Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja
Fraser Suites, Abuja has received the service excellence awards from World Travel Award and Trip Advisor.
The hotel, which features 126 Gold-Standard residences that combine comfort, style and technology with outstanding facilities and exclusive in house services was opened on June 15, 2017.
The World Travel Award named the five- star hotel as the Best Service Apartments in Nigeria for 2019 while Trip Advisor website handed it the award for search ticket of excellence.
Fraser Suites General Manager, Mr. Deniz Isikci, presented the awards to the public at a media parley in Abuja.
Isikci also projected that more awards may likely follow suit in the light of three additional nominations which the hotel received last year from other organisations.
The nominations are the Luxury Hotel Award, the Continental Award and Country Award for the best Service Apartment.
The World Travel Award has come of age as this year marks the 26th year since the prestigious award is being presented.
In order to qualify for Trip Advisor award, properties must fulfill certain parametres.
Isikci listed one of such requirements to include the achievement of a constant four out of five scores from the guest comments.
In addition to that is achieving the number of comments on annual basis and using Actual Intelligence (AI), which determines which property or establishment will receive the award.
The GM noted that Fraser Suite secured the Trip Advisor website award after receiving positive reviews on the website from guests in recognition of its continued excellent service.
“What this means is of all the properties and all the establishments enlisted in Trip Advisor, only less than 10 per cent receive this award, which is a proof of our continued excellent service and in return excellent reviews from the guests that are posted on the website”, Isikci declared.
The GM added that Fraser Suite intends to use the two awards to change the perception and biases nursed by other people towards Nigeria.
He noted that many guests would now begin to adjudge the country as a location worthy to visit given the excellent services associated with the hotel, which is about two kilometres from the centre of Abuja.
Since it began full scale services two years ago, Fraser Suites has opened its doors to prominent global leaders from Germany, USA and Canada, who stayed in the hotel during their tour of Nigeria.
Isikci, who is from Turkey and who studied hospitality, described Nigerians as friendly and naturally hospitable people, who make others feel welcomed and at home.
“I have been here for two years, it is safer than major locations in Europe. I have seen nothing, no problem and the people are more hospitable than Europe. I always tell my friends and colleagues to come here to enjoy the people, the food and hospitality.
“When I was a kid in Turkey, when I behaved well throughout the year, I received a banana on New Year eve—just one! But here, I am having it. My wife moved here with me and she says apart from all the other reasons, avocado, pears and mangoes are her main reasons of being in Nigeria.
“Things that are so expensive to find in other places, you get here. This place is blessed and we just want to advertise it on our own,” Isikci said.
The Abuja property of Fraser Suite, which was commissioned by President Buhari in May 2018, is touted as the only of its kind in Nigeria and the entire Africa.
The GM stressed that there are ongoing discussions with investors to expand the brand presence in other cities in Nigeria and to other locations in Africa.
He reckoned that the strategic plan for Africa is to tap into the tourism market in the continent, which unfortunately is receiving only three per cent of the global tourism revenue.
He insists that Nigeria is a safe location while adding that the business outlook the country in the country will help the operation of Fraser Suites to get better.
“I see nothing but positivity. We have internal data and statistics that we look into with our international travel advisor. We don’t see any decline in international interest in Nigeria, which in a way shows that the international business travellers are still coming to the location to do business.
“So we can judge our performance with our previous performance and we can ask if it has changed in a negative way or positive way. What we see is the change in a positive way and there is a reason for me to be pessimistic about the future,” Isikci declared.
