A day out in Nigeria’s first ‘6-star hotel’ Category: Feature Published on Sunday, 09 June 2013 05:02 Written by Tosin Omoniyi & Mustapha Suleiman Hits: 62 It was a gathering of prominent lights in the public and private sectors of the country. And the venue of the high profile gathering was high brow Jabi area of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT. They all had one mission in mind: to see firsthand a new addition to hotel business in one of the nation’s few blossoming industries. But in this case it was adjudged to be an unusual phenomenon hardly known by many: a 6 star hotel in the centre of the capital city. In recent weeks though, since the commissioning of the edifice, a lively debate has kick-started over the hotel’s assertion. The Burj Al Arab (adjudged as the tallest hotel in the world) which opened for business in Dubai in 1999 is fondly called a ‘7 star hotel’ by certain sections of hospitality industry watchers due to its exquisite and intricate designs which stand it out from the pack globally. The hotel, ‘a glistening glass¬ yacht which rises out of the Persian Gulf’ is termed the Jewel of Dubai and among its other allures, it has luxury cars ferrying people across an ocean causeway to the hotel’s own man-made island and helicopters with VIP guests land on a suspended helipad, with a disc hovering far above the sea. Fireballs burst at the entrance and a fountain shoots jets of water into the cavernous, gold-filled atrium. Ushers welcome guests¬ with rose water, dates and coffee. But Sarah Dowdey, a writer for howstuffworks says even this appellation is just a form of generous compliment for the glittering attributes of this world class hotel. She says inter alia in a piece that despite this appellation, there is no basis yet for such classification. ‘The Burj Al Arab, which opened in 1999, is not really a seven-star hotel -- there’s no such thing. There’s not even a six-star rating. The property, run by the resort company Jumeirah, bills itself as a deluxe five-star, the highest existing hotel ranking. But the Burj’s sheer opulence, coupled with its outrageously attentive service, has garnered the hotel a seven-star reputation,’ she notes. Agrees David Allan of Forbes Traveller too: ‘the Burj bills itself as the world’s only seven-star hotel, a self-awarded distinction that seems unlikely to be challenged, at least until someplace is imaginative enough to start calling itself an eight-star establishment. It is definitely, however, the world’s tallest hotel. That’s been verified.’ According to Wikipedia.org, any star rating above 5- is basically for advertising purposes. It says inter alia that, “there is so far no international classification which has been adopted. There have been attempts at unifying the classification system so that it becomes an internationally recognized and reliable standard, but they have all failed...some members of the hospitality industry have claimed a six or seven-star rating for their operation. As no traditional organization or formal body awards or recognizes any rating over five-star deluxe such claims are meaningless and predominantly used for advertising purposes. The Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai is widely described as a “seven-star” property, but the hotel says the label originates from an unnamed British journalist on a press trip and that they neither encourage its use nor do they use it in their advertising. The Seven Stars Galleria is a hotel located in Milan, Italy. It describes itself for marketing purposes as the world’s first seven-star hotel, citing the private inspection company Société Générale de Surveillance, although official star classification in Italy includes no rating.’ But management of the newest hotel in Abuja, AES Luxury Apartments insist that theirs is also a 6 star hotel and advance reasons for their position. According to the General Manager designate of the establishment, Paul Murray in a brief interaction with the reporter the mission of the hotel is to ‘provide comfort and opulence as the clientele to the Nigerian hotel industry matures...with the commissioning of AES Apartment, Nigeria has joined the league of countries with 6 Star Hotel Standard services of the hospitality industry.’ He told Sunday Trust simply that there are about 4 hotels around the world with 6 star appelations such as the Burj Al Arab and that AES is undoubtedly one of them. He believes a visit by anyone to the AES would reveal the truth in the assertion. The Minister of Culture and Tourism and National orientation, Chief Edem Duke, who declared open AES Apartments open a few days ago commended the outfit for its high standard. According to him, ‘with what I have seen here today, AES is indeed a “first among equals.’ Sunday Trust visited the establishment and was shown many parts of the 65 room hotel including its in house facilities such as the various guest rooms (en suite), gymnasium, swimming pool, hair salon, bars and malls. The front desk manager, Olufemi Adeshina, who supervised the tour, noted that two things stand the establishment out from the pack: serenity and closeness to the airport. He added that the vision of the hotel is to offer quality services to a clientele which is at least 35 per cent foreign. He also said the conflicting reports in the media have done great injustice to the service rendered by them. ‘We are just out to give our clients quality service and a homely ambience that cannot be found in most other hotels due to their crowded nature...’ But despite the various positions, one fact is evident: with the stunning and glittering facilities currently in place at the AES Apartments it would soon carve a formidable niche for itself in the hospitality-cum-tourism life-wire of the country.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Jun 2013 23:16:24 +0000
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