HotelScapes May Issue

Volume 2. Issue 4. May 2013. Rs 50

HAI inauguration at The Oberoi Gurgaon

all about hotels & hospitality

Hoteliers converge for the annual HAI Convention Industry body FAITH is launched Expansion plans of The Serai Resorts Destination reports: Jaipur & Indore Hotels go women-friendly

editorial

Volume 2 Issue 4 may 2013

editor’s note

Volume 2. Issue 4. May 2013. Rs 50

HAI inauguration at The Oberoi Gurgaon

all about hotels & hospitality

Hoteliers converge for the annual HAI Convention Industry body FAITH is launched Expansion plans of The Serai Resorts Destination reports: Jaipur & Indore Hotels go women-friendly

This month, the big news certainly is the formalisation of the muchawaited industry body, FAITH, the mother federation comprising all the leading travel, tourism and hospitality associations in the country. Also, we bring you a brief report on the 3rd HAI Hoteliers’ Conclave, that was held last month, emphasising the need for the industry to embrace new-age technology.

Our forum this month talks about how hotels are going women-friendly.

We cover some of the hotels pan India that are setting the trend, literally creating the benchmark for the safety of women travellers.

Our technology pages are about the latest solutions in optimising room revenue, critical to the survival of the industry.

An interesting trend one has been observing for sometime is the increasing number of hotels coming up in malls, not just in tier 1 cities but also in tier 2 cities. The real reason for this is not just that the hotel can acquire an additional selling point, its location being within easy distance of popular shopping areas but also that the FSI available to a mall can be mixed between shopping areas and also a hotel, thereby enabling the owner to utilise the FSI to the full.

We cover two cities – Jaipur and Indore in our destination reports. The Jaipur hoteliers reveal this summer is looking far more positive than last year, perhaps riding on Indian generated traffic; we also gather that Indore is beginning to realise its full potential in the hospitality zone.

Our F&B topic this month is ‘food festivals’ being adopted as a smart marketing strategy by hotels to push up their F&B sales. Read on how these festivals help hotels.

We have some interesting interviews lined up in this issue. Robert Gaymer-Jones, CEO-Sofitel talks about the French luxury brand’s expansion plans in India; Farhat Jamal-GM of the recently launched first Shangri-La Hotel of Mumbai talks about the positioning of the hotel, and we have an interview with The Serai Resorts on the brand expanding into the North with their upcoming resort in The Andamans.

We continue to provide other industry news and updates. Do write to us with your feedback.

Editor: Navin S Berry Assistant Editor: Manisha Almadi Midha Advertising: Saurabh Shukla Design: Ashok Saxena, Neelam Aswani Hotelscapes is published and printed by Navin Berry, printed at Anupam Art Printers B-52, Naraina, Phase II, New Delhi and published from IIIrd Floor, Rajendra Bhawan, 210, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg, New Delhi - 110002.

Editor: Navin S Berry, Tel: 91-11-43784444; Fax: 91-11-41001627.

E-mail: info@crosssectionmedia.com This issue of Hotelscapes contains 64 pages plus 4 pages cover

r e ad e r s w r it e in Congratulations on the superb HICSA coverage in the April issue. You carried some noteworthy interviews with the prominent leaders of the industry. Keep up the good work!

Vikram Rana, New Delhi The interview on Hyatt’s first hotel coming up in Gurgaon was interesting. We look forward to the opening of another 5 star hotel in our neighbourhood.

Riti Kalra, Gurgaon The article on the art of human capital acquisition was quite informative. It would help the industry understand how it should go about hiring manpower, to achieve good results on their investment.

Khush Dawar, Mumbai

May 2013 • hotelscapes 1

May

Contents 20

New developments 4 Chennai gets its first Westin hotel 5 Tux Hospitality launches Hive in

Forum of the month 24 Hotels go women-friendly

Alwar 6 Residency Sarovar Portico comes up in Mumbai

Destination report: Indore 32 Indore maximises its potential in

In the news 8 FAITH, the industry federation is

Destination report: Jaipur 34 This summer is looking more

launched

1 0 The 3rd HAI Hoteliers’ Conclave held at The Oberoi

Technology 12 Save the rate Interview of the month 16 Sofitel: link luxury to lifestyle One on one 20 The much awaited Shangri-La

hospitality

positive for Jaipur

38

24 F&B 38 Food festivals are a good marketing exercise

Trends 44 Building a hotel in a mall helps consume the available FSI

Brand analysis 48 The Serai Resorts coming up in Andaman & Mangalore

People 62 Movements in the industry

Mumbai opens

Report 22 NRAI releases the India Food Services Report 2013

2 hotelscapes • May 2013

Guest column 46

Select service – the winning concept

May 2013 • hotelscapes 3

new developments

Chennai gets its first Westin hotel The Westin Chennai Velachery marks the launch of the sixth hotel to the Westin brand portfolio in India.

T

he fast growing corridor of South Chennai – Velachery was abuzz with jubilation from the opening ceremony of The Westin Chennai Velachery. Located in the business district of Chennai, this is the sixth Wes-

journey of experiences around the brand pillars of wellness – sleep well, eat well, work well, stay well, move well and play well.

The celebration continued in the evening with the opening ceremony witnessing red

L-R: Shrikant Wakharkar, GM, The Westin Chennai Velachery; Vir Sanghvi and Dilip Puri, MD-India and Regional Vice President-South Asia, Starwood Hotels & Resorts

tin hotel in India designed for business travellers, thus adding to the city’s growing international hospitality portfolio.

The opening was marked by a brand immersion and familiarisation session conducted by Brian Povinelli, Global Brand Leader, Westin Hotels & Resorts; Dilip Puri, MD-India and Regional Vice President-South Asia, Starwood Hotels & Resorts and Shrikant Wakharkar, GM, The Westin Chennai Velachery inducing an inspiring

4 hotelscapes • May 2013

carpet arrivals of the city’s socialites and f ilm personalities like Mini Menon, Jiiva, Prashanth, Ganesh Venkatraman, Dhanshika, Srikanth, Shakthi Vasudevan, Sidney Sladen, Sadagopan Ramesh and others.

Entertainment followed with high note dance performances, a watch out architectural video projection that set off a huge, choreographed pyrotechnic unveiling of the Westin logo that included fireworks illuminating

the neighbourhood.

Povinelli said, “The Westin Chennai Velachery is a significant addition to our strong Westin portfolio in India. The prime location of The Westin Chennai Velachery and the draw of the signature Westin experience, designed to provide our guests a bit of wel lbei ng i n the cent er of Chennai, makes us confident that this new hotel will soon become a preferred destination for both business and

leisure travellers.”

Wakharkar added, “Maki ng a ma rk w it h it s st yle, service and local and international cuisine, The Westin Chennai Velachery is a highly anticipated addition to the portfolio of five star hotels in the city of Chennai. We believe that business travellers, meeting planners and individual travellers will be delighted with the Westin emphasis on wellbeing and our signature services.” ■

New Developments

Tux Hospitality launches the affordable brand Hive in Alwar Tux Hospitality introduces its first Hive in Alwar, Rajasthan.

A

fter the success of Mosaic Hotel in Noida, Tux Hospitality seeks to deliver the best of facilities at Hive Alwar. The hotel is located at a convenient three hours drive from Delhi and Jaipur. Having taken factors such as connectivity into account, the property is strategically placed not only amidst the best of surroundings but is just three kms away from the railway station and is in close proximity to the Matsya Industrial Area (MIA).

The hotel features 45 well-appointed rooms and offers three categories – deluxe, club and suite. The rooms offer ameni-

ties such as high-speed wireless Internet, electronic safe and LCD television. The 24 hours guest room services include in-room dinning and laundry looked after by a team of well groomed industry professionals.

Hive Alwar offers a Food & Beverage outlet Add, a 24 hours access control gym and a meeting room. The hotel is soon coming up with its rooftop restaurant – The Grill, the bar and a banquet hall for business and social gatherings. It will also have a rooftop pool for the unwinding experience in the picturesque backdrop of the Aravalli Mountains and has plans to come up with a spa as well. ■

May 2013 • hotelscapes 5

New developments

Residency Sarovar Portico comes up in Mumbai It is a serviced apartment style hotel in North Mumbai.

S

[

a rova r Hotels announced the opening of a 71 room serviced apartment style hotel, Residency Sarovar Portico in Mumbai. This is the Group’s fifth hotel in Mumbai after Hotel Marine Plaza, Grand Sarovar Premiere, Grand Hometel and Majestic Court Sarovar Portico.

Residency Sarovar Portico is located in North Mumbai within close proximity to the Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mind Space, Film City and malls. The hotel is nine kms from the Mumbai Airport and one and a half kms from Goregaon Railway Station.

Commenting on the opening, Anil Madhok, Managing Director, Sarovar Hotels said, “Residency Sarovar Portico is a serviced apartment style hotel and will cater to both leisure and business travellers, especially those visiting North Mumbai for business. This is our fifth hotel in Mumbai offering quality accommodation at attractive price points. With this hotel we now have over 60 hotels operational and aim to open a total of 100 hotels by 2020 across the globe.”

Each of the guest rooms and suites are modern and offer contemporary amenities such as LCD television with satellite channels, tea / coffee maker, mini bar and Wi-Fi. The hotel provides meeting and banquet facilities for up to 250 guests and a Tea Lounge which caters to in-house guests and offers Indian and Continental cuisines. ■

Residency Sarovar Portico is a serviced apartment style hotel and will cater to both leisure and business travellers, especially those visiting North Mumbai for business.

