“There's no other way that I can solve [problems] but to promote, inform and educate. That's it.”
RARELY do we find someone who has experienced it all — someone who has been from different industries, someone who understands the demands of the people and how to give it to them, and someone who is in for the ride whether it will be smooth or bumpy.
Global Comfort Group Corp.'s Maria Suzette Geminiano is one such corporate marketing manager who leverages her experience and uses her expertise to deliver quality products and services to the people.
Like many executives with success stories, Geminiano comes from humble beginnings. She has a bachelor's degree in nursing from the Chinese General Hospital College of Nursing. Although her mother persuaded her to take up nursing, her heart has always been in marketing.
After becoming a professional medical representative and staff nurse, she has transitioned to become what she truly wants to be: a marketing head. Over the course of her current career, she has handled apparel, vending machines, fast-moving consumer goods, cosmetics and pharmacology, automotive, and hygiene and health care brands.
Some of the brands she has worked with are familiar to many such as Biogesic, Levis, Loacker, Toyota, DM Consunji Inc., Sensidol, Chippy, Pau Liniment and Nagaraya. Truly, she has been everywhere in the marketing landscape.
As a corporate marketing manager, Geminiano handles five hotel brands: Hotel Sogo, Eurotel, Astrotel, Dreamworld and Apo View Hotel. What makes her line of hotel brands unique is that it caters to all kinds of guests from the simple folk to the upper class.
Among the hotel brands and the industries that she has worked with, Geminiano says Hotel Sogo is the most challenging because of the stigma surrounding the hotel. Its first branch has been established near a red-light district. So, its patrons are often motelgoers.
Up to this day, the image sticks. The question is how to promote the hotel as a legitimate lodging service contrary to the negative connotation.
“If the promotional activities and strategies would be monotonous for about a year or two, I don't want it anymore,” Geminiano says about the challenges she experiences with promoting Hotel Sogo.
Without hesitation, she has taken the challenge and has set a goal that in 7 to 10 years, there will be some difference. Even now, her efforts appear to be paying off.
Geminano says: “Surprisingly, I can say that it is already a successful move for me. In 3 years [since we started], people are coming in with [luggage] with family and without them hiding their faces. Still, the stigma is there [but hopefully in] 5 years, people get to say that Hotel Sogo is a [legitimate] hotel.”
“The goal is to make people understand that Hotel Sogo is not a bad hotel because it is misinterpreted. It is a misunderstood hotel [because of its history and the stigma],” she adds.
The first step for Geminiano is to adopt a sachet philosophy business model in marketing. She understands that she can't sway people by changing their perspective. So, she leans in by letting them understand why the hotel caters to this kind of business model.
The sachet philosophy borrows the concept from its namesake. People only buy the amount of product they need instead of stocking up on bulk items. Similarly, people only pay for the number of hours they need. This makes it easier for the masses to avail its services.
“Packed with the goal and vision of the owners to have Hotel Sogo or the hotel experience be available to all classes of life and all economic classes of the people, it [fits] perfectly. That's how we came up with short-time stays, which we call it, 'Stay a while,'” Geminiano says.
“I just tried to inform them that we are just like any other hotel,” Geminiano adds.
Despite that, it is still a challenge because the business model is not easy to spread to the public. The hotel had no massive advertising budget, but Geminiano still has some cards up her sleeve: shifting the negative image to a positive one with a corporate social responsibility program.
Geminiano recalls how, in the aftermath of Typhoon “Yolanda” (international name: “Haiyan”), the company has donated at least 4,000 pieces of linen towels, slippers, personal-care kits and pillowcases. Hotel Sogo has received praise for this effort since it has been the only hotel that has thought of such donations.
Geminiano has also initiated the Doctors on Wheels (DoW) program, an all-around and convenient medical facility that is ready to serve anywhere. Taking in her experience in the medical field, Geminiano has originally envisioned it to be an obstetrician and gynecologist medical facility but has expanded it to provide general medicine services.
The DoW team has bought 60-seater buses and has converted these into small medical facilities complete with bathroom essentials, four beds and medical instruments. These have been finished in 2014 and have started having medical missions the following year. Today, the DoW program has more than 300 medical missions accomplished with more than 100,000 beneficiaries.
Hotel Sogo's other corporate social responsibility programs under Sogo Cares are Adopt a Family, Balik Eskwela, Philippine National Police Heroes Assistance, and various donations and relief operations.
