CEKKMATE - Cititel Express KK

Flew to KL on 19/5/09 to finalise schedule of staff reporting for work. It was decided that the staff will report for work in a staggered manner beginning from 15/6/09.

James Loo also took me to visit Cititel Express KL to get a glimpse of the operation of the Express hotel.

Back in KK on 21/5/09, the lobby begins to take shape. The meeting room is now in use as the site office. The mail box was once again full of applications.

I did another round of interview on Saterday. Shortlisted candidates were asked to come and the response was good and more management staff were identified. At the same time, I also started to call those who did not succeed in the walk in interview. The response from all who were informed of the negative news was gracious.


Pictures showing the roof top taking shape.

Advertisement for recruitment was put up on 14th and 15th May in both Daily Express and the Oversea Chinese Daily news. Walk in interview was set for 15th and 16th May. Jeane, Melvin, Jennifer, Foo and Juhan all came in to conduct the interview.

The basement offices were used for the interview. 50 banquet chairs and tables were borrowed from another hotel. Housekeeping office was used as the waiting room and for the candidates to fill up the form. The Administration office and the training room were where the interview to take place.


On the first day, we have 62 walk in and on the second day, Saturday, more than 100 showed up and we managed to shortlist many candidates in all positions.

There are also many write in through email. By the third day of the advertisement on the paper, there were more than 150 applications.

Scanning through so many resumes and letters, and going through the interview, I can't help but realize that some candidates are either careless or ignorant. There was one letter that was addressed to another company. Some have obvious spelling mistakes. There are many who have no idea about the position they applied to. They are interested in the job eventhough their job experience was not slightly related. However, without a doubt, there was no lacking in confidence and enthusiasm from the aspiring candidates. I am convinced we will have a good team.

Attended the first site Meeting on 05/05/09. Not surprisingly, many issues are yet to be ironed out. The electricity supply from SESB is just one of the few pending issues. M& E issues are also pressing. The original plan of handing over all 6 floors on 31/5/09 has to be extended till mid June.
Trying out different colour schemes