6 hotelscapes • May 2013

in the news

Faith gets a new beginning: Industry segments come together in a much awaited embrace Faith, the industry federation that brings together ten associations is finally launched.

Association presidents and distinguished guests and well wishers of FAITH

Nakul Anand, president, Hotel Association of India is also the first chairman of FAITH.

8 hotelscapes • May 2013

The ceremonial oath taking by the heads of the 10 participating associations – abiding to work together.

in the news

O

ur FAITH was somewhat delayed, sometimes we even wondered if it had got derailed. But it did come through, our faith restored in FAITH. Yes, the ten organizations did come through, finally, to say we will create a voice for the industry, united. That tourism needs a voice can never be debated – the more fitting need of the hour is to see what to debate first, and how to take it forward. Everybody has come around to the belief that tourism is sitting in the states, and Secretary Tourism, Parvez Dewan has promised that he will get an audience with the secretaries at the state level, in fact, he has promised to do so in the next few weeks – perhaps that is one right place to start the journey of FAITH. Let us look forward to it!

One voice for what? As per the charter presentation made by the consulting CEO, Ashish Gupta, it is the entire world that he has captured for himself. As a larger objective, this is most appropriate. However, he may do better to narrow down his priorities, to begin with. Let us do one thing at a time. Purposefully, and let us show the results. Hopefully, this clarity will come from the ten member organizations.

The idea of FAITH has evolved from the proposed CITTI, which was being floated by the Ministry of Tourism. At one time, CITTI was seen as a NASSCOM type model for the tourism industry. It was also seen in the same typecast as CII and FICCI for general industry. These organizations are successful as they have a strong secretariat, and an even stronger Secretary General. Therefore, how will the idea of a consulting CEO perform when the task is massive? The idea that the office of FAITH will move with that of the incumbent chairman of the federation may weaken the implementation process. Should it have a permanent office, with a strong SG, with a few set points of agenda for the first few years? Will this give it form and substance?

To our mind, the industry is presently grappling with some unsettling issues. There seems to be some gaping discrepancy between private sector and government on how tourism is doing as an industry. FAITH needs to do some research and give us some authentic numbers, to begin with.

Nakul Anand, chairman, FAITH made a substantive presentation on the present status of tourism, within a historical perspective. What should be done with this presentation – a most comprehensive statement on the state of the industry. It needs to be shown to everybody in parliament. Incidentally, will FAITH also lobby for tourism with the world outside – or, join hands with WTTC as this is what the latter was meant to be doing so far (Incidentally, WTTC was not one of the associations among those who closed rank to create FAITH – any guesses).

Very few organizations can create among them such a powerful abbreviation among them – FAITH. It is a befitting moment for everybody, a long felt and expressed need. It should not dissipate like many such efforts in the past – after the initial outburst, these have petered off into routine slumber. The energy must flow, evolve and outgrow everybody’s expectations! ■

by Navin Berry

May 2013 • hotelscapes 9

in the news

The 3rd HAI Hoteliers’ Conclave:

Industry must embrace new-age technology The 3rd HAI Hoteliers’ Conclave was held at The Oberoi, Gurgaon.

Captains on stage: leading members of HAI at the inauguration

Nakul Anand, President HAI greets Parvez Dewan, Secretary Tourism

Priya Paul, chairperson, The Park Hotels, DK Beri, Taj Group and Usha Sharma, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Tourism

Vivek Nair, CMD, Leela Hotels and Dr Jyotsna Suri, chairperson, Lalit Hotels

Suresh Kumar, KB Kachru and Raj Rana the new CEO of Carlson Hotels

Theme setting for the lunch, created by the chefs at The Oberoi Gurgaon

Rajiv Kaul and Kapil Chopra

10 hotelscapes • May 2013

in the news

W

hen the leading CEOs of the hospitality industry get together on to a single panel discussion, there is much to imbibe and take home as a delegate. Senior representatives and owners from hotel chains such as Taj, Oberoi, ITC, The Park, Lalit, Leela, Lemon Tree and Carlson were together moderated by the inimitable Amitabh Kant, who is now the CEO of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor. The discussion included the competitive environment, almost hostile, that the industry is facing presently, with the indifferent performance of the economy. How will Indian brands compete with those from abroad? How will the asset-light policy of the MNCs work when they will not invest in the country? What is the bottom-line working like for a large 7-star property and how will the projected supply of additional 5,000 rooms in Aerocity impact hotels in the capital?

All this was sincerely addressed and answered.

The 3rd HAI Hoteliers’ Conclave was held from 2nd to 3rd May at The Oberoi, Gurgaon. Positioned as an E-Conclave, the theme of the conclave was ‘Technology – Leading the Change.’

The Ministry of Tourism (MoT), Government of India will add more features and services to the Incredible India website as part of making electronic delivery of travel services more easy and experiential to travellers. Speaking at the inaugural session of the conclave, Parvez Dewan, Secretary Tourism, Government of India said that MoT is working with different agencies and many innovative features will be added in the coming months. He said that there has been a phenomenal increase in the number of visitors to the Incredible India website since the MoT introduced electronic service delivery features into it.

Nakul Anand, President, HAI made a presentation on the ‘Mega Trends in Tourism & Hospitality.’ The presentation traces the strengths of Destination India and the opportunities that the economy and liberalisation provide for the growth of travel and tourism industry in particular.

It traces the missed opportunities and draws a roadmap into the future.

The inaugural session was attended by Priya Paul, Chairperson, Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels Ltd; Dr Jyotsna Suri, Chairperson & Managing Director, Bharat Hotels Ltd; Vivek Nair, Chairman & Managing Director, The Leela Palaces, Hotels & Resorts; Raymond Bickson, Managing Director, The Indian Hotels Company Ltd., Vikram Oberoi, Joint Managing Director, East India Hotels (EIH) Limited, among others.

The signature event of Hotel Association of India (HAI), The Hoteliers’ Conclave is the foremost meeting place of the leaders of Indian hospitality industry. Over 250 owners, CEOs and General Managers of leading hotels/groups gathered at the 3rd Conclave. The Conclave provided opportunities of networking and inter-active deliberations among hospitality industry leaders, associates and partners for building business linkages, exchange of innovative ideas and showcasing the latest developments in the industry. ■

by Navin Berry

May 2013 • hotelscapes 11

technology

Technology: save the rate Burgeoning supply need not mean rate-cutting. It simply implies smarter strategies and perhaps an investment in technology. In this roundtable, solutions providers reveal the revenue manager’s daily grouses, his latest investments and emerging best practices – complete with case studies and product news.

L

ike every operational area, revenue managers are grappling with over supply. They’re coping with a talent crunch – except that theirs isn’t simply an issue of attrition; there’s a dearth of skilled resources available. Technology comes to the rescue, of course, but with a post-script. It needs to be aligned with people and processes.

12 hotelscapes • May 2013

Q

With dynamic pricing catching on, technology appears to be a revenue manager’s best friend. Could you give us a case study about improvements in rates or efficiency since this product/a given product from your portfolio was implemented in a hotel?

Joy Ghosh: We have strong dema nd generati ng pro -

grammes through Consortia, Metasearch, TripAdvisor that are integrated with our CRS iHotelier. In addition to these programmes late last year we launched our latest generation web booking engine called iHotelier web 3.0. On an average, our hotels have benefitted in augmenting their throughput through electronic channels by 20 to 40 percent. One specific example would be the Chan-

cery group from Bengaluru who have seen increase in their online revenue by 25 to 30 per cent year over year.

Also, there are a lot of hotels who are reporting better management of their rate and inventory through our channel management tool EzYield.

Several international hotel chains including Starwood have adopted this tool to better manage their business with

technology

the OTAs. Sivaprasad Gangadharan: We installed IDeaS Revenue Management System (RMS) and IDeaS Forecasting System (FMS) at Reef View Hotel at Hamilton Island in Australia.

In August 2010, IDeaS began onsite training to use its Forecasting Management System (FMS), which was implemented across the hotel’s entire operations. The IDeaS RMS was later implemented in March 2011 at Hamilton Island’s Reef View Hotel, which was extended to qualia in June 2011. Between March 2011 and March 2012, the hotel has seen a transient room night gain in excess of 3,500 room nights and a transient revenue gain of 6.7 percent.

Udai Singh Solanki: Premier I nn I nd ia has recently i ncreased online bookings to over 20 percent with RateTiger. The brand deployed RTSuite and

saw the increase across both its properties. The brand also expressed satisfaction with the constant upgrades offered by RateTiger. The feedback from them was that “The new version, RTSuite 3.0, is a classic example of RateTiger’s innovation – the fresh design of the dashboard is easy to navigate and pleasant to work on, while the updates and alerts are very useful.” Of course, besides just deploying the technology, results emerged from placing immediate rate and inventory updates and adding new promotions through RateTiger efficiently. It allowed them to make quick rate decisions and implement them immediately without having to call the OTAs or go through any laborious update process, according to their revenue manager Vikrant Sharma.

Sometimes, a company’s goal need not be rate oriented. Club Mahindra installed RateTiger in 23 of its properties and generated a higher volume of bookings through improved sales visibility while reducing the administration process. The group wanted to promote rates and inventory on various channels to boost occupancy – online exposure is essential for some of their off-beat properties.

