Good mergers protect staff cultures

Hotel companies planning mergers or acquisitions must ensure they integrate different staff cultures - or face the consequences, experts in Berlin warned last week.
Roeland Vos, president of Europe, Africa and Middle East at Starwood Hotels & Resorts, stressed the importance of respecting cultural differences.
"It takes three to five years for companies to be really integrated. You can't force people to change," he said.
Robert Cook, chief executive of Malmaison hotels, said he made sure he was "very protective" of the Hotel du Vin brand.
"I saw what happened to Malmaison when it went through the mainstream mangle, but we knew about Hotel du Vin eight months in advance and planned the merger very carefully," he said.
Cook conducted a roadshow explaining to staff what the Hotel du Vin deal meant and encouraged them to stay for free in its other brands' hotels. He also established staff buddies in equivalent positions to help employees learn from each other.
Six months on from the merger, he said: "We are still in the early stages but our success with Hotel du Vin is what we have not done to it. We have two design-led brands with fabulous people cultures and are starting to see them working well together."
Keith Lindsay, chief operating officer of Louvre Hotels, explained that when merging cultures, communication was the key: "We are now in the second year of our merger. Getting second-level management involved to carry the message is vital."

CAPTION: Hotel du Vin: a strong brand