Mehmet Yüce, the Manager and Tourism Consultant of Roof 264 Hotel in the Tourism and Hospitality Sector in Sakarya, explained his quarter-century experience in the sector and how provincial tourism can develop to Kent Economy Magazine. We leave you alone with the interview with Doyen Hotel Manager Mehmet Yüce.
What Do You Think About Sakarya Tourism?
We can say that tourism in Sakarya is like a “wasted fountain”. As we all know, our city is rich in enviable wealth with natural beauties and destinations that we cannot count when it comes to tourism. However, as far as I personally see, tourism in our city does not go beyond an event that comes to the agenda every year during the Tourism Week and is held because it has to be done. As for representation, it has remained as an event calendar that always carries out the same event every year, and the same presentations are made to the city's administrative chiefs. The only thing that changes is the appointed or changing civil chiefs. As such, how can we introduce and open our city to the world when we do not know the richness of tourism in Sakarya yet?
For about 10 years, I have been participating in International Tourism Fairs both as a participant and a visitor to promote my facilities. In the tourism fairs I attended, I witnessed that there were always passive and useless promotions for Sakarya. However, the share that this city should take from tourism may be so much…
So what should be done for the city to get a bigger share from tourism?
In my opinion, no one can do anything alone in the field of tourism in this city. No matter how hard we try, we will not have a chance to achieve success in our city unless Municipalities, NGOs, Governorships and District Governorates, Press and Broadcasting Organizations, Tourism Professionals and Tourism Investors come together. Every institution, every facility, every person related to this sector works only to earn their own income and says 'that's enough for me'. In fact, we are deceiving ourselves. If we come together, if we can come together for a truly sustainable tourism, both our city will win and everyone who expects profit from this sector will gain much more.
It's my 23rd year in this industry. Tourism in Turkey has changed so much in this process… Just as the types of tourism have changed, we have come to many, many different places in terms of communication and promotion. But we still spend tons of money printing printed catalogs for this city and we think that we will promote our city by distributing them. Personally, I think that the union to be formed in order to promote our city in terms of tourism and increase its gains should be carried out by professionals in this sector. I am one of those who believe that we can become a tourism city that is too valuable to be handed over to the officials already in charge of municipalities, governorships and relevant institutions.
What Have You Done In The Sector Up To This Time?
I have tried to introduce my city first and then my facility in order to increase the business potential of the facilities I have worked for so far. In order to attract customers to my hotel businesses, both in national and international fairs and in the promotions I made in metropolitan cities, I had to market Sakarya and I was doing what was necessary. For this reason, I think that the more corporate and professional tourism facilities there are, the more our cities will be promoted.
In addition, during my professional management and in the last 3 years, when I was a Tourism Investment Consultant, I insistently tried to guide investors, especially in making hotel investments with international brands. The more brand facilities there are in a city, the more corporate and grounded you will be in terms of tourism. In the last facility I consulted, we made an agreement with the best brand in this industry and brought the industry's biggest brand (Hilton) to our city.
What are your recommendations to hotel investors?
First of all, I would like to trust the tourism potential of our city. In order not to regret the tourist hotel and restaurant investor, it is necessary to do the necessary work together in this city that I mentioned before. Otherwise, tourism in our city will remain both seasonal and 2 days a week and will alienate investors. Of course, when it comes to hotels and restaurants, it does not have to be a tourism facility. City hotels with a much higher potential for Sakarya have become much more needed facilities. There is still a need for city hotels in our city, which will satisfy the investors much more. Although many small and large city hotel investments have been made in the last 5 years, the need for these investments continues in our constantly developing city. In our city, where both our industry and our university have made serious leaps, hotel investors can return their investments and earn more in a short time if they start with the right planning. The first things to consider when investing in a hotel are; location, capacity and financing planning. It has become inevitable to get professional support in hotel investments, which is a very serious type of investment.
Can You Tell About Your Own Hotel Investment? What is 'Next Generation Accommodation'?
I have worked as a senior manager in the tourism sector, especially in hotel businesses for many years. Based on my experience in city hotel management, I now know very well the wishes and expectations of guests. We set out on this road in order to provide the accommodation service that the guests need, under the most favorable conditions, and to provide optimum benefit by ensuring that they only pay for the service they need and want to receive. We have shaped our hotel project in line with these expectations. I have been following the new hotel trend, which has been frequently spoken in our country for the last 5 years, and some national and international brands have started to create concept hotel brands in this regard, and we have successfully implemented this new trend, namely the "Smart Hotel" approach in our project. We offer all the expectations of a guest who wants to receive accommodation service in a city hotel under today's conditions, with the most economical conditions. While providing these services to our guests in an economical way, we have added the best sleep, the cleanest hotel and the friendliest guest service, which is the basic expectation in a city hotel, to our standards. We are the only hotel in our city with these standards. For this reason, we have determined our slogan as “NEW GENERATION ACCOMMODATION”. Personnel and energy expenses, which are the biggest expense items of hotel businesses, have been minimized and profitability has reached the maximum level thanks to this concept. I hope that this concept we have created will be preferred by hotel guests and that our concept will become widespread throughout the country.
