier amenities and accommodations. Its 729-square-meter large-scale ballroom, which can seat 500 guests, will make the hotel a favored wedding-reception venue of couples from the northern part of Metro Manila, or a destination of choice for cocktails, socials and corporate events that need to house up to 700 attendees.
Bigger, grandiose
SIZE-wise, Seda Vertis North can welcome a bigger number of clientele who before were used to book in similar establishments outside Quezon City with the scale to accommodate their needs. The imposing lobby could immediately be a conversation piece, owing to a stylish design and expansive space.
According to Hickey, the hotel’s 250-seater signature restaurant Misto features a show kitchen and buffet with offerings that vary according to season. He takes pride in the fact that its resident chefs socialize with the guests, ready to surprise them by whipping up a dish according to their cravings or preference.
He is also keen to position Seda’s sixth and latest addition to its chain of hotels for the great value it will offer guests in terms of location. As a centerpiece in Vertis North, it is at the heart of an up-and-coming urban community that, when looking at a bigger perspective, can compete for attention with its counterparts situated in more-established Makati City and Bonifacio Global City.
Leading the charge
ARMED with the same global acumen and industry expertise, the Seda GGM disclosed that he would also be at the helm of the up-and-coming 150-room Seda Lio Resort in El Nido, Palawan. There, he plans to continue to lead the charge on customer experience, one that banks on the Filipinos’ service and hospitality in a novel way.
That said, he opined: “Hospitality is something innate rather than taught,” and that “service should be real and felt, embodied by hosts who are more than eager to give you anything it is in their power, without having to be intrusive.”
Given those statements, what then, for him, constitutes a good stay?
“It is when the guests’ actual experiences surpass what they are initially looking for. A good stay is what happens when you give them what they ask for—at a level that they are not expecting,” Hickey pointed out. “Case in point: Every hotel and restaurant in this area has a large buffet, but [what their food and beverage personnel] does is just to stay in the kitchen concocting dishes and serving them to people behind the bar. In contrast, chefs at Misto of Seda Vertis North are actually at ‘front and center’ of the dining area and go out in the open. They visit one table to the next, bringing something wonderful in one hand, while saying to our diners, ‘It is not on the buffet right now, but I want you to try it.’”
Designed for trust
PRIMED with the sheer promise and potential of redefining the hotel and hospitality landscape, Hickey declared that, “Seda is designed for trust.”
That certain level of trust, he said, comes from the fact that Seda is a homegrown brand, with its signature service and hospitality guests have grown accustomed to.
“Anybody who has visited the Philippines and has stepped inside a Filipino home knows what being pampered is like. That is precisely the homegrown brand of service and hospitality Seda is about, and not just something that it tries to replicate. Our guests can trust us on that.”
With the executive from North America at Seda’s helm, the service and hospitality levels of hotels have moved several notches.
Northward, to where Seda Vertis North is.
Image credits: Jimbo Albano