My sincere greetings to all,

I would also like to extend a warm welcome to all the budget & business hotel industry players in being with the association as a family and thank all members who have supported me to lead and spearhead the association as the National President of the Malaysia Budget & Business Hotel Association (MyBHA) and as all knows with position comes responsibility, and with greater position comes even greater responsibility.

My dear fellow MyBHA members,

As all of us is now striving towards recovery after being hard hit by the unprecedented covid-19 pandemic and now have to go thru an unstable industry economy as well as cash flow issues together with Industry new norms in place.

Well, one thing that keeps us on our toes is whether after years of comfort and security, the budget & business hotel industry shall be prepared for the rapid changes that are taking place in the rest of the world.  We are now under constant pressure to change, whether we realize it or not, and
whether we like it or not. Some of these changes are positive, while others may not be so.

My dear fellow MyBHA members,

With a rapidly increasing of industry disruptions, rising guest expectations, greater demand for transparency and accountability, the landscape of the budget & business hotel industry are evolving so swiftly that many of us can barely catch up. On a daily basis, we are facing industry threats such as the unresolved as well as unregulated short term rental accommodation (STRA) and unregulated online travel agencies (OTA’s), manpower shortages, increasing of operational including additional cost loom ominously over our heads.

Many of these developments challenge the conventional operation models of the budget & business hotel industry and spark the need for innovations and change in order for the hoteliers to cope and be sustainable. Doing the same thing over and over again, or even at greater frequency are no longer viable solutions and will not result in the needed increase in productivity.

I do have my concerns about whether our hoteliers are ready and prepared,
which is why I am raising this rather prickly topic here. Over the last few years, many industry players have told me that they are worried about these industry developments. Some are even angry and want the association to stand against these changes. Many of these negative feelings revolve around the fear that such developments will jeopardise the sacred position of the budget & business hotel industry, and threaten the income of hoteliers. Some are genuinely concerned about compromise in the quality of service.

Most of these industry feedbacks were based on an incomplete or erroneous understanding of these innovations. But what is clear is that hoteliers may have missed an important point: if these new practices and/or innovations and/or developments are beneficial to the economy, it is only a matter of time that the society will endorse and accept these new practices and/or innovations and/or developments and demand that they be the new norms of the budget & business hotel industry.

My dear fellow MyBHA members,

The industry must develop in us an adaptability and resilience to handle these changes. We must be prepared to recognize that our industry status is not a permanent privilege that can be assumed to last in perpetuity. My personal view is that we need to adopt an open and refreshing attitude towards positive changes. We need to be prepared and willing to move out of our comfort zone, to tackle industry disruptive and threats, to take on new and appropriate roles, and to develop and adopt new models of the budget & business hotel industry.

As they say, “We cannot be separated in interest or divided in purpose. We stand together until the end” that is unity. I urge my dear fellow MyBHA members to always remain united within the MyBHA family and grow together by making the association larger in order to have a stronger industry voice in representing the budget & business hotel industry. “It’s easy to break a chopstick but they become unbreakable when we put all of them together.”

Lastly, I really appreciate and thankful to my dear fellow MyBHA members unwavering support given to me, my committees and the association. Thank You.

“UNITY IS STRENGTH”