Q

What Back-of-House processes – related to your product, or even otherwise – should revenue managers implement to drive higher rates and improve efficiency in revenue management?

Joy Ghosh: They need to focus on competitive intelligence. We help a lot of hotels through our rate shopping tool called Rate360 to reflect pricing changes of competition with respect to demand and lead time. Also, our product

Agency360 (the erstwhile Hotelligence) helps them to monitor and increase their GDS business in city hotels. We have training available on demand through our lea rning centre to help revenue managers identify opportunities better and come up with competitive strategies.

Next up, is effective distribution plays a key role in improving revenue. With an increase in searches made via a mobile device in India and change in consumer’s shopping behaviour, it is vital to have mobile-friendly look+book process. With iHotelier mobile booking engine (mobibook), we offer a threepage branded mobile website along with a mobile compatible booking engine to capture onthe-go-bookings. As per Google data, a fifth of all hotel queries are emerging from a smartphone. And this has grown by 410 percent in 2012 over 2011.

Sivaprasad Gangadharan: Deploying a system won’t work like a magic-wand. You need people, processes and your technology to synchronise – the team must believe in revenue management, so revenue managers must communicate some essential intricacies of the process. For instance, everything is data driven, so those procuring and entering data need to be made aware of how their actions impact data.

A given guest might often check into a hotel for conferences but for the entry at hand, he might be attending a wedding. Little things count, when you’re basing prices on them.

Today revenue managers need to be good communicators – they need to be able to explain decisions to other teams, to higher authorities in organisations and sometimes enable sales teams to give explanations to clients.

Udai Singh Solanki: Apart from the big PMS, CRS, RMS systems that most hotels use

Joy Ghosh regional director India & Subcontinent, TravelClick Inc

I think it is safe to say that the industry has at least awakened to the fact that inventory lying unsold will never be sold. We see dynamic pricing maturing as most hotels are expanding rate dynamism to length of stay and lead time.

nowadays, there are certain smaller but extremely important aspects that need to be taken care of. Our solutions are designed around these. For channel management, we offer Channelmanager; for rate shopping, we have Shopper, for the increasingly significant and impactful online reputation management, we offer RateTiger Review.

Q

It is only of late that dynamic pricing is catching on in the Indian hotel industry. How much would you say has the May 2013 • hotelscapes 13

technology trend penetrated the industry over the last year or so?

Joy Ghosh: I think it is safe to say that the industry has at least awakened to the fact that inventory lying unsold will never be sold. We see dynamic pricing maturing as most hotels are expanding rate dynamism to length of stay and lead time.

Sivaprasad Gangadharan: The last two years have been successful. I think international chains have set the trend and now everybody sees the benefits of dynamic pricing.

Udai Singh Solanki: With adva nc ement s i n cha n nel management technology, many Indian hotels are getting better at controlling rates online through automated systems.

If they don’t actually admit to making more revenue out of it than fixed rack pricing, at least they will be matching demand with availability more effectively. Hotels will charge more on nights where availability is limited and other market segments are paying more for that availability.

We have already seen IHG tasting success with dynamic pricing model first in Asia-Pacific, and later with global corporate accounts. Similarly the likes of Accor, Hilton and Starwood too have implemented the dynamic pricing model for corporate buyers successfully. From a strategic perspective, dynamic rates are ideal for revenue management; it truly allows one to perform the art of matching supply and demand at all levels.

Q

How has your business in India increased over the last two years?

Udai singh solanki CTO & MD, eRevMax

We have already seen IHG tasting success with dynamic pricing model first in AsiaPacific, and later with global corporate accounts. Similarly the likes of Accor, Hilton and Starwood too have implemented the dynamic pricing model for corporate buyers.

14 hotelscapes • May 2013

Joy Ghosh : We see major growth coming from the online side of the business. We are creating more websites for hotels, more search and display campaigns and more TripAdvisor products.

Sivaprasad Gangadharan: Dema nd is def i n itely on a growth spurt. For example, Shangri-La and Fairmont use us globally and they deployed our products when they opened their hotels here. Leela gave us a contract this month and Lemon Tree has taken us up for its 17 operational hotels.

Udai Singh Solanki: According to PhoCusWright’s Asia Pacific Online Travel Overview Fifth Edition, the online travel

market in India is expected to grow faster than the overall travel market in 2013 as online penetration reaches 36 percent. India’s overall market is expected to reach US$24.6 billion this year. This of course has a direct impact on our business – the more hotels sell their inventory online, the more is the demand for technology product like ours.

The region is one of the highest growth markets for us right now. We have seen increased adoption of our products

by Indian hoteliers over the last two years. Some of brands that use our products include Louvre Hotels, Premier Inn, Jetwing Hotels, MGM Hotels and Resorts, Ginger Hotels, Regenta Central, Fortune Select, The Oberoi Hotels, The Park, Royal Orchid, Club Mahindra Resorts, Ramada and The Lalit among others.

definition too. Today a revenue manager spends most of his time delivering reports to the management rather than forecasting rates.

And as I mentioned earlier, the data emerging from the PMS must be accurate.

Udai Singh Solanki: Revenue management does not only entail driving rates and getting maximum occupancy – it goes beyond that. Revenue managers definitely need to understand their guests better and learn their buying behaviour.

In the long run, it will be more about customer relationship management than just about generating revenue. It is truly about getting the right price at the right time from the right customer.

Q

Where are the gaps in revenue management today?

What needs to be done to make dynamic pricing as prevalent as it is in the airline industry and how do you suggest hotels go about it?

Joy Ghosh: Being nascent, the gaps are knowledge-related.

Finding a capable revenue management professional is a task. As a responsible industry partner, we are trying to plug this gap. Our quarterly webinars are quite popular. We are also holding educational seminars once a year in which we invite guest speakers from online gurus like Google and TripAdvisor to help revenue managers demystify online marketing and the emerging trends of distribution.

Sivaprasad Gangadharan: It is a challenge for hotels to find trained revenue managers.

There are no courses or degrees in revenue management in any of the Indian institutes. Sure, Cornell offers one but there needs to be availability within the country.

The role needs more mature

Joy Ghosh : I think buyers are aware that high demand equates to high prices. The challenge for hoteliers is to c om mu n ic at e t he r eve r s e situation. Often hoteliers realise quite late in the day that certain date is soft in terms of demand and therefore the pricing needs to be adjusted.

However hoteliers often forget that to communicate a good deal to consumers, marketing must be planned well in advance. Indian buyers are probably the most intelligent and once they realise that good deals are possible if one books well in advance, they will go for it.

Sivaprasad Gangadharan: It is not as easy because in the airline industry, the number of vendors is limited. But keeping an eye on the competition constantly will help hotels move in

Q

technology that direction.

Uda i Sing h Sola n k i : Dynamic pricing for hotel rooms and airlines might look very similar but it is by no means identical. Both hotel and airline revenue management analyse market demand and supply, predict traveller behaviour and allocate their resources accordingly. However the data and the method used to calculate fair market rates is where the two differ completely. Further availability for relevant data in case of hotels is very difficult to get hold of.

While the majority of airfares are available on GDSs, hotel inventory remains highly fragmented. Only few hotels have access to the kind of revenue management technology employed in air pricing, as the investment sometimes seem too high for properties that function as individual cost centres.

However these hotels need to realise that they need not always employ huge systems and that a revenue manager can effectively maintain dynamic rates through a smart channel manager.

Q

Owners are sometimes a little wary about upfront investments – are there any staggered payment plans or special payment plans that you’re putting out?

Joy Ghosh: We are quite flexible in terms of payment across our product portfolio.

Sivaprasad Gangadharan: Since we are a hosted solution, there is no hardware cost, meaning a lower cost of deployment. The license fee can be paid annually, half-yearly or quarterly. Also we have different products to suit different budgets. The Enterprise System is complex and for larger hotels; the Pricing System is less com-

Practically speaking, if a hotel adds 10 additional channels and sells even just one additional room a week on just one of these channels they will instantly see a return on investment.

Q

Tell us about your latest product release and how it gives revenue managers an edge? Also touch upon what makes it better than its counterparts/ competitors?

Sivaprasad gangadharan regional director sales, IDeaS

Deploying a system won’t work like a magic-wand. You need people, processes and your technology to synchronise – the team must believe in revenue management, so revenue managers must communicate some essential intricacies of the process.

plex and the Forecast System is an add-on.

Udai Singh Solanki: We offer a simple payment format – our products are available on a yearly subscription fee and hotels are free to choose their payment period – quarterly, half-yearly or annually.

Further we offer free demonstrations to revenue managers as well as to hotel owners and share ROI stats that other clients have experienced while using RateTiger to show real gains made by similar hotels.

Joy Ghosh: With our latest Business Intelligence product Demand360, hotelier’s get exclusive information and indepth reports on future demand for the subscribing hotel and competitive set. Hotels use this intelligence to optimise their revenue management strategy and increase revenue and profit by driving business to higher rated segments and lower cost channels.

Sivaprasad Gangadharan: Limited resources and low availability of skilled revenue managers prompted us to launch a solution which would demand less time and expertise. The IDeaS Pricing System is simple and requires revenue managers to spend less time on tactical tasks. Hotels might even be able to tide through in the absence of a senior level management person – we’re told that often it takes months for them to find replacements. The product offers quality pricing influencers based in competition and develops a forecast based on your occupancy.