“That was the gateway for us to be noticed differently. All the good things we have done — which for us, the Hotel Sogo management — is actually the way of giving back [to the people],” Geminiano says.
Improving the image of Hotel Sogo is not Geminiano's sole goal. She is also determined to elevate the hotel through innovation and technology. Presently, Hotel Sogo is experimenting with its new artificial intelligence (AI) Tech Concept room, which incorporates an internet of things (IoT) setup.
A fanatic of car shows, Geminiano has gotten the idea from concept cars with experimental upgrades. She has also applied the learnings from the pandemic from which such time no-touch areas have been implemented.
The AI Tech Concept room reinforces the hotel's initial vision of making everything convenient for the guests and to allow them full and total relaxation.
The guest can check in and pay with a kiosk, which will then issue a quick-response or QR code that serves as a room key. A robot will guide guests to the location of the room, and everything inside the AI Tech Concept room can be controlled via voice command from drawing the curtains, setting the mood and operating the appliances.
Geminiano says: “It is an experimental thing. At the same time, we want to tell the world that we are the first hotel in the Philippines [that has] this [IoT] idea. We want our guests to talk to the [AI technology in the] room and tell [the system] what they want.”
She adds: “Hotel Sogo never stopped innovating, improving and developing things. Since it is the AI era or the computer age, we would like to tell the people that Hotel Sogo is capable of building rooms with extra experience, and that Hotel Sogo can serve and make your stay more relaxing.”
In the future, Hotel Sogo is also planning a virtual concierge, named “Aiko,” who can guide the guests.
The trial period has given Hotel Sogo's marketing team insights on its limitations and what must be improved. First, the hotel has observed that Filipinos are not accustomed to technology. They prefer to have someone to physically assist them, which, in theory, goes against the concept of IoT.
Second, there are limitations in the internet connection. Some functions may not work properly or immediately, which can cause inconveniences to the guest. This can be a problem because guests want to check in immediately.
“There's no other way that I can solve that but to promote, inform and educate. That's it,” Geminiano says.
She also plans to improve internet connectivity within the four branches that host these AI Tech Concept rooms, to include more IoT aspects in the rooms such as automatic bidets and censored trash bins, to have a staff member on standby in case there are inevitable problems and to train front desk officers on how to approach customer complaints.
“What we offer is convenience. What we promote is how they will feel like a king or queen of the room or hotel. If you want to relax, you can relax all the way,” Geminiano says.
Aside from this, Geminiano also has plans for the remaining hotel brands under her care.
For Eurotel, she plans to add similar voice command rooms and a breakfast buffet for guests. She also wants to highlight the function rooms, as the hotel mostly caters to small entrepreneurs. She will also introduce more food-and-beverage products for Astrotel.
More branches and themed rooms are coming to Dreamworld, providing an ultimate thematic experience for its guests by adding scents or costumes. Apo View Hotel, the second oldest hotel in the Philippines, is looking for more events and grand functions. Geminiano will also implement new rooms, renovating the hotel while keeping its nostalgic effect.
Geminiano has gone a long way and has accomplished a lot in life. One of these is getting into a male-dominated industry that had no trust or acceptance of the capabilities of women during her time. Up to this day, many doubt her because she has not graduated with a corresponding marketing degree.
Despite that, this highly adaptable leader has risen above the challenges and has changed the way people view her.
Reflecting on all these experiences, Geminiano says there are three main ingredients to successful management: people, teamwork and being result oriented.
People are the most important because they are the ones who patronize, promote, inspire, feel and experience. It is not enough that the team is working hard, everyone in it must be doing what they want to do, and they must be happy about it.
No one can do a task alone, and that's why teamwork is also important. Fostering happy team members radiates around the company and affects everything positively.
Lastly, it is not enough to be doing what they want happily. Team members must also be result-oriented. At the end of the day, the results of their actions are the things that are judged; not just the intent.
Quick questions
What is your biggest fear?
Failure
What really makes you angry?
Reminding people multiple times of their duties
What motivates you to work hard?
Being better than yesterday
What makes you laugh the most?
Nothing in particular; I smile a lot but seldom laugh. There are reasons that can make me laugh, but I don't know what the reasons are
What did you want to be when you were small?
Doctor
What was the last book you read?
“The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck” by Mark Manson
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
I might be a consultant of a different company
What is the most daring thing you've ever done?
Climbed up a wall in our house
If you could share a meal with any individual — living or dead — who would that person be?
My mom
Who's the celebrity would you like to meet for a cup of coffee?
[No one] specific
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