Destinasea

Staying at a hotel with an exotic beach view right in front of your eyes is the culmination of traveling. Puri Sari Hotel, located in Labuan Bajo, has stunning natural surroundings for anyone looking to stay in Labuan Bajo, Flores. This beautiful archipelago in eastern Indonesia can attract all kinds of tourists, both local and foreign, as accounted by the number of visits in the years before the pandemic. This is a golden opportunity for businesses after the pandemic period has passed.

Puri Sari Hotel in Labuan Bajo has its own special features, with its natural surroundings, as well as a variety of unique food on the menu. The warm hospitality of the Puri Sari Hotel staff can be seen clearly from the positive guest comments column on the Tripadvisor page. The hotel can also handle guest complaints quickly and well, where Tripadvisor has awarded them the "Certificate of Excellence" award.

Puri Sari Hotel was established in 2008 and was initially operational with 11 rooms. The addition of rooms and villas occurred in 2016 to meet the surge of domestic and foreign tourists who came to Labuan Bajo. Currently, Puri Sari Hotel has 24 deluxe rooms and 4 villas decorated with local handicraft ornaments to promote Manggarai culture and customs.

Committed to Protecting the Environment

Commitment to environmental care and responsible operational practices is proven by the existence of operational guidelines in all hotel departments. The management, supervisors, and employees perform their respective tasks in each department to support water, electricity and energy savings. They also successfully invite guests to participate in the saving movement.

Puri Sari Hotel together with business partners and communities who care about the environment actively participate in activities such as Beach Clean Up on a regular basis. It does not stop there, Puri Sari Hotel carries out beach cleaning activities every day on the beach around the hotel area. Not using single-use packaging is one of Puri Sari Hotel's initiatives to control excessive waste. With the availability of drinking water bottles made of glass, which can be refilled at any time at the drinking water dispenser, guests can also contact the reception for a refill. To control the use of single-use plastic packaging, Puri Sari Hotel no longer uses single-use soap and shampoo. Each room has a soap and shampoo dispenser that automatically encourages each guest to use as much as they need in the area around the hotel. 

Puri Sari Hotel has an initiative to save electricity and reduce general energy consumption, one of the efforts that has been made is to replace all conventional bulbs with Light Emitting Diode (LED) bulbs that have low electricity consumption. Puri Sari Hotel encourages and urges all staff and visitors to save electrical energy by placing signs to only use lights when necessary. Another effort to save electricity consumption is with an automatic water pump.

Information in room to reducing Plastic Footprint

Source: Signing Blue | WWF-Indonesia

In addition to energy saving efforts, Puri Sari Hotel also has water saving efforts, by placing written information in the rooms, including an appeal to only use sufficient water and giving guests the option to change linen when necessary to minimize water use. Many guests have realized the importance of saving water and energy, therefore many guests are willing to follow the savings initiatives suggested by the hotel. Puri Sari Hotel have had guests who wanted to change their bed linen every three days. This effort shows that by doing small things, anyone can contribute to a positive cause by using only what is needed. As stated by Sigit Endra Setyawan as General Manager of Puri Sari Hotel, "We put a lot of calls in our rooms to save energy and water, so many guests understand our appeals and sometimes for linen or towels, guests ask to be replaced every three days."

Puri Sari Hotel’s beachfront restaurant mainstay menus such as Tenggiri Sambal Matah and Mackerel Fish Steak are favorites for local and foreign tourists. Puri Sari Hotel innovates to attract outside visitors and hotel guests by holding the Sunset Bar which serves a light menu at sunset and Barbecue Night every weekend. Food ingredients such as vegetables are obtained from local markets and fish are obtained from local fishermen who follow appropriate fishing guidelines. This is done in order to maintain the sustainability of the ecosystem both at sea and on land. In terms of waste management, Puri Sari Hotel sorts restaurant waste and other area waste into appropriate waste categories, namely organic waste, non-organic waste, glass, and most recently medical waste, namely disposable masks. These wastes are then distributed to reliable waste management companies. Organic waste such as food waste from restaurants and leaves are placed in a special place in the hotel area to be used as compost. Apart from that, Puri Sari Hotel has made a waste water filtration treatment system to allow waste water to be reused for watering plants.

To maintain the sustainability of the local ecosystem, organic waste is decomposed and In turn used as fertilizer. This routine activity carried out by Puri Sari Hotel is an inspiration for staying guests as well as tourists and business partners. Moreover, solar panels as a source of environmentally friendly electric energy are planned and will soon be implemented. With an aligned vision and concepts towards environmental preservation and sustainability, Puri Sari Hotel became a member of Signing Blue in 2016. Puri Sari Hotel has proven that they have not endangered species in the selection of products used in its restaurant and rooms. They support fishing that is not excessive and have guidelines in accord with the Signing Blue standard. The positive impact has been seen since Puri Sari Hotel joined Signing Blue, an internationally recognized program from WWF-Indonesia, a great milestone for the image of Puri Sari Hotel.

Adapting During a Pandemic

During this pandemic, Puri Sari Hotel strives to continue innovating and providing the best experience and service for their guests. The number of occupancies of the Puri Sari Hotel has decreased significantly since March 2020, with an average hotel occupancy of 70% to 80% of which 90% are foreign guests. Puri Sari Hotel’s revenue was severely hit due to a decrease in guest visits, temporarily closing the hotel was not an option for Puri Sari Hotel, but instead they took this opportunity to make positive changes with a concept adapted for the local market and implementing the Cleanliness Health Safety and Environment Sustainability (CHSE) 'New Normal' protocol. This is an attempt to survive by targeting local guests, as the Indonesian government's strict regulations on closing international borders. The management implemented the CHSE protocol and created a new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) regarding health, cleanliness, and increased service standards according to the 'new normal' in order to continue to serve guests with excellence. One of the innovations made by Puri Sari Hotel is to make changes by creating a half-open (half-outdoor) meeting room in the restaurant area of the main building of the hotel.

The low occupancy rate did not stop Puri Sari Hotel from making positive changes, instead they used this period to train all staff and employees on standardizing guest services in the 'New Normal' era. Puri Sari Hotel's top priority is cleanliness, this is not only for the welfare of potential guests, but also for the staff. In accordance with new rules and regulations, checking body temperature, wearing masks, regularly washing hands, keeping a safe distance, and disinfecting the room after use have become standard practices in the new SOPs.

Every hotel visitor is required to check body temperature, must wear a mask, wash hands with the hand sanitizer provided by the hotel, and pay attention to keeping a distance for the comfort and safety of all. These efforts have been verified and certified by the local government authorities in charge of the hospitality sector in relation to the new ‘New Normal’ protocols and procedures.

In addition to standard health protocols in accordance with procedures that have been verified by the government, Puri Sari Hotel already has an emergency response team consisting of selected staff who have been trained for medical emergencies. First aid kits are available in every area of the hotel, in addition, isolation rooms are also available at the hotel if a guest develops symptoms of COVID-19. Currently Puri Sari Hotel has also collaborated with local hospitals in responding to and handling all possible emergencies.

The future hopes for Puri Sari Hotel are to get full support from the local government and the central government to develop the Labuan Bajo Area. With major infrastructure and tourist site developments, Puri Sari Hotel is ready to welcome local and foreign visitors after the implementation of the 'New Normal' protocol effectively and the reopening of Indonesian tourism doors. Thus, Labuan Bajo remains a world tourist destination that has a variety of exotic natural beauties and is perfectly preserved as a sustainable Indonesian tourism asset. Of course, this is a shared hope of all tourism businesses in Indonesia.