Udai Singh Solanki: The latest RateTiger product update – RTSuite 3.0 aims at improving usability of various features while providing the most relevant information directly on the dashboard for the revenue manager to use.

On a tech trail for rateefficiency l

Louvre Hotels

l

Premier Inn

l

Jetwing Hotels

l

MGM Hotels and Resorts

l

Ginger Hotels

l

Regenta Central

l

Fortune Select

l

The Oberoi

l

The Park

l

Royal Orchid

l

Club Mahindra Resorts

l

Ramada

l

The Lalit

l

Starwood

l

Chancery Hotels

l

Lemon Tree

l

The Leela

Are you on the ball? l

Mobile website

l

Managing channels

l

Online distribution

l

Eye on the competition

l

Historical data

Customer relationship management

l

Marketing slow days/ good deals

l

Hotels will now be able to update rates and availability for 365 days with Bulk Update; this will allow properties to place prices into the market and be visible for up to two years in the future, never missing out on a booking opportunity. Further we have upgraded the Quick Close function that will prevent any overbooking at anytime across any dates with high occupancy. ■

by Raynah Coutinho

May 2013 • hotelscapes 15

Interview of the month

Link luxury to lifestyle!

The lobby, Sofitel Mumbai BKC

16 hotelscapes • May 2013

interview of the month

Robert Gaymer-Jones is CEO of French luxury brand, Sofitel says it is the intangibles – not prototyped design – that will help create niches in the luxury segment.

I Robert Gaymer-Jones CEO, Sofitel

We differentiate ourselves from American luxury brands by focusing on the senses, rather only a tangible luxury experience that is prototyped. We also differentiate on the basis of our locationled design and service elements – all of it with French elegance as the base. Hotels must look like Parisian boutiques.

t has been six years since Robert Gaymer-Jones took the reins at Sofitel as its COO in 2007. His journey to CEO went via the task of implementing a rather ambitious plan to reposition Sofitel and develop a new brand ideology. This included styling the brand from scratch and the development of two additional brands within it, Sofitel Legend for those seeking “heritage and legacy” and Sofitel So for the stylish, young guest who embraces intense living in stylish fashionable surroundings. There was also some dirty work – hotel closures related to the rationalising of Sofitel’s network from 206 to 120 hotels.

He asked all the tough questions during the re-branding exercise: was the hotel (still) in the right location; did the hotel have access to a luxury clientele; was RevPAR in line with competition; did its offering of suites, F&B and wellness pass muster and whether the owner had the passion to take the hotel to the new brand standards. He constructed the brand’s Life is Magnifique campaign and even posed for an ad campaign in 2008. He’s obviously got luxury hotel-keeping at his fingertips – just the right man to draw up a sketch of the new luxury.

Q A

How is luxury evolving given supply pressure and yet another round of economic uncertainty?

It appears that the mid-market segment is getting squeezed in terms of rates and pressure on occupancy. Especially in India, that is where the large chunk of supply is coming in.

At the two ends of the spectrum – economy and luxury – there is no pressure at the moment.

However, I’ll have to agree that luxury has seen evolution. We differentiate ourselves from American luxury brands by focusing on the senses, rather only a tangible luxury experience that is prototyped. We also differentiate on the basis of our location-led design and service elements – all of it with French elegance as the base. Hotels must look like Parisian boutiques.

Besides, we tie in our luxury offering with our guests’ lifestyle. For instance, at Sofitel So Singapore, we had Chanel creative director Karl Lagarfeld design the property’s emblem. At the Sofitel So Bangkok, we signed French couturier and curator Monsieur Christian Lacroix – he designed the quirky staff uniforms, an installation in the lobby, one for the hotel’s club lounge and the property’s emblem. Japanese fashion designer Kenzo Takada designed a host of signature elements at the Sofitel So Mauritius – things like cushions, floral installations and tableware.

Q A

How does “catering to the senses” translate into a service offering?

The new luxury is all about the difference between customised service and what we call cosou main, which means service from the heart. No longer does bling-bling signify luxury.

Intimate service does. That’s why hotels – not just us, across the board – are investing so heavily in maintaining guest history and tailoring their next stay to match the information gathered.

The old luxury was unapproachable and unobtrusive; luxury today is very personal while remaining unobtrusive.

We have invested tremendously in training employees to be brand ambassadors – to actually take this personalised service as a duty. I don’t think one can stress enough, just how significant employee satisfaction is to how your brand is relayed to the guest. I’m delighted to note that employee satisfaction scores for Mumbai are at 93 per cent.

There are myriad minor things that engage your guests and build loyalty – Sofitel enjoys a very strong loyalty from female guests. One of the quoted reasons is that the hotels are femalefriendly. For instance, our hotels incorporate bars as part of the lobby – they see this as a positive because even though a female executive anywhere in the world might want to enjoy a drink after a day similar to her male counterpart, she might feel awkward (unlike her male counterpart), walking into a bar alone to grab a drink.

But when the lobby bar is not separated from the lobby, it makes it a lot less intimidating.

Q A

Give us an example of location-led luxury in India? How is it different from elsewhere?

As part of the new Sofitel brand, we began a candle ritual to be carried out at sundown.

For India, we localised it by using iron lanterns, reminiscent of old-school India.

May 2013 • hotelscapes 17

interview of the month

Room, Sofitel So Bangkok

“

We’re looking for seven running hotels over the next three years. We would like to be in all metros of India. We’re in Mumbai already and our wish list includes Bengaluru, Delhi, Goa and Rajasthan.

Similarly, in Bangkok, the ritual involves a dance routine and in Manila, even the locals come to see it because it is a fashion show.

Coming back to India, our Indian restaurant Tuskers, as you know is a vegetarian restaurant – it has become THE vegetarian restaurant in Mumbai.

Location-led design also gives us a lot of leisure business despite BKC being a corporate stomping ground.

Q

The luxury segment has an increasingly loud conscience and is also more health conscious; how is Sofitel catering to these traits?

A

True, these are growing considerations, but it remains that they do not want it to affect their lifestyle. An example is in-room amenities.

For instance, guests are very happy to have Hermes bathroom amenities but they wanted to be sure that they are parabolic-free.

Q

With 93 per cent employee satisfaction, I’m sure that people reading this will be drawn to Sofitel as an

18 hotelscapes • May 2013

employer. With more hotels coming in, what are your HR plans?

A

Yes, 4,500 people applied for the Sofitel Mumbai BKC. For future hotels, we will be looking for passionate people who have the heart for the service style that I detailed earlier. Technical expertise is not going to necessarily be the most significant consideration as it can be achieved through training.

Q A

What kind of owner-partners do you look for?

Very simply, they must be visionary. I cannot tell you much, but Sofitel’s global portfolio will soon include a signature island.

Q A

What footprint do you have planned for India in the near future?

We’re looking for seven running hotels over the next three years. We would like to be in all metros of India. We’re in Mumbai already and our wish list includes Bengaluru, Delhi, Goa and Rajasthan. ■ as told to RAYNAH COUTINHO

May 2013 • hotelscapes 19

one on one

Shangri-La: Much awaited Mumbai property is open Farhat Jamal, Area Manager & General Manager, Shangri-La Hotel, Mumbai talks to Hotelscapes about the recently opened and Mumbai’s first Shangri-La Hotel.

Q A

Shangri-La Hotel, Mumbai is just a few months old.

Shangri-La Hotel, Mumbai is located in the heart of the city within the residential and corporate hub of Lower Parel.

Situated in High Street Phoenix, Mumbai’s largest shopping and entertainment district, the hotel resides above the city’s most luxurious mall, Palladium.

Q A

separate shower and bath area.

We are currently operating three Food & Beverage outlets – Seven, an all-day dining restaurant, the chic Ekayana, ideal for business meetings or a quick break in between appointments and Lobby Lounge that offers beverages, the classic hi-tea evening service and a light fare menu.

Our recreational facilities include Chi spa that combines Chinese and Asian healing therapies,

Does being located in a mall help generate footfalls for the hotel?

Farhat Jamal

Area Manager & general manager, Shangri-La Hotel, Mumbai

Serviced apartments are designed for long stay residents, guests who are on relocation to Mumbai or for those who are not keen to stay in rented apartments. Travellers are now choosing apartments at luxury hotels as it offers high level of security, great location, space and flexibility with enhanced facilities.

20 hotelscapes • May 2013

Location is the key component for any hospitality brand to succeed. The mall acts as a great crowd puller for our Food & Beverage and Spa services, especially during weekends and festive occasions. With strong and strategically located in-mall branding, we have witnessed an increase in shoppers visiting the hotel.

Q

The hotel opened with few rooms in the first phase. Is it fully operational now?

A

We are a 390-rooms hotel and have opened approximately 182 rooms so far. The guestrooms start from 45 square meters of space and go up to 270 square meters, they exude uber luxury and have elements of Indian inspired design. The rooms feature 42 inch LED television, complimentary broadband Internet access, an executive writing desk, a mini-bar/refrigerator and a spacious bathroom offering a

The lobby, Shangri-La Hotel, Mumbai

and is inspired by the mysticism of the Shangri-La legend. Located on Level 10, the hotel also boasts a beautiful outdoor swimming pool offering sweeping views of the city and a fully equipped Health Club.

For events and social get-togethers we have the Shangri-La Ballroom which can accommodate up to 1000 guests.

Q

How is the hotel doing in terms of

one on one room occupancies?

