International tourism to Bali, an island province of Indonesia, ceased in 2021 as this and many other destinations across Asia made the travel ban lists of feeder markets including the U.S.
As a result, hospitality in Bali underwent a full reset last year, and The Laguna luxury resort did the same — undergoing a full renovation, and inspiring management to reimagine how it serves guests.
"During the pandemic, the devastating impacts of COVID-19 on tourism in Bali necessitated reenvisioning and rebuilding," Lucia Liu, general manager of The Laguna, said via email.
"The time was finally right to renovate The Laguna, to honor its unique role in catalyzing Indonesian tourism 30 years ago and to inspire others to rebuild Bali for the future."
News outlet Fodor's Travel reports that pre-pandemic "the Indonesian island averaged roughly 6.5 million annual visitors. In 2020, the number dropped to about 1 million, with most of those coming at the beginning of the year. By 2021 ... some figures say it dipped as low as 45 international guests."
As guests return to Bali, Liu said, their expectations of hospitality are higher than ever before and continue to rise. To meet and exceed those expectations, she said, The Laguna must deliver service that is genuine, personalized and anticipatory.
Liu said there is no better time to reintroduce The Laguna — a 287-room resort and spa under Marriott International's Luxury Collection in Nusa Dua, Bali — to the world.
"Everyone has missed traveling to Bali," she said, "and we are hopeful of a better recovery in 2023."
In this Q&A, Liu shares more about Bali's tourism, the hotel's transformation and what influenced her to start a career in hospitality.
What inspired you to enter the hospitality industry?
After I graduated, I started my own business in Beijing. But after a couple of successful years, I realized I wasn’t particularly enjoying it. Then, the opportunity to study hotel management for three years in Switzerland arose, and it gave me the opportunity to do two international internships in England and the U.S. I learned so much and discovered that my passion is traveling and interacting with people, so hospitality was a great career choice for me. I still find this work more rewarding and interesting than owning my own business.
What key lessons have you carried with you in your career?
To invest in young talents. I’m honored to have been guided by many great leaders and mentors whom I’ve met throughout my career journey. They believe in me and are invested in my career. I experienced it myself and now it is my calling to identify young talents and give them opportunities.
What are some recent wins your on-property team has achieved?
In 2022, we earned amazing achievements in terms of transforming the 30-year-old property, business profitability, as well as being recognized in a number of prestigious awards in 2022.
In what ways has the hotel's renovation helped to enhance the guest experience?
The Laguna is a historic icon with a legendary transformation. The Laguna was formerly known as Sheraton Lagoon Nusa Dua, the first international hotel built in Nusa Dua in 1991. The Laguna’s architectural vision was innovative as it was conceptualized as a tropical oasis with generous space.
With such a historic past, the renovation of The Laguna was particularly challenging, for sentimental reasons. It was difficult to find the right design language that captures the past, the present and the future. We finally landed on a concept called "A Voyage With Bali Through Time.” We kept the history and architectural integrity of a Balinese oasis and village, but modernized interiors by bringing in some rainforest and some nautical voyage inspiration, as sustainability and history are both important to our design ethos.
How has Bali’s tourism recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic?
It took a while for Bali’s tourism to recover from the pandemic, as in the beginning, people were hesitant to travel for safety reasons and due to the quarantine requirement. We first saw an increase in domestic travel, especially from the major cities in Indonesia. When Indonesia and other countries eased off restrictions and more flights began operating, international guests increased at the property.
What have been the most significant feeder markets in the past year for the hotel?
Significant feeder markets are definitely changing pre- and during the pandemic. Domestic travel has increased, which made it the top five market share [for The Laguna].
Are there any new guest trends you’re noticing?
With the property being 30 years old, we have had the pleasure of hosting multigenerational guests who have been staying with us since day one. Now they have become our ambassadors to promote our property, with the next generations becoming our future customers.
Maintaining the level of service for all guests, being flexible to changes, fulfilling the demand of each generation’s needs and personalization is always at the top of our associates’ mind.
What do you feel will be the most underestimated challenge for general managers this year?
For me, I didn’t expect the pandemic would take these three long years. Each year is unprecedented. We don’t know what will happen, and the recovery was not as fast as we expected. It has also caused traveling trends to be unpredictable as well as greater guest expectations, which call for us to deliver the best in class. To exceed these ever-rising expectations, we must stay focused on the very heart of what we do: delivering genuine, personalized and anticipatory service.
On top of it, I’ve always felt that we maintained our guests’ experience not only because of the quality of our service but also in how we tell the stories behind it. It is important to inspire guests to travel to the property that gives them meaningful purposes on each visit, such as hands-on local experiences and healthy outdoor activities.
What’s one piece of advice you for fellow general managers?
Having trust in your team members is what I advise. As a general manager, you lead by example. The journey will be time consuming, and there are no shortcuts. We need to focus on investing in our talent and focusing on people so that the organization will grow. Take risks for the talent, develop for the people and they will learn as they go. This is how associates move forward to perform their best and how we can always face challenges together.