"Simply, the sustainable development can enhance the luxury level of hospitality service.", says General Manager, Lucas Truong.

1. What inspired you to join the hospitality industry, and how did you start?

Loving nature and enjoying exploring the difference between the cultures, especially cuisines that inspired me to choose the travel and hospitality management as my major at the university. I started an interesting first job at a leading Japanese travel company in Vietnam and my travel & hospitality career journey had crossed the borders of different countries in different roles from sales to operation.

2. What were some of the significant challenges you faced during your years in the hospitality industry and how did you overcome them?

Over 22 years of experience in travel & hospitality industry, I found that the most important challenge is how to maintain the highest level of luxury hospitality service while still ensuring the cultural values in each service we are providing as well as protecting the biodiversity and contributing to local community's development. Simply, the sustainable development can enhance the luxury level of hospitality service.

3. What do you think is the future of sustainable tourism in your region, and how is your hotel adapting to these changes?

Nha Trang is progressing towards a sustainable thriving tourist city, deeply bearing cultural significance. The goal is to develop Nha Trang into a green, clean and sustainable city with diverse services, high-class tourism, unique cultural and natural landscape values. Nha Trang will also become a center of national and international tourism events, a center for high-class healthcare and innovative research with a friendly, healthy living environment, rich in cultural and human values nationally and regionally.

Potique Hotel has consistently demonstrated a high level of services, along with the commitment to environmental responsibility. We priorities sustainable practices by actively managing resources, using plastic-free amenities such as glass bottled drinking water, paper cups, grass straws, grass bags, etc. Drinking water is filtered and bottled in reusable glass bottles on-site.

As a luxury hotel, Potique Hotel always focuses on introducing local culture as well as taking care of each guest's health. Therefore, natural and local ingredients are our priorities. 

Potique Hotel also manages energy consumption, participates in the Earth Hour campaigns, organizes beach clean-ups, etc. The hotel focuses on creating employment opportunities for local communities to participate actively in the hotel operation. We uphold the local human resources by cooperatting with Nha Trang University in specialized training programs, allowing students to short-term work at the hotel every year. Moreover, the hotel has accompanied with study promotion fundraising programs for students.

4. How does your hotel contribute to preserving local culture and traditions, and what experiences can guests expect during their stay?

Inspired by the East-West cultural blend, showcased bby the fusion of French architecture with the local culture, Potique Hotel has been meticulously constructed and adorned with classic features, offering guests a memorable experience reminiscent of the Indochine era in 1920s.

Potique Hotel presents an array of astounding and diverse cuisines, with a special emphasis on Vietnamese delicacies crafted from thoughtfully selected local ingredients such as Bun ca Nha Trang (Nha Trang mackerel vermicelli soup), mi Quang Nha Trang (Nha Trang yellow noodle soup), pho, etc. We also take pride in our dishes, exquisitely adorned, promising to deliver a fresh and unparalleled culinary experience - one that can only be savored and discovered in Nha Trang.

Potique Hotel also creates activities on some special occasions to introduce traditional Vietnamese culture to guests, such as organizing lantern making workshops in the Mid-Autumn festival, making Tò he (Vietnamese folk toys) or writing calligraphy on the first day of Tet holidays (Lunar New Year), etc.

Source: Haute Grandeur Global Awards Magazine - November 2023