A

The hotel has received a positive response because of the Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts brand reputation worldwide, prime location, high quality of service and standards.

Also by virtue of our location, we are amongst the preferred hotels as we are surrounded by business hubs located in Lower Parel and Worli and are also very close to the Central Business District namely Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) in North Mumbai and Nariman Point in the South.

Q A

How is the summer looking?

Summer traditionally is a soft business period for the Mumbai market. Our marketing focus is on corporate groups and MICE business. Corporate travel

is fairly consistent and the next two quarters are quite exciting for us as we plan to bring in more inventory of rooms and launch a series of Food & Beverage outlets on Level 37 and 38.

All day dining restaurant, Seven

Q A

You are planning to have fully serviced apartments at the hotel.

Shangri-La Hotel, Mumbai has 390 rooms, which include 32 suites and we plan to have 21 fully serviced apartments. Serviced apartments are designed for long stay residents, guests who are on relocation to Mumbai or for those who are not keen to stay in rented apartments. Travellers are now choosing apartments at luxury hotels as it offers high level of security, great location, space and flexibility with enhanced

facilities. At Shangri-La Hotel, Mumbai we plan to have serviced apartments that are planned with meticulous care for this segment of guests.

Q A

Do you face competition from the next door Four Seasons Hotel?

Yes, Four Seasons is part of our competitive set. Healthy competition always throws up new opportunities for business in the market place. Having said that, each hotel brand has its distinct offerings and the overall aim is to ensure that guests have a memorable experience and visit the property again. Brand Shangri-La has some unique propositions which differentiate us from others. Today we have 79 properties across the world and the brand’s philosophy is defined

by the phrase “Hospitality from the Heart.”

Q A

What are the other plans on anvil?

There are a lot of opportunities in India and it is a promising market for the hospitality industry. We will continue to evaluate opportunities that provide a good strategic fit and continue to expand our brand presence in key cities. As of now we have two hotels in India – Shangri-La’s-Eros Hotel in New Delhi that opened in 2005 and Shangri-La Hotel, Mumbai that launched in December 2012. We hope to launch Shangri-La Hotels & Retreat at Palace Road in Q3 2014 and Shangri-La Palm Retreat in the following year in Bengaluru. ■ as told to Manisha Almadi Midha

May 2013 • hotelscapes 21

report

NRAI releases the India Food Services Report 2013 The report draws attention to the opportunities and challenges facing the fast growing food industry and suggests solutions to overcome these issues.

L - R: Atul Singh, President & CEO, Coca-Cola India and South West Asia; Samir Kuckreja, President, NRAI; Anand Sharma, Minister of Commerce, Industry & Textiles; Vikram Bakshi, MD & JV partner, McDonalds India and Arvind Singhal, Chairman, Technopak

T

he National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) released the “India Food Services Report 2013,” on the Indian restaurant industry. Launched by Anand Sharma, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Textiles, the report gives detailed information on the industry size and highlights the industry’s trends, growth and contributions to the economy. Through this report, the NRAI also draws attention to the opportunities and challenges facing this fast growing industry and suggests solutions to overcome these issues.

The launch event saw the presence of the who’s who of the restaurant fraternity who came together to witness the milestone

22 hotelscapes • May 2013

of the NRAI. Some of the restaurateurs present were Vikram Bakshi (MD & JV Partner, McDonalds India), Niren Chaudhary (CEO, Yum Restaurants India), Ajay Kaul (CEO, Domino’s India), Rohan Jetley (Promoter, TGIF India), Monish Gujral (CMD, Motimahal), Kabir Advani (MD, Berco’s) and Riyaaz Amlani (CEO & MD, Impresario Entertainment & Hospitality Pvt. Ltd.) Commenting on the launch, Sa m i r Kuck reja, President, NRAI said, “Analysing and documenting industry trends and contributions has been one of the key endeavours of the NRAI. Through this report, we intend to draw the attention of the public and government towards the opportunities the industry is of-

fering as well as the issues which are dampening its growth. As we have been a significant contributor to the nation’s economy through efficient collection of tax and employment generation, we hope that we can work together with the government’s support to help grow the industry. We are proud to announce that the industry currently employs 4.6 million people directly which is projected to grow to eight million by 2018.”

Making a strong pitch for ‘unshackling’ it from the license and tax regimes, the association expects to receive the support of the sta keholders and the government so that the sector can grow which in turn would lead to a spurt in development

across other industries and be a much larger source of direct and indirect tax revenue to the government. The size of total food service market (organised and unorganised) is currently Rs 247,680 crore (USD 48 billion) and is projected to grow to Rs 408,040 crore (USD 78 billion) by 2018.

Some key f ind ings of the report: l The current size of the Indian food service industry is Rs 247,680 crore and is projected to grow to Rs 408,040 crore by 2018 at 11 percent l In terms of market segments, Quick Service Restaurants (QSR) and Casual Dine-in formats account for 74 percent of the total

[

Making a pitch for ‘unshackling’ it from the license and tax regimes, the association expects support of the government.

chain market, while Cafés make up for 12 percent with Fine Dining and Pub Bars Club & Lounges (PBCL) comprising the rest l The chain and licensed standalone industry will contribute an estimated Rs 11,500-11,900 crore in 2013, projected to contribute more than double to Rs 24,600-25,000 crore by 2018 l The government has the opportunity to generate an additional collection of Rs 17,000-26,000 crore through closer monitoring of tax collection from the unorganised segment Key g r ow t h d r i ve r s a n d

emerging trends that the industry is witnessing: l Increasing share of delivery and take-away formats, with a focus on convenience l Experimentation with new formats, themes and menus; interest through entrepreneurial ventures l Indian brands going international l Larger focus on value meals l Tech savvy consumers – increasing importance of online/ social media, food websites and mobile applications l Increasing interest from pri-

Anand Sharma; Riyaaz Amlani, CEO & MD, Impresario Entertainment & Hospitality and Samir Kuckreja

vate equity and venture capital investors in the industry Issues and challenges the industry is facing include: l Economic and market factors such as high food cost inflation, fragmented market and increasing competition l Operational challenges including real estate, manpower, fragmented supply chain and

liquor sourcing l Regulatory concerns such as existing high taxes, burden of new taxes and over licensing The report / event has been suppor ted by lead sponsors Coca Cola, associate sponsors McCain, Del Monte, Blue Star and Jack Daniels and support sponsors – Cremica and Book Your Table. ■

May 2013 • hotelscapes 23

forum of the month

Hotels go women-friendly Hotels are coming up with womenfriendly features for single women travellers to make their stay safe and comfortable. These programmes are being initiated not just in cities like Delhi and Goa where women feel most vulnerable but across the country and the world. Hotelscapes explores.

W

omen travellers form a substantial part of a hotel’s clientele, and now hotels are doing all that they can to make them as comfortable and safe as they would feel at home!

While Hyatt Hotels and Lemon Tree Hotels have launched special features for women recently, The Leela Palace Delhi is coming up with a special wing for women in May. Many more hotels share the facilities they have on offer for women travellers.

ITC Hotels

Dipak Haksar Chief Operating Officer The single lady traveller segment was gaining prominence with a steady increase in the number

of travellers year-on-year, giving rise to the concept of EVA, over a decade ago, at ITC Hotels.

EVA is designed to cater to the specific needs of the single lady traveller. However, the option of staying in an EVA room is at the discretion of the lady traveller. Sustained research on the preference of this segment of travellers enabled us to arrive at the amenities and services to cater to their needs. These are reviewed periodically in keeping with current trends and demands. EVA is available at all ITC super premium luxury hotels in India with dedicated floors/ wings for single lady guests and exclusive access to the floor and wing. Lady security guards and lady butlers form part of the team

Dipak Haksar Chief Operating Officer, ITC Hotels

EVA is available at all ITC super premium luxury hotels in India with dedicated floors/ wings for single lady guests and exclusive access to the floor and wing. Lady security guards and lady butlers form part of the team that enable the EVA experience.

that enable the EVA experience.

The single lady traveller, in particular, tend to have an eye for detail and appreciate the smaller nuances like choice of colour themes in the room, choice of upholstery, magazines, amenities etc.

Whether it is providing airport assistance on arrival, to lady butlers, packing and unpacking, guidance whilst travelling within the city, aid with hiring of safe and reliable transportation, draping a sari, announcing of calls after 10 pm, a video phone in room, all form part of the EVA concept. A lady butler could even

24 hotelscapes • May 2013

forum of the month

Sunjae Sharma General Manager, Hyatt Regency Chennai

get a sari and blouse stitched for a guest in case of a sudden social event. We also have a ‘Dial a Chef’ programme where a lady guest can ask for a meal, according to her dietary preferences.

A cocktail hour with compliments of the hotel is a service that all guests at ITC Hotels enjoy. To ensure that our lady guests can avail the benefits of this service in the confines of their floor/rooms, we created a cocktail hour trolley for the EVA floor, with beverages and hors d’ oeuvres.

We do advise single lady travellers in case they are booking private cabs to ensure its done through our concierge and offer assistance on places suitable for visit, assistance with locating addresses and any other specific queries that may arise.

These coupled with the fact all ITC’s hotels have been accredited with a British Safety Council 5 star rating, the highest honour accorded to hotels for safety and security standards and a ‘Women Aware’ international certification endorsing that our hotels

meet international norms specified for this segment; makes ITC’s hotels the preferred choice of single lady travellers.

