The city of Abuja is recently hosted the Nigerian Oil &
Gas Conference. Its held annually towards the end of February. A friend of a
friend came in to Abuja and was desperately in search of a hotel room after learning
his top 3 choices were fully booked. He ended up at a property that calls itself 4
star ( as you can you probably tell I have a serious issue with how hotels in
Abuja classify themselves rather than having an independent rating agency
classify all hotels in the city). So this said friend proceeds to pay N57,000
($360) a night for his room. No sooner had he gone up to his room was he back
at the reception counter asking for his money back because the accommodation wasn’t
quite up to scratch.
Gas Conference. Its held annually towards the end of February. A friend of a
friend came in to Abuja and was desperately in search of a hotel room after learning
his top 3 choices were fully booked. He ended up at a property that calls itself 4
star ( as you can you probably tell I have a serious issue with how hotels in
Abuja classify themselves rather than having an independent rating agency
classify all hotels in the city). So this said friend proceeds to pay N57,000
($360) a night for his room. No sooner had he gone up to his room was he back
at the reception counter asking for his money back because the accommodation wasn’t
quite up to scratch.
When we met up later that day he recounted the story to me
and I was shocked. Not because the hotel was deemed crappy, but rather because
the hotel had the audacity to charge $360 for an inferior “4 star” product. Normally that room goes for about N32,000 ($200),
however the hotel decided to increase
its prices almost two fold because of the conference happening in town. As a
business that hotel had every right to do what it did, however I am of the
school of thought that you shouldn’t try to take advantage of situations like this.
The reason being, some of the key issues when deciding where to hold such a
large conference are 1) the availability of adequate accommodation, 2) the affordability
of such accommodation. So if every hotel decided to increase its price for the
NOG every year the organizers can simply look at another city and decide to
host there.
and I was shocked. Not because the hotel was deemed crappy, but rather because
the hotel had the audacity to charge $360 for an inferior “4 star” product. Normally that room goes for about N32,000 ($200),
however the hotel decided to increase
its prices almost two fold because of the conference happening in town. As a
business that hotel had every right to do what it did, however I am of the
school of thought that you shouldn’t try to take advantage of situations like this.
The reason being, some of the key issues when deciding where to hold such a
large conference are 1) the availability of adequate accommodation, 2) the affordability
of such accommodation. So if every hotel decided to increase its price for the
NOG every year the organizers can simply look at another city and decide to
host there.
As business people one of the problems that we often have is
looking at the big picture. We become so enamored with short term success that
we overlook the long term viability of some of our decisions!
looking at the big picture. We become so enamored with short term success that
we overlook the long term viability of some of our decisions!
The view from my office!
