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From near-collapse to record profits—see how we transformed a failing 4-star hotel.

Turning Challenges into Opportunities – The Rajah Court Turnaround Story

Rajah Court in Kuching was operating as a four-star hotel but delivering two-star results, losing 30,000 to 40,000 Malaysian Ringgit monthly. Room service revenue was only 2000 – 3000 ringgit per month, but required multiple night staff. We immediately shut down room service to reduce overheads.

Guests weren’t willing to spend more than 3-5 ringgit on late-night meals.
We introduced simple options: three flavors of instant noodles and sandwiches available at the front desk, with staff sharing any tips received.

Night staff were caught sleeping on duty, leading to a reduction from two overnight staff to one, with a clear checklist to keep them productive.

These practical changes cut costs significantly while improving service efficiency.

Follow me Dennis Tan, The Everly Group, Siddhesh Narvekar, Hotelyug to stay updated.

Watch full course here –
https://lnkd.in/gGSbixcw

Watch full video here –
https://hotelyug.com/courses/mastering-hospitality/module1/sub2/transformation-of-failing-4-star-hotel

It’s finally here.

After years of building, leading, and learning the hard way—
Today, I’m sharing my first video in a new leadership masterclass series.
These are the real stories and lessons from the frontlines of hotel management.
No fluff. Just what works.

First video goes live today on LinkedIn and whole course available on the Hotelyug website.
Course link – https://lnkd.in/g9nNq2sP

Proud to be doing this with Siddhesh Narvekar, Kkanchan Dharrao and the Hotelyug team.

— Dennis Tan, The Everly Group

We’re thrilled to announce that our “Mastering Hospitality” course will be launching tomorrow on Hotelyug! Whether you’re a hotelier, hospitality professional, or someone passionate about service excellence — this is for you.

-Industry insights
-Expert-led modules
-Career-boosting knowledge

Crafted by Me & Led by Mr.Siddhesh Narvekar, this course is designed to redefine the standards of modern hospitality.

Stay tuned — You will learn things that no hospitality or business school will teach you.

The Everly Group

When I was appointed Managing Director of Park Avenue Hotel, I already had years of experience managing people. But I was new to the hotel business—and like most newcomers, I initially followed the standard industry practices without question.

One of those practices was the 10% service charge added to all bills. Here’s how it was typically handled:

a. 10% was retained by the hotel for missing items and breakages. This immediately struck me as unfair—there was no proper inventory taken to justify those deductions. Still, I kept quiet at the time.

b. The remaining 90% was shared among the rank and file up to the supervisory level. Executives and managers were excluded. Again, this felt wrong. A guest’s experience is shaped by the entire team, all the way up to the General Manager. Why were some of the most influential contributors not rewarded?

c. Staff on probation received 3 service points; once confirmed, they received 4. But when I asked the General Manager how much those points were actually worth, he didn’t know—and worse, didn’t care!

So, I decided to experiment. I gave 3, 2, and 1 point(s) respectively to executives and managers, with the GM receiving just 1. I thought at the very least, they’d become interested—whether the payout was enough for a beer or just a pack of cigarettes. But even then, apathy lingered.

When I started The Everly Group, I completely overhauled the system.

Here’s how we do it now:
• 80% of the service charge is shared among all employees, from rank and file up to the General Manager.
• Everyone gets 3 points on probation and 4 points once confirmed. That extra point acts as a small “sweetener” upon confirmation.
• This way, everyone is rowing in the same direction—with a shared stake in delivering great service.

The remaining 20% is split into two pools:
1. 10% for an anniversary bonus, shared among staff who complete a year. Simple, fair, and motivational.
2. 10% reserved for breakages and missing items, with a process in place:
o Regular inventories (ideally quarterly).
o If the reserve isn’t fully used, the balance is returned to staff who are still with us.
o Missing or broken items—if not reported that day—are charged against the reserve. If reported immediately, the hotel bears the cost.
For accountability:
• Breakages caused by staff are charged to them up to RM 500; anything beyond that is covered by the reserve.
• This turns every team member into a custodian of shared resources—everyone becomes their own security guard.