Hyatt Regency Chennai

Sunjae Sharma General Manager Hyatt began its efforts to evolve the guest experience with an intensive 18-month effort that included more than 40 facilitated group discussions around the world. Because women are such a critical segment of travellers, Hyatt focused its efforts on creating solutions to the issues that many women face on the road. Each feature was driven by insights from women travellers. The Women Experience programme has been launched worldwide by Hyatt Hotels. The research conducted by Hyatt showed that women want: • Assurances that their guest rooms have been cleaned and an ongoing dialogue with the hotel to provide feedback. All guests will now find communications

cards that allow housekeepers to provide personal confirmation of a thoroughly cleaned room and open the door to two-way communication, encouraging guests to share additional needs during their stay.

• To maintain momentum on the road and that they often do not want to ask for things. All business travellers forget things.

Women, however, are often much more reluctant than men to seek assistance when they do, which can make something simple such as leaving a cell phone charger at home much more disruptive for female travellers. Hyatt Regency Chennai is introducing Hyatt Has It, a service for all guests that will offer essentials such as a phone charger, curling iron, steamer, yoga mat, makeup remover wipes and razor to keep, borrow or buy.

• To maintain their health and well-being on the road all guests will find new menu offerings that include fresh juices and smoothies, balanced portions and ‘create your own’ options, all of which

Hyatt Regency Chennai is introducing Hyatt Has It, a service for all guests that will offer essentials such as a phone charger, curling iron, steamer, yoga mat, makeup remover wipes and razor to keep, borrow or buy.

are grounded in Hyatt’s industry-leading food and beverage philosophy, food. Thoughtfully sourced, carefully served.

• We a r e i nt ro duc i ng bat h products that are of high quality. In response, Hyatt Regency Chennai will now be offering Aromapothecary to ensure that guests can maintain their wellbeing on the road.

Our women clientele are a mix of both leisure and business travellers. This programme was launched in February 2013 and it shall be an ongoing initiative.

These services are offered to all

May 2013 • hotelscapes 25

forum of the month women travellers without any extra charge.

Lemon Tree Hotels

Aradhana Lal VP-Corporate Communications & Sustainability Initiatives Since traditionally men form majority of business travellers and the number of lady business travellers who travelled alone has been m iniscule ; this segment has not exactly been top of mind for hospitality sector. However, all that is changing and in the last few

years the number of women travellers has seen a sharp rise. At Lemon Tree Hotels, we have attracted women business travellers in large numbers (the highest perhaps in the industry, accounting for 16 percent of our customer base). Therefore, it was a natural step for us to innovate and cater to this segment with women-friendly features across our hotels. This helps us consolidate and grow our business from women travellers. We are incidentally the first brand in the mid-market space to do so.

Our new initiative revolves a round creating dedicated spaces w ithi n Lemon Tree Hotels for women guests and developing a product-service offering that provides greater security, offers special amenities that meet ladies expectation and most of all pampers them every time they choose Lemon Tree Hotels. Following are some of the facilities for women travellers at the Lemon Tree Hotels: • Friendly staff who make her feel at home

• Facilities to help her unwind and relax • Lady housekeeping staff • Enhanced security in public areas and near the rooms • Screening of phone calls • Specially designed and decorated rooms with a range of women oriented features such as premium amenities, robes, jewellery boxes and full length mirrors etc • Bigger ‘magic eye’ on the room door • Healthy snacks in the room • A 15-minute foot massage at the spa Fresco, once during the stay • Yoga mat placed in the room • A foldable ironing board in the room • Refreshing herbal tea • Popular ladies magazine • Use of facial steamers (on request) in the room, in addition to the relaxing and rejuvenating services available at the spa and salon (both are chargeable) We have business as well as leisure women travellers and they currently account for mor e t ha n 16 p erc ent

of our customers base for the group. The number of women travellers in the country is growing significantly over the last few years and we have seen evidence of this at our own hotels. As a woman, I can say safety and security are paramount, whether in private or public spaces. Each one of us needs to play a role in that. As a hospitality player, we are doing our bit by making our hotels completely safe and secure for women. Similarly one hopes that after the recent events in the country and the subsequent nationwide uprising against violence towards women, steps are being taken at many levels.

We must build a culture that allows women to move around without fear.

This initiative was launched recently as a permanent feature of all our hotels. Milind Soman inaugurated the dedicated women’s wing at Lemon Tree Premier, Ulsoor Lake in Bengaluru. Going forward, we will add many more features that will add to their sense of secu-

Milind Soman inaugrates the dedicated women’s wing at Lemon Tree Premier, Bengaluru

Aradhana Lal VP-Corporate Communications & Sustainability Initiatives, Lemon Tree Hotels

It was a natural step for us to cater to this segment with womenfriendly features. This helps us consolidate and grow our business from women travellers.

We are incidentally the first brand in the midmarket space to do so.

26 hotelscapes • May 2013

forum of the month

Kunal Chauhan Resident Manager, The Leela Palace New Delhi

rity and pamper them to the hilt. The goal is to draw in an increasing number of women travellers. Currently women’s wing rooms are available at the same cost as other rooms.

The Leela Palace New Delhi Kunal Chauhan Resident Manager

To cater to the rapidly growing number of women travelling alone there is a pressing demand to ensure complete safety and security while providing the most efficient and unobtrusive service especially in light of recent incidents in Delhi. We at The Leela Palace New Delhi are introducing a special wing called ‘Kamal’ on 10th of May, 2013 for both international and domestic single women travellers providing the finest levels of comfort, security and hospitality.

Our round the clock bespoke services will include complimentary airport-transfers in our comfortable BMW Sedans, being received by our airport

representative upon arrival, in-car registration, in-car food order service, special in-room amenities ranging from luxury toiletries to choice of magazines and newspapers, scented candles, yoga mats, styling accessories and special F&B amenities, dedicated female housekeepers and butlers, female security guards, complimentary treatment at our spa by ESPA, London and access to our fully equipped fitness studio and the capital’s only rooftop temperature controlled swimming pool.

The demands of male and female travellers are different hence it is imperative for worldclass hotels to ensure that they anticipate the guests’ needs and ensure they are delivered without having to ask for them.

Secondly, you have to be aware of what is happening in your geography. Women travelling to Delhi might have safety concerns, hence the hotel has taken upon the responsibility to design and integrate special features to address their con-

cerns and to attract loyalty of female travellers. All features of Kamal engender an added sense of security and make the stay a memorable one.

The sense of security, comfort and hygiene are the key priorities for single women travellers. There are female attendants, housekeepers and a permanent female security guard on the dedicated wing. There is constant surveillance of the wing and the elevators are designed in a fashion to allow restricted access to guests’ floors.

We have instated smart inroom amenities li ke special luxury toiletries by Gilchrist & Soames, bath amenities, scented candles to please their senses and to pamper, extra hangers, iron and ironing board for a smooth experience. To make it ultra special, we have a spa treatment with our compliments to caress their tired muscles, priority on table reservations and special attention throughout the stay.

We have been the host for many prestigious women-only conferences and events in 2012-

Kamal is an endeavour to be the preferred destination of all single female travellers in the capital. Evoking the sense of security on the whole and the availability of womenonly wing packaged with class-apart services and amenities, it is natural to have an increase in female patrons.

2013 and enjoy a significant number of women travellers, mostly travelling for business.

Kamal is an endeavour to be the preferred destination of all single female travellers in the capital. Evoking the sense of security on the whole and the availability of women-only wing packaged with class-apart services and amenities, it is natural to have an increase in female patrons.

More than the revenue it is

May 2013 • hotelscapes 27

forum of the month about leadership and giving your guests what they want. Listening to their needs, being open to go an extra mile to attend to their needs and being proactive in exceeding expectations and we are very optimistic introducing Kamal with bouquet of exclusive services and amenities. There are no extra costs. You will be able to reserve Kamal, priced at par with our Royal Club rooms.

InterContinental Marine Drive, Mumbai

Romil Ratra General Manager, InterContinental Marine Drive, Mumbai

We have female butlers for female guest, female security guards on the property; we try and give rooms closer to the elevator. We offer a ladies tray which consists of magazines, small tissue packet for travel, transparent nail polish etc.

Romil Ratra General Manager

We always recognised the need to treat women special and have been offering these facilities from the time the hotel started 10 years ago. Since there are so many women executives in senior positions who travel over the world, we recognised the need to have a safe and secure place to stay and also make them feel special.

L ot of t i me s g ue st s t end to forget these few things so it makes them feel at home once they receive all these amenities.

For women travellers, these are some essential requirements in a handbag.

Having a lady butler, a female room attendant and a female

masseuse makes them safer and more comfortable. Also it’s more to do with their comfort and luxury. We have female butlers for female guest, female security guards on the property; we try and give rooms closer to the elevator. We offer a ladies tray which consists of magazines, small tissue packet for travel, transparent nail polish and nail polish remover, herbal face wash, lip balm, lotion and hair brush.

All these are with compliments from the hotel.

About 30 percent of our clientele are women and majority of them are business travellers.

Our services are more to pamper women and give them comfort and luxury. It’s not focused to attract more women travellers.

It definitely leaves an impression on the women and they quite like the gesture behind the idea. We need to make our women travellers feel safe and secured when they are travelling and staying with us. There is no extra cost and there is no difference in rates for any gender.

