With the help of the EU4Business programme, Lopota Tour Service, a holiday resort management company in Georgia, improved its customer service and operational practices, increasing turnover tenfold as a result.
EU4Business helps Georgian hotel expand
With help from the European Union and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Lopota Tour Service, a holiday resort company from Lopota Lake in Georgia, installed a management information system to track its operations and inventories so it could better plan for the future.
Within one year of completing the project, the company had succeeded in raising external financing of over USD 5 million for its expansion plans. These included building a new hotel with 80 rooms, restaurant, mini-golf playground, sauna, volleyball court and 60-metre swimming pool. Thanks to the new facilities, the company has increased turnover almost 10 times, while Lopota’s staff has more than doubled from 55 to 117.
Lopota is a family-run business, founded in 2010 by mother-and-son team Tinatin and Giorgi Maisuradze. From a modest start, serving close friends and local visitors, the company has grown to offer one of the most attractive holiday resorts in the region, with as many international as local guests. When the EBRD began to work with the company, it found it difficult to monitor numbers of guests or respond quickly and accurately to queries from them.
The EBRD helped Lopota Tour Service hire a local consulting company, Hotel and Restaurant Systems LLC. The consultant:
- installed a management information system (MIS) and tailored it to the company’s specific needs
- configured the core software, modules and parametres and set up the interface for the system
- trained the company’s staff in using using the MIS.
The system was a comprehensive one, including a property management system, restaurant management systems, stock management system and material control system, thereby helping the company successfully keep track of its work, plan the future and achieve its targets.
In 2014, the EBRD stepped up its assistance to Lopota by hiring an international hotel expert to further help develop customer service at the resort, bringing it up to international standards.
The adviser, Akis Marangos from Greece, has over 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry. With the adviser’s help, the company entered international marketing and booking channels, improved health and safety standards and revamped the restaurant to provide its guests with the famous joys of Georgian cuisine.
Not only have turnover and jobs increased substantially, but productivity in the company is up by 159%, all for an EU investment of €25 000 on top of the client’s contribution of €15 000.
Find out more about the Small Business Support programme
The EBRD’s Advice for Small Businesses programme helps micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs) adapt to the demands of a market economy and build capacity for innovation and growth.
Implementing partner
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development - Advice for Small Businesses
SME Finance & Development Group
31a Griboedov Street
Merani Business Center, 6th Floor
0108 Tbilisi
Georgia
Tel: +995 32 244 7400
Email: knowhowgeorgia@ebrd.com