We’ve also added a human touch:
• In cases of bereavement, we donate RM 1,800 from the reserve to the affected staff member, showing solidarity and compassion.
• For government fines due to errors or lateness, the responsible person pays a portion, and the rest is covered by the reserve. This protects the team without removing accountability.
• These actions are shared transparently with all staff. Peer pressure now complements policy.

With the recent significant increase in the minimum wage, we’ve adjusted again. To avoid overpaying and significantly adding to costs, we have reduced the service charge from 10% to 5%. Fairness works both ways—for staff and for sustainable business operations.

We didn’t just change the payout. We changed the mindset—toward fairness, accountability, and solidarity.

✅ Are your people policies evolving with the times? Are they fair, transparent, and sustainable—for everyone? Let’s hear your take.

As I complete this series of posts—from assessing market potential to collaborating with various consultants—I’d like to highlight two exceptional hotel concepts that have emerged over the last two decades: Yotel and CitizenM.

Yotel began in 2007 at London Gatwick Airport, later expanding to Heathrow and Amsterdam Schiphol. Today, it operates 23 hotels with 11 more on the way.

Its rooms, such as the Premium Queen (13.5 sqm) and Premium Plus Queen (18 sqm), are designed with absolute efficiency. Beds slide up into the wall to transform sleeping space into a living area during the day.

Despite the compact rooms, Yotel includes essentials: a restaurant & bar, small meeting rooms, pool, and gym.

CitizenM opened in 2008 at Amsterdam Schiphol, then Glasgow (2010) and London (2012). It now has 36 hotels globally and was recently acquired by Marriott.

Born from a Blue Ocean Strategy, CitizenM identified what travelers love about five-star hotels—and eliminated everything else.

Each 14 sqm room features a king-size bed, and the hotels come with a gym, pool, restaurant & bar, and meeting rooms.

Both brands demonstrate a strong return-on-investment approach. Small room footprints reduce cost-per-room, improving ROI. The focus remains squarely on leisure and business travelers—high-yield segments in capital cities with strong international traffic.

Closer to home, Sleeping Lion Suites (904 rooms) recently opened in Kuala Lumpur. It’s a 4-star hotel with no F&B outlets—leveraging the rich foodscape around it—alongside meeting rooms, a pool, and a gym. It competes aggressively with 3-star hotels while offering 4-star facilities. A bold and clever move.

These hotels remind us that good design isn’t just about aesthetics—it’s about strategy, cost-efficiency, and understanding your core guests.

👉 If you’ve stayed at any of these hotels or know other innovative concepts, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

The fundamental strategy behind our kitchen design brief is simple:
Make it easier for the people working in the kitchen—and create clear accountability for every station.

Rethinking the Grease Trap

Traditionally, hotels are designed with a single central grease trap for all kitchens. We started that way too. But here’s the problem:
• It’s usually tucked away in a difficult-to-access location.
• It’s cleaned based on a fixed schedule.
• And scheduled maintenance relies on human diligence—which, let’s be honest, is not always dependable.

Our improved approach:

• Install a small grease trap at each cooking station and dishwashing station.
o The chef or steward using that station must clean it daily.
o Responsibility = Accountability.
• A master grease trap for each kitchen, maintained by the head chef.
• A central grease trap for the whole hotel, inspected weekly on a rotation schedule.

Assignment & Accountability System

To further ensure hygiene and maintenance, each area and piece of equipment is labeled with a responsible person using stickers:
• Cleanliness: PIC (Person In Charge), SIC (Supervisor In Charge), MIC (Manager In Charge)
• Maintenance: PIC, SIC, MIC

If something is dirty or broken:

• It’s on the PIC for the day.
• After a few days, the SIC gets involved.
• After a week, it’s escalated to the MIC—no ambiguity.
Utility Metering and Food Storage
• Every kitchen is given direct utility supply lines with separate meters for electricity, water, and gas.
• Each kitchen also has its own chiller and freezer, sized for daily consumption only—keeping inventory fresh and wastage low.