Vivanta by Taj, Whitefield, Bengaluru

Sunil Taneja General Manager

This feedback is a mix of informal

and formal feedback from female travellers/guests. We asked savvy guests, regular and repeat guests on what they are looking for when they are at a hotel. Some of the answers were not surprising, while others were a bit more unexpected.

Women are now travelling without being accompanied by their spouses or male partners.

Room view/peep holes, chain locks/latches and safety deposit boxes are desired, fire safety factor which includes individual room smoke detectors, non-smoking rooms, are some of the safety and security along with some of the other softer aspects which make women feel safe and secure.

The core-services offered are 24 hours airport transportation, front desk staff on duty 24 hours, bell service and 24 hours room service, swimming pool, sauna, fitness facility and security personnel on duty 24 hours are basic but core to the women traveller and would clearly result in whether a hotel was acceptable to them. In addition they would like some basic convenience services which are: • Room close to lobby or lower floor • Express check-out • Bright hallway lighting • On-premise parking

The tray containing women’s goodies at InterContinental Marine Drive, Mumbai

28 hotelscapes • May 2013

forum of the month

Sunil Taneja Fragrant flowers adorn the room at Vivanta by Taj, Whitefield, Bengaluru

• Parking area lighting hotel entrance security • 24 hours restaurant or coffee shop • Cleanliness of hotel, friendly service of hotel staff and wellmaintained furnishings • Room number not on key • Surveillance cameras in hallways Having evolved these initial services in the project phase itself, there were some others that evolved through 2011-2013.

• Do not announce name and number loudly • No rooms at the end of the corridor • Emergency lights • Calls are not transferred without screening Additional services/soft services – these are critical, our staff is trained to observe these preferences and then deliver to customers.

Sensitivity • Allergens (food, smell etc) • Food: strawberry/chocolate milk, extra chocolate bars in mini-bar • Good mix of women staff for lady guest to connect well .Night

service by lady • Extra sanitary bag and napkins, tampons • Lens solution • Call the guest before delivering an IRD order or any request • Concierge itinerary in the room • Mehendi on weekend/sari draping sessions • Related Jeeves cupboard (knick knacks @ Beck & Coll) item to be placed after servicing and observing the room • Books (fiction and non fiction) and magazines • Scrabble/chess • Movie collection on DVD exclusive for ladies • Ticket for plays /ci nemas / shows/theatres etc • Cookery classes Small touches • Flower changed daily • Towel art • Satin bathrobe • Soft and pastel coloured upholstery • Related Jeeves cupboard item such as skirt hangers to be placed after servicing and observing the room • Personalised notes • Recognise them

• Easy appointments to spa • Turndown amenity as chocolate • Movable Jeeves trolley • Soft toys according to occasion • Teddy bear for a long stayer • Fish bowl for her company • Jewellery box for storage of valuables • Choice of magazine in lobby Pamper and relax • Spa rejuvenation evenings • Small customised dinner arrangements • S a lo n t o b e k e p t o p e n i f requested • Night cream, sunscreen, zip lock for cosmetics • Hair accessories: hair straightener/curler, hair sprays, hair bands, ticktack clips • Manicure kit: nail filer, nail polish remover, transparent nail polish, cotton balls, nail buffer etc • In room breakfast • Massage seat in her room • Wax strips • Gel eye mask 25 percent of our clientele are women travelling on business.

Knowing how travellers perceive the quality of services and facilities would enable hoteliers to

General Manager, Vivanta by Taj, Whitefield, Bengaluru

25 percent of our clientele are women travelling on business.

Knowing how travellers perceive the quality of services and facilities would enable hoteliers to achieve a competitive advantage, stand out among competitors, enhance brand image.

achieve a competitive advantage, stand out among competitors, enhance brand image.

As the hotel industry in India becomes more and more competitive, hoteliers have to introduce various strategies focused on niche market segmentations (i.e. women business travellers) in order to attract the full potential of this segment we are taking the service levels to women travellers to another level.

Among all services, it can be safely concluded that security dimensions were perceived as being particularly important by the women travellers in the selection

May 2013 • hotelscapes 29

forum of the month

The pink lobby of The Park

Rohit Arora General Manager, The Park New Delhi

The situation is getting only worse with so many women harassment and molestation cases in the city. This has impacted the international travel of women to Delhi up to a high extent. It becomes absolutely imperative to ensure that women travellers feel safe in the hotel.

30 hotelscapes • May 2013

of hotels. The ITPB and the hotel is highly rated on security fronts by our customers.

Our services are ongoing.

Some come at extra cost and some don’t. Our overall understanding of the women customer highlights the following factors that are considered by women travellers during hotel selection, namely; (1) Core-services, (2) Convenience, (3) Additional services, (4) Comfort and finally, (5) Price and reputation. Over and above our feedback suggests that other factors, namely; (6) In-room amenities, (7) Complimentary facilities, (8) Bathroom amenities, (9) Security and (10) Fire safety to make up the room are characteristics that influence women travellers.

The Park New Delhi Rohit Arora General Manager

The safety and security of our guests is our prime prerogative.

With the increase of events pertaining to women not being safe in the city, it becomes our prime responsibility to go that extra edge to ensure that female guests specially single women travellers are absolutely sound and comfortable during their stay at The Park hotels. Keeping this in mind we introduced some ‘Standard operating procedures’ for the female travellers.

Starting from the time of check in where women travellers are assisted through an express check–in to small things like ‘not speaking out loud, their room numbers’ are some of the things that are followed at The Park.

We are very sensitive about the safety and security of single lady traveller since this is a fast growing niche market. We do not have any special room packages for single lady travellers but we do have some very stringent standard operating procedures to ensure a comfortable stay for them. We are aware of the concerns that single ladies may have with respect to their travel and lodging – this involves us adopting additional safety/security measures to ensure that we look after their concerns. These facilities include: • Providing more and regular security patrols on the floor where the lady sojourns • Monitoring her floor constantly through CCTV • Placing single ladies in rooms nearer to the elevators • All lady guests must be roomed in by the manager on duty and explained all the safety features in guest rooms such as double lock and electronic safes – the duty manager should ensure that bags are delivered to the guest room in his/her presence by the

bell staff • The staff to inform their managers/supervisors prior to attempting to access a lady’s guest room • Loss of key cards are to be dealt with seriously to prevent any unauthorised access to guest room and protecting the guests • If a guest loses his/her key card, the hotel would first verify the identity of the guest (via a valid picture ID) to confirm that he/she is a genuine guest before they override the previous card and issue the guest with a new one • Front desk to record the loss of the key card in their system/logs and notify the security department of the loss The situation is getting only worse with so many women harassment and molestation cases in the city. This has impacted the international travel of women to Delhi up to a high extent. It becomes absolutely imperative to ensure that women travellers feel safe and sound within the premises of the hotel and we ensure that.

These initiatives will certainly make the Park Hotels more popular with single women travellers. After all one needs to feel safe and secured at all times. We have been following these initiatives since the very beginning. ■ as told to Manisha Almadi Midha

May 2013 • hotelscapes 31

destination report: indore

Indore maximises its potential in hospitality Speaking with the stalwarts of the hotel industry in Indore, Hotelscapes has been able to identify the key markers of change in the city and compare them to those that set apart hotels in larger cities as opposed to establishments in other townships.

Hitesh Verma General manager, Sayaji Hotel

The growth of maturity in the supply of services is specifically because local/transit travellers are now more prominently global travellers in their own might and this is recognised as the primary reason because of which global standards need to be adhered to at all levels and on a daily basis.

32 hotelscapes • May 2013

T

he true grow th of a country can be judged not by what lies under the spotlight but from the development of parts beyond center stage. Incredible India is known over the globe as the beacon that has the potential to outshine other economies in the next few years. Debate, however, is concentrated around the argument that just metropolitan upsurge isn’t the right benchmark to judge the speed at which we move ahead. It is necessary to take a critical look at that which remains prominent without the advantages that large cities have inherited, that which has built its own path and that, which invites progress due to its own marked efforts. Indore is one city that has moved beyond the base set by its history and created its own standards, specifically in the hospitality sector. The changes

aren’t subtle and the aggressive marketing to promote the city as the business hub of Madhya Pradesh cannot be ignored.

Business travel in Indore has grown exponentially in the past decade and the hotels of the city have gained from it while contributing heavily to the same. Some of the major hotels in Indore are parts of larger chains that have a strong hold in large urban settlements all over the country, which can be read as one of the reasons for the immediate shift from localised to globalised service provisions. It is interesting to note that a year round traffic of professionals remains constant in Indore even as the client intake has been categorised as seasonal from other streams.

Due to the obvious demand for customised experiences, hotels in Indore have started specialising

in conferences that take each and every request into consideration.

It is not unheard of to acquire packages that make corporate travel convenient by adding extra rooms, making timings flexible and arranging for technological support around the clock. Retreats are a focal point of many corporate visits to Indore and hotels have made it a point to ensure a system that designs itineraries which combine productivity with relaxation. Sayaji Hotel, for one, is proud of the initiative to provide an Apple iPad per room for centralised controls, luxury cars for clients and gymnasiums along with lounges within the premises.

Hitesh Verma (Sayaji Hotel) outlined the growth of maturity in the supply of services specifically because local/transit travellers are now more prominently global travellers in their own might and recognised the same as the prima-

destination report: indore

Vishal Jamuar general manager, Radisson Blu Hotel

ry reason because of which global standards need to be adhered to at all levels and on a daily basis.

