Sophie Sun and Yannick Kee Mew thought they were in huge trouble in 2020 but have emerged as award winners. Photo: Oliver Jacques.
Married couple Sophie Sun and Yannick Kee Mew took over as franchisees of hotel Quest Griffith at the worst possible time.
“We came to Griffith in March 2020 to settle our contract,” Mr Kee Mew said. “The next day, Australia went into lockdown for COVID.”
A remarkable effort in fighting back from the brink and growing the business has seen the couple take out two major annual Quest awards – franchise of the year for NSW/ACT and the nationwide title of outstanding improvement, for which they beat 160 other hotels.
“After years of marriage I’d never seen my husband cry, but I found him hiding in a room crying because we nearly went bankrupt in early 2020. We had so many expenses but no cash flow. There were no flights, everyone was cancelling their bookings, and we had to keep making refunds … it was a tough time, we couldn’t find a place to rent either, so our family were all living in the hotel,” Ms Sun said.
The former human resource manager at Park Hyatt in Shanghai, one of the world’s tallest hotels, had to think outside the box to save her latest business venture.
“I thought, the border was closed, people can’t travel interstate, so we needed to customise the market. I did a tour agenda for Griffith, for Pioneer Park Museum, wine tasting and the Whitton Malt House. I translated everything into Mandarin and promoted it to Chinese people living in Sydney. They couldn’t travel overseas, so I convinced them to come to Griffith. Through that, we received more than 200 bookings,” she said.
Plagued by lockdowns and slow tourism throughout the next two years, the pair continued to innovate.
“During Christmas time, when wineries were shut down, we created a cellar door in the hotel with Leeton’s Robert Fiumara from Lillypilly Wines. He brought his product to us, we showcased it in the conference room where people could taste and buy wine. We sold 300 bottles,” Ms Sun said.
“We did whatever we could to survive. We managed to increase our occupancy from 15 per cent to 60 per cent in our first three months in 2020. Everyone was falling but we were booming. We were one of three franchises Australia-wide that did better in 2020 compared to 2019, and we’ve kept growing since then.”
A grateful guest shows their appreciation. Photo: Facebook.
The Quest awards the pair landed were based on a combination of metrics, including customer and employee satisfaction and sales growth.
Yannick and Sophie met through hospitality and have been married for 17 years. They have three children and previously owned a cafe together in Sydney.
“Our son Ken is captain of Griffith Public School,” Ms Sun said.
All the family have integrated into the community – Sophie has joined Griffith Women in Business and Yannick scored a role on stage in the 2023 local musical production of The Wedding Singer.
“It’s so different from living in Sydney; you get to know the mayor and everyone else. We’ve been made to feel very welcome here. The locals have given us wine, flowers and cards,” Sophie said.
The pair have also given a lot back – sponsoring events like TEDx Griffith, wine judging contests, Carols by Candlelight and Rotary Griffith functions.
The couple don’t regret taking the plunge on Quest Griffith, which they took over from franchisees Josh and Fleur Nadzielski, who had run the establishment since it first opened in 2016.
“We’d like to thank Josh and Fleur for laying a good foundation for us. It’s a good business, it offers something different in holiday accommodation – like the washing machine and cooking facilities in the apartments,” Sophie said.
“I’m a city girl from Shanghai; I’d only planned to be in Griffith for three years, but we are still here. Our family loves this town.”
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