Smarter Drainage Design

We now build our kitchens with stainless-steel-lined trenches for all discharge piping. This:
• Makes cleaning easier, and
• Avoids disturbing the floor below for repairs or maintenance.

A Couple of Real-Life Horror Stories:

• In one hotel we took over, the kitchen kept flooding. After 10 years of neglect, the drain was blocked by a dead python!
• Another hotel had a rat infestation. The culprit? Rats from a nearby river climbing up the sewer pipes. We had to install grill “umbrellas” and seal every possible entry point to fix it.

Kitchen Equipment – Built to Last

We specify equipment standards that last 10–15 years—and well beyond 20 years with proper care.

For example:
• Chinese wok ranges now use stainless steel, replacing fragile firebrick-lined models that frequently crack due to heavy use.
• Café kitchens are designed around the menu first.
o We prefer induction cookers, microwave ovens, and fast-cooking pizza ovens.
o Wood-fired ovens, while beautiful, are not energy-efficient for low-volume usage.

Banqueting & Buffet Kitchens

These kitchens support live cooking stations in guest-facing service areas:
• Stations must be nimble, efficient, and clean.
• In hot zones, we install air curtains that blow cool air over the chef while extracting the smell vertically.
o Keeps the chef cool and the restaurant fresh.

📌 Designing a kitchen isn’t about stainless steel and spec sheets. It’s about systems that promote accountability, ease of maintenance, and real-world functionality. If you’re building a hotel kitchen, build for the people who’ll actually run it.

The Café

I’ve written earlier that unless a hotel is located within 500 metres of a concentrated office area, a restaurant is unlikely to be commercially viable.

In fact, I once joked that the hotel we were managing had just our owner’s office—and a bunch of monkeys on the surrounding coconut trees—as our prospective lunch and dinner customers!

I also previously touched on the complexity of offering multiple cuisines on a single menu. I’ve long stopped thinking of a café as a conventional profit centre. Instead, my thinking has shifted to:
How do we create a small 40–60-seater café that manages costs efficiently while offering an attractive menu—and doubling as a warm, informal space to close event sales.

Neuvo Café – The New Approach

The newly renovated Neuvo Café at The Everly Putrajaya is our response to that question. The design and operation now emphasise efficiency and appeal, allowing us to run the café with just 3–5 staff members.

Some key elements of our strategy:

• The menu was carefully curated to exclude dishes requiring a wok range—those need chefs with specialised skills. Instead, we focused on induction cooking, which is fast, safe, and staff-friendly.
• Most mise-en-place (preparation work) is done in the main production kitchen, streamlining café operations.
• We retained our famous wood-fired pizza concept, inspired by our successful setup in our Bintulu hotel, where our pizzas are well-loved in Sarawak.

But we didn’t stop there. We decided to differentiate ourselves with sourdough pizzas, something pizza chains rarely offer. However, a traditional wood-fired oven needs to stay hot all day, which isn’t energy-efficient. We even experimented with a multi-tiered wood-fired oven—a concept that works in theory but remains a work in progress.

Eventually, we settled on three stacked high-temperature pizza ovens, each capable of cooking a pizza in 3–5 minutes. The combined output of 36 pizzas per hour is actually overkill for our scale, but it’s worked beautifully since reopening.

We also elevated our coffee offering with a custom specialty blend from Miss Coco Café, which sources and roasts Colombian beans just for us. This adds a unique, artisanal element to our guest experience.

📌 Small cafés in hotels may not always be profit machines—but with the right strategy, they can still be cost-effective, brand-building, and even a sales tool for event business. Think smaller, smarter, and more differentiated.