Destination weddings find a r eady ma rket i n Mad hya Pradesh, especially because of the rich cultural heritage of the state. What makes these special is the close proximity of pilgrimage spots and nearby attractions such as Ujjain and Maheshwar.

Exponential growth in the food and beverages sector has been inspired by demands for entertainment and social gatherings to be arranged. Besides visitors from other parts of the country,

hotels in Indore cater to locals all year long through their restaurants and lounges. Radisson Blu is identified to be amongst the leading chains in terms of provision of innovative concepts as far as f ine dining is concerned. Vishal Jamuar (Radisson Blu Hotel) believes the increased spending power of the residents of Indore to be one of the main reasons behind this shift from small, local enterprises to hotels for meals and recreation. The brand value of well managed hotels is high in Indore and stays up owing to the heavy competi-

Highly visible pioneers: Radisson Blu Hotel l Sayaji Hotel l Hotel Fortune Landmark l Lemon Tree Hotel l Sarovar Portico l Western Heritage Hotel l Hotel Amar Vilas l

tion in the city.

Simple economics of trade imply the need for more human resources as business speeds ahead, and over the years, hospitality schools have come to prosper in the city. The clientele is hardly homogenous or from a specific geographic sphere, largely due to the versatile nature of industries in Indore; and thus, employees are expected to be trained to handle multiple languages and customs. It may not be evident to an onlooker, but hospitality courses and schools are booming in the city at this point. “We are always looking for fresh talent, and fortunately, Indore doesn’t need to source its manpower from elsewhere! We are not only the next center of commercial activity but also of domestically trained staff ready to tackle obstacles at international junctions,” says a high

The increased spending power of the residents of Indore is one of the main reasons behind the shift from small, local enterprises to hotels for meals and recreation. The brand value of well managed hotels is high in Indore and stays up owing to the heavy competition in the city.

level management member of a reputed chain.

Traditionally upward movement is not the only avenue wherein Indore can be seen as a future leader. It strives to improve along its existing networks while garnering momentum for a vertical shoot. India’s exciting evolution certainly does stem from within its center, and Indore refuses to ignore the opportunity to maximise its potential, specifically in the hotel business. ■

by Shirin Rai Gupta

May 2013 • hotelscapes 33

destination report: jaipur The Lalit

Jaipur: This summer is looking more positive than last year!

The lobby, ITC Rajputana

34 hotelscapes • May 2013

destination report: jaipur

Leading players from Jaipur reveal that they are positive of business this summer, mainly from domestic travellers, MICE and weddings segments.

Hotelscapes finds out their strategy for survival in this lean season that has witnessed an increase in supply but not really an increase in demand.

The Lalit

Varun Sahani General Manager The season has been good in our first year of operation. Last year the hotel closed at an occupancy of 45 percent with an ARR of 7500. This year we are looking at an occupancy of 60 percent with an ARR of 9000. There is an increase in room supply in Jaipur because of new hotels coming up in the city but we intend to

increase demand for rooms by providing superior and consistent service. We expect a boost in business from the weddings and from the corporate segments in this lean season; we don’t expect much FTAs in summers.

mestic travellers. Hopefully the great value packages that the city has to offer shall keep the occupancies going.

ITC Rajputana

The season has been good. The supply of rooms has increased by 100 percent (many new hotels like Radisson Blu and The Lalit with over 400 rooms have come up in the city) but demand has gone up by 10 percent only.

Our rack rates are between Rs 3200 to Rs 4000 in off season and between Rs 5500 to 7500 in the season. Last year we had an occupancy of above 80 percent in season and above 50 percent in off season. February is the best month for us with almost 20 days sold out. In January we had some big events in the city like Congress Chintan Mahasabha, CII and Stonemart which further gave a boost to the occupancies. Our business comes from leisure travellers, mainly

Sunil Gupta General Manager

I would say the tourist season in Jaipur continues to be promising.

There is a 20 percent increase in domestic travellers while FTAs have remained more or less at par with last year.

The supply in Five Star and above category of hotels has gone up by 570 rooms while the demand has grown by 270 rooms only. There was a decline in occupancy by two percent and the ARRs slipped by eight percent.

The city has seen an increase in all the three segments – business, MICE and leisure though.

Summer is a bit challenging for us in view of the increased supply. Summer survives on do-

Royal Orchid

Sudhir Jena General Manager

Sunil Gupta General Manager, ITC Rajputana

Summer is a bit challenging for us in view of the increased supply. Summer survives on domestic travellers. Hopefully the great value packages that the city has to offer shall keep the occupancies going.

Varun Sahani General Manager, The Lalit

There is an increase in room supply in Jaipur because of new hotels coming up in the city but we intend to increase demand for rooms by providing superior and consistent service. We expect a boost in business.

Royal Orchid

May 2013 • hotelscapes 35

destination report: jaipur

Sanjeev Kumar Dass from Far East, UK and France, from MICE (medical conferences etc) and from weddings.

This summer is not looking great as there is lot of competition from the new hotels in the city, and with everyone downgrading the rates. Survival particularly in Jaipur in off season is tough but manageable if you have a smart business strategy.

Radisson Blu

Sanjeev Kumar Dass General Manager

Sudhir Jena General Manager, Royal Orchid

The season has been good. The supply of rooms has increased by 100 percent (many new hotels like Radisson Blu and The Lalit with over 400 rooms have come up in the city) but demand has gone up by 10 percent only.

36 hotelscapes • May 2013

The season has been good. Being a new hotel, we had quite a few foreign tourists. Occupancies increase every year but the percentage varies. Some hotels register a five to 10 percent increase and others see more than 10 percent increase. We have an occupancy of 50 to 60 percent through the year. There is an increase in demand as more companies are setting up their businesses in Jaipur and nearby areas. However, presently the increase in demand is much lower than the increase in room supply.

Summer months are always tough for the hotel industry. We are expecting business from the MICE and weddings segments.

Online agents (OTAs) also help in generating good business though at lower rates.

Marriott

Rohit Dar General Manager October to March is the period for high occupancies, with November and February being the busiest months. Since Jaipur is the city of forts and palaces; it truly represents Incredible India at its best with its tradition of hospitality, rich culture and heritage. The city also forms an

The lobby, Marriott

General Manager, Radisson Blu

Summer months are always tough for the hotel industry. We are expecting business from the MICE and weddings segments.

Online agents (OTAs) also help in generating good business though at lower rates.

destination report: jaipur integral part of the Golden Triangle (Delhi-Agra-Jaipur) and is a must visit destination for the foreign tourists coming to India for the first time.

There has been a 60 percent increase in room supply in 5 Star category hotels over the last one year. It has been challenging as the demand has not kept pace with the increase in supply, and hence there has been an increasing pressure on maintaining the room rates.

Jaipur will always continue to be a popular leisure destination for domestic travellers. In recent years, the city has undergone significant economic transformation, making it a dynamic place to do business. It has emerged as an important destination for national and international cultural and economic conventions such as the annual Jaipur Literature Festival, and the Great Indian Travel Baazar (GITB).

The handicraft and jewellery industries have garnered the attention of domestic as well as international travellers. Jaipur has witnessed growth in hotels that have facilities like large meeting and banqueting space, convention centers and exhibition spaces; making it a popular

Rohit Dar General Manager, Marriott

There has been a 60 percent increase in room supply in 5 Star category hotels. It has been challenging as the demand has not kept pace with the increase in supply, and hence there has been an increasing pressure on maintaining the room rates.

MICE destination for domestic travellers. Since the opening we have hosted several medical conventions, corporate events, award ceremonies and weddings and we see an increasing demand this season.

The hospita l it y busi ness varies between summer and winter as Jaipur is a seasonal destination. As compared to last summer, this season is looking more positive. In terms of strategy during the summer months, our focus is to drive occupancies by offering value propositions to the domestic leisure travellers and to the corporate clientele. â– as told to Manisha Almadi Midha

May 2013 • hotelscapes 37

F&B

Food festivals make for good marketing How does it help hotels to organise food festivals, do these festivals bring in the extra bucks, or are these an incurring cost to the hotel? Do these festivals help create niche clientele?

Hotelscapes gets views from the F&B segment.

The Leela Mumbai

our room revenues too.

Culinary promotions at The Leela Mumbai are competitively priced. Price is not the key driver in our strategy – but the variety and novelty in the offering is the main attraction. For this reason alone, our regular patrons which include corporate and families visit us during these promotions.

These are connoisseurs of good food and would enjoy a dining experience such as what we offer.

Vishrut Gupta F&B Manager

Culinary promotions are a showcase of our Master Chefs and Service Team’s expertise and innovation. At The Leela Mumbai, we focus more on the quality of the festivals than the number.

We curate culinary fiestas basis the seasonal variations and the trends in guest requests. So, we may have more than one festival at one outlet in a month, or go with none for two months.

Depending on the type of promotion, duration may vary from a day to a fortnight or a quarter. Occasions such as Women’s Day, Songkran – the Thai New Year, Diwali etc are celebrated over a day, whereas seasonal promotions go over a fortnight.

Mumbaikars are an adventurous lot. Any new cuisines, innovation in traditional recipes, revival of lost cuisines tickles the city’s palate. Having something on the menu is an incentive for our guests to visit us again. It is also an opportunity to attract new guests to try our cuisine and service. Food festivals, today, are a key component of the F&B marketing strategy and a key driver of our overall revenues.

As a hotel, we have always considered our Food & Beverage offