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Regent Porto Montenegro, synonym of luxury in the region this year, recently marked five years of successful business.
On this occasion, we met with Mr Ivan Gajic, Director of Sales and Marketing of the Regent Hotel, to tell us more about the past months and plans for the end of the year/spring 2020.
What will you remember as a company in 2019?
This year will be memorable as it was our first jubilee as August 1st marked the fifth anniversary of the opening of Regent Porto Montenegro. On the eve of the anniversary, the BAIA was the third wing to open at the hotel after an investment of €36 million. We have now architecturally completed the hotel project and today we offer our guests a diversified selection of rooms, residences and elite penthouses, which we consider to be the best gift for the five-year anniversary for our guests. The unobtrusive luxury and great design are the work of international architectural firm WATG and Tin Zervudachi, a celebrated interior designer from the eminent Mlinaric, Henry & Zervudachi company, who, through our two existing wings, is behind the already recognizable nautical design. Most of the rooms have views of the sea, the Bay of Kotor and the hotel’s infinity pool, which was named one of the 30 best hotel pools in the world in 2018. Personalized guest services, a rich restaurant offering, and the Spa continues to be, in addition to exceptional comfort, the prime feature of any stay at Regent Porto Montenegro.
What kind of identity Regent and Porto Montenegro bear as the business destination?
Montenegro is very interesting business destination. However we believe that we succeeded differentiating ourselves as the ideal car launch destination. Parallel to the great collaboration with the international MICE agencies, we take pride in the fact that our partners from the region and many other countries around the world have chosen us to host some of the most important conferences and corporate events for their company and business partners. With 230 corporate events behind us, we can conclude that we’ve had an exceptional year. Customised guest service is our trademark and we were thrilled to be recognized for this in this year’s Forbes Travel Guide – the only independent rating system for hotels, restaurants and spas globally – which scored our hotel highly for customer service. Even though that the service and the hotel facilities are rated, most of the standards – up to 75% refer to the service. Reasons for this are substantial guests’ expectations of the five star hotel; each detail counts as much as the content of a stay and visits of the cultural and natural attractions. We are proud of the progress we made as a system; we have welcomed numerous positive reactions of the guests which ultimately led to the positive business results especially in the Food and Beverage department. It is worth noting that last year we became part of IHG, a global hotel group with over 5,723 hotels worldwide. Integrating our
systems, as well as the combination of experience within the reservation, sales and marketing systems has been our main goal to reach our target audience worldwide and in the region.
What business clients may expect from Regent hotel in the future?
New offerings that we would like to highlight are the numerous options available for creating great incentive trips and team buildings within the hotel and Porto Montenegro nautical village. Numerous facilities and activities are available to create the ideal package according to the needs of employees for team buildings and incentive trips. Sports such as tennis, sailing and SUP boarding are all available, as well as exploring the hinterland of Boka Kotorska, relaxing spa experiences, wine tasting, gourmet workshops and competitive cooking workshops under the supervision of our experienced chef. I would like to highlight the expansive area of Porto Montenegro Arena which has extraordinary intelligent content thought through; activities such as archery, cricket, croquet, miniature golf and laser clay shooting are available as the interesting elements for the team building trips.
In terms of business, what do you remember the past 10 years by?
I am extremely grateful that I have testified to the development of the luxury hotel industry within the region and very proud of my humble contribution to the same. The period of 10 years I will remember after inspiring leaders that I have had honor working with, digitization of business and number of agencies and tour operators I have worked with solely via internet and achieved extraordinary results..
What has your business journey looked like since then?
During my 14 years of career in hospitality, I have held various sales and marketing management roles within international hotel chains. I joined Regent as Director of Sales and since 2018 I am honored to lead Sales and Marketing department at Regent Porto Montenegro. I have enjoyed each and single chapter of the business growth.
What are you particularly proud of from the last decade?
I am proud of each single step taken and every single resolved challenge. However the results make memories. I do belong to the generation that believes that teamwork and the satisfaction of each and single employee at workplace is important; only this kind of synergy can bring results at the personal and professional level and extraordinary results.
