In a time of a cost of living crisis where everyone is tightening their belts, is it really appropriate to be thinking about building long term relationships with suppliers?
Chris Gunton, founder, and Managing Director of CGA, understands the mutual benefits of building long term relationships, “CGA are specialists in Hospitality AV and we have worked with many of our clients for a long time, several for over ten years. Building long term relationships with our clients is an integral part of how CGA works. When we have a long term relationship with a client, we understand the AV systems that we have installed. We’re able to upgrade any elements that need to be refreshed or evolved, whilst maintaining the system integrity, offering our clients the very best value for money”.
“But it’s not just about the hardware.” Chris continued, “When you get to know a customer you get to understand their Brand and how they operate. You can help them to deliver their goals through suggesting how the AV system can best suit their needs and how any new technological developments would benefit them.”
There is no denying that the Covid Pandemic and following Lockdowns had a devastating impact on the Hospitality sector. Many Hospitality venues found the need to update or change elements of their business to survive, acting with limited time and financing and often unable to go through the usual process of tendering with new contractors.
CGA found that the long term relationships they had with their customers was greatly beneficial at this time of extreme business stress. At a time when travel was limited, it was advantageous that CGA knew the buildings, trading patterns, technical preferences, staff competency and existing AV systems of their clients. This enabled CGA to quote and evolve AV systems swiftly and often remotely, to keep clients correctly equipped for the challenges they faced.
Developing AV, especially meeting room technology, became especially important and many CGA clients have continued to focus on this area of their hotel armoury. Having worked with Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill for many years, CGA understands how they operate. CGA started working with their back of house AV in the staff canteen and has now developed an integrated AV system that covers meeting and events spaces, private dining rooms, the bar, restaurant and gym.
The ground floor extension work, The Gallery, started just before the first Lockdown which gave the hotel a unique opportunity to pause and consider usage as requirements changed. CGA’s long term relationship enabled them to work with the hotel management to discuss past room use and decide what might be needed after Lockdown; all ground floor meeting rooms have a video conference camera and wireless table microphones, facilitating video conferencing and hybrid meetings, offering the latest meeting room facilities for customers both in person and remotely.
Flexible events spaces are always key for maximising hospitality revenue streams and Cameron House have capitalised on this with the addition of their new Ballroom, part of a recent extension to the five-star luxury resort, golf club and spa.
Chris Gunton commented;”we understand that each venue uses their AV slightly differently. As we had already designed and installed an integrated sound system throughout the Main House at Cameron House, we were able to reflect the observed ‘styles of usage’ when designing the system for the new Ballroom in 2022.” Chris continued; “having a long term relationship with a client enables CGA to understand how each venue, and sometimes specific teams within a venue, use their AV systems differently. Understanding this allows us to make things work more efficiently; for example by updating operating touch screens to make them more user friendly to all staff, without the need for training courses, which is really key now Hospitality is suffering more staffing issues and shortages.”
With long term relationships comes the ability to deliver long term value to clients. CGA is very proud of their partnership with Coworth Park. The AV system throughout the hotel, restaurants and spa, was designed and installed by CGA in 2010, and has been supported by them ever since. Working with the Coworth team, CGA has evolved the system operationally and technically to suit developing trading patterns. During this time, for example, outside terrace speakers have been added to both the Barn restaurant and Main House Drawing Room without the need for any new amplifiers or control panels to be fitted. CGA used existing wiring and resources and re-aligned the existing system to enable this to occur for just the cost of new speakers.
Recently CGA worked with the design team and contractors to create the sound in Woven, the new restaurant at Coworth Park. The new sound system has taken advantage of existing cabling and control infrastructure, with CGA using the existing digital control system. The new areas and speakers have been reprogrammed to enhance this quality dining space, which celebrates the exceptional dining created by executive chef Adam Smith.
CGA has been developing AV with Dishoom since 2015 , when they designed and installed the audio for their third restaurant, Dishoom King’s Cross. Every element of the Dishoom customer dining experience is woven together to deliver exceptional results, and sound plays an important part in this. Having delivered their initial restaurants with another AV company, Dishoom identified that sound was one of the weaker links in the customer dining experience. Following the installation at King’s Cross, all Dishoom restaurants now feature a CGA designed and installed audio system.
“The sound systems CGA has installed across the Dishoom estate deliver both excellent quality sound and ease of operation, delivering consistency across multiple Dishoom venues.” stated Chris, “This means that staff are familiar with the systems operation, irrespective of which Dishoom they are working in, which eases movement of staff between venues.”
Dishoom fosters long-term relationships with all of their suppliers and this is a benefit for them and the contractors alike. “A key benefit for the CGA team is the familiarity and ease of working on Dishoom sites,” added Chris. “ All the contracting teams know one another; the designer knows what each trade is capable of, and each trade has a working knowledge of the next, making communication on site great. Delays and miscommunication are minimal, reducing the overall time and cost of any Dishoom project.”
Chris concludes; “when you understand the needs of a client and the industry within which you both operate, you can work together to deliver the best solutions in the most cost-effective way and be there to develop these and adapt them to fit with any changes and challenges that must be faced. Building long term relationships with our clients is at the heart of the CGA business. It gives us the opportunity to truly understand what each customer needs, ensuring that we offer them the best fit, latest developments that this fast-moving industry has to offer”.
