Mr Ayo Oladipo
Chairman, Hotel Solutions Hospitality Nig. Ltd.
Mr Ayodele Oladipo, a native of Akugba Akoko, Ondo State, was born on 24th June, 1960 into the family of Pa Jacob Ologuntere Oladipo. He attended the then Ondo State Polytechnic, Owo, now Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo, Ondo State, where he bagged a Higher National Diploma (HND) in Catering and Hotel Management and subsequently had a Master’s degree in Personnel Psychology from University of Ibadan, Oyo State.
Having succeeded as a highly sophisticated professional in Tourism and Hospitality industry, he thereafter consolidated his professional acumen by going for a management-based programme in 2005 at Lagos Business School Chief Executive Programme (CEP) where he finished as one of the best Executive Participants the school had ever produced.
Mr Ayodele Oladipo is a veteran hotelier who has been in the hospitality industry for close to three decades serving both the government and corporate organisations with a view to constantly consolidating Tourism and Hospitality Industry. His enviably exhibited expertise has taken him to different notable places in the world with numerous awards of excellence to corroborate his achievements. He is an Associate Member of AHCIMA, London; Member, Nigeria Institute of Public Relations; Associate Member, Tourism Board of Nigeria; Member, SKAL Club International; and Member, Hotel Investigation Detective, United Kingdom.
As a sincerely suave sophomore at the then Ondo State Polytechnic, Owo, he combined his curricular activities with a supervisory job at Faaji Palace Hotel in Owo town – it was his outstanding academic performance that prompted his Head of Department, Mr Eli Tiwagagbe(a Ghanaian) to recommend him for the job.
Tourism and Hospitality industry today would have not have been regarded as a great source of revenue generation for hoteliers in particular and government as a whole if not for the constantly exhibited professionalism of veterans like Mr Ayodele Oladipo. His invaluable contributions to the growth and development of hospitality industry within and outside the country are invariably immeasurable.
At the early stage of his career, he worked in the following hotels: Diganga Hotel, Ile-Ife; Motorway Motel, Ondo-State; 3A’S Hotel, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State; Catering Department of Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi –Araba, Lagos State – while working in all these places, he was known for his distinctive and result-oriented modus operandi. It was the experience he acquired in all these hospitality outfits that later brought him to limelight.
He later joined the workforce of Odu’a Investment Group Limited, the owner of Lagos Airport Hotel, Premier and Lafia Hotels, as Assistant Food and Beverage Superintendent at the Lagos Airport Hotel, a hotel with 300 Bedrooms and assorted ultramodern facilities that could be found in any 5-star hotel in the world. It was his doggedness and constant commitment to series of official assignments that precipitated his being promoted to the position of Food and Beverage Manager of the hotel thus making him the toast of every staff member of the hotel.
As a result of his outstanding performance, he was transferred to Lafia Hotel, Ibadan as the Unit General Manager. As at this time, the hotel had already been earmarked for sale because of its devastating state – with God on his side, he transformed the hotel with less than 17 functional rooms to 60 bedrooms with the state-of-art facilities thus making it become one of the best Hotels in the South-West of Nigeria. This development lent credence to the hotel thus making it one of the hotels used by FIFA when Nigeria hosted the Under-20 World Cup Tournament in 1999.
His great achievement at Lafia Hotel led to his promotion to the position of the Managing Director/CEO of the Hotel – this unprecedented achievement he recorded at Lafia Hotel invariably became the precursor of the International Award of Excellence he received in 2001in Madrid, Spain where he was celebrated as one of the greatest veteran hoteliers in the world.
It was just as if he was meant for series of transformational programmes – his contributions to the resuscitation of Lafia Hotel which was at a moribund stage when he got there thus paved another way of promotion for him – he was transferred to Premier Hotel, a hotel with 87 Bedrooms which had almost gone bankrupt for four years.
Besides, the ancient structures and facilities of the hotel he met on ground were specimens of mesmerizing mess – Premier Hotel thus became another challenge he needed to meet.
As a matter of resourcefulness, within six months of re-engineering, re-structuring and re-positioning Premier Hotel, he and his team changed the Hotel to a profit-oriented establishment and set it back on the track of a standard hotel – all these were achieved by dint of hard work, teamwork, dedication and staff cooperation. In addition to this, he maximized the facilities there to the fullness by revamping the Catering School, which was then affiliated with OTHM, London, revitalizing the Night Club, consolidating the filling station and creating the Native Market and the Games Village for the maximum enjoyment of guests and other patrons of the hotel.
During his tenure as the Managing Director/CEO of Lafia Hotel, he established a Consultancy Unit which specialized in the turning around of hotels. The first client of the Unit was Motel Royal, Ile Ife, which was successfully re-commissioned and made operational. At Premier Hotel, Mr Ayodele Oladipo continued with the Consultancy Unit and undertook the management of several hotels.
In 2006, he voluntarily resigned from Premier Hotel to start his own consultancy firm which was registered with Corporate Affairs Commission as Hotel Solutions Consultancy Services Nigeria Limited – a consultancy firm that has rendered professional services to many hoteliers in the country and is still committed to rendering such. His scope of coverage has geometrically become high – this wide coverage of his consultancy services has as well prompted him to found another consultancy firm registered with Corporate Affairs Commission as Hotel Solutions Hospitality.
Mr Ayodele Oladipo is an internationally celebrated hospitality consultant whose expertise brought enviable revolutionary changes to every place he had worked – this was evident in all awards he had received so far; his professional acumen still speaks for him till date.
He was honoured in 1999 when he received Outstanding Hotelier of the Century Award being the Presidential Merit Award given to him at The Polytechnic, Ibadan; Propel Development Centre also presented an Award of Excellence to him in recognition of his outstanding performance. He was a recipient of Corporate Managing Director of the Year Award – presented to him in 2000 by Ondo State Polytechnic, Owo.
The acknowledgment of his great achievements in the industry took another dimension in 2001 when LAYOLAB COMMUNICATIONS gave him the Best Hotel Administrator of the Millennium Award. He was a recipient of Humanity Award – presented to him in 2002 by TELO COMMUNICATIONS, Ibadan; recipient of Vocational Excellence Award – presented to him in 2005 by Rotary Club of Iyaganku, Ibadan; recipient of Dexterity in Hospitality Award – presented to him in 2005 by Lyrics Night Club.
In 2009, he was a recipient of the Best Hotelier of the Year Award – presented to him by Nigeria Hotel Association; also an Award Winner of 26th International Award for Tourism, Hotel and Catering Industry; Most Distinguished Hospitality Consultant of the Year – presented to him by the Association of Student Communicators, The Polytechnic, Ibadan. His outstanding performance in the industry was also viewed as a unique one in 2010 when he received an Award of Excellence presented to him by The Frontline News Media.
Apart from the aforementioned value-added services, his consultancy firm as well concentrates on rendering services in the following areas: Industrial Catering; Tourism and Tour operations; Laundry Operations; Bakery and Confectionery; Hospital Catering; Fast Food Operation; Feasibility Study, Project Supervision and Construction of Hotels; Staff Recruitment, Training and Auditing; Recommendation of Equipment/Utensils; Wall Finishes; Ceiling Finishes; Floor Finishes; Soft Furnishing; Landscaping; Interior Decorations; Fine Lighting; Painting Finishes; Flowers and Artworks Placement and other hospitality-related services.
Mr Ayodele Oladipo is a highly sought-for consultant in Tourism and Hospitality Industry. He is the Chairman of Hotel Solutions Hospitality Nigeria Limited, a consultancy firm with its headquarters in Ibadan.
