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5/10/21

What is Vivendo Hospitality?

by Philippa Cassar

Hospitality

For an industry that goes back three millennia, we’re ambitious to think we can innovate but that has never stopped us.
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Starting our hospitality division was one of the most rewarding experiences in our business. We sit down with Chris Gauci, Head of B2B, to revisit the past that has made Vivendo Hospitality what it is today.

WHAT WAS VIVENDO’S FIRST EXPERIENCE WORKING IN THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY?

It all started in 2014, when we were entrusted with refurbishing the AX Seashells Resort at Suncrest in Qawra, a 4-star hotel. The customer knew us as Vivendo, and furthermore knew that we hadn’t worked in hospitality before, but they trusted us blindly to deliver results on par with the rest of our work. AX Seashells has over 450 rooms – the large number of rooms helped us to keep to our strong points – delivering and installing large amounts of furniture – while also letting us gain experience in the industry. We started and finished the project execution in 100 days, before the hotel opened in April 2015.

WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM THE FIRST PROJECT IN HOSPITALITY?

As our first hospitality experience, it really drove home that the key factors for success was nurturing a trustful relationship with the customer, an excellent internal team to drive the project as well as a specialised technical team and giving ourselves enough time to coordinate and plan each step before execution. Most importantly, focusing on doing one thing well, rather than a million things just ‘okay’, will always lead to success.

WHAT ARE VIVENDO HOSPITALITY’S STRENGTHS?

  • Vivendo’s key strongpoint has always been the ability to build relationships and connections
    with suppliers abroad, some of which we’ve worked with for decades. As we consistently order large quantities of work from different suppliers, we build our relationships quickly, and our suppliers end up seeing us as partners who are passionate about their products and taking responsibility for installing it locally.
  • Furthermore, our staff is considered an essential part of the process. We have a over 20 delivery and installation two men teams that works exclusively for Vivendo. We give them a place to excel, and they in turn develop a sense of pride and job satisfaction, taking on the responsibility of the work they do and ensure that the quality is never compromised, and timelines are met.
  • We focus on quality over quantity, and that helps us keep in line with both our personal and company values. We want to execute every project to the high finish that Vivendo is known for, so we limit the number of projects we take on, we do not compromise on quality, and we’re meticulous about what foreign joineries we work with. Our final goal is always to be the best and provide the highest level of service for each project using our resources, and our experience in purchasing, value engineering, operations, and logistics.

WHAT ARE YOUR TOP THREE TIPS FOR HANDLING A HOSPITALITY PROJECT?

  • Our key number one rule is to always make sure that we understand what the customer wants, and that all the important decisions are made early. The longer it takes for decisions to be made, the longer the deadline can get extended, and the harder it is to stick to our other commitments.
  • Following on from that, never take on too many projects at the same time. Each one will require dedicated resources and attention, and you can’t split your attention so many times with success.
  • Finally, make sure that you select partners with similar values. It will make coordination easier in the long run.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF AS THE HEAD OF THIS DIVISION?

I love it when my team takes over a project completely – It gives me a lot of pride that the customer trusts them so completely. Although I usually give our clients my number and ask them to call if they need my involvement and push , Rarely do I receive such phone calls meaning that the team assigned to the project is giving the customer the service they deserve.

WHAT ARE VIVENDO HOSPITALITY’S FUTURE GOALS?

  • To continue to strengthen our ability to provide beautiful functional and comfortable hotel accommodations.
  • To improve our capacity to take on larger projects especially focusing on the rooms. We want to show customers and architects, the value that having us on board gives, and to show our clients that we can provide the right balance of know-how between the architect and the producer.
  • We want to continue building further trust and collaboration as we grow and nurture our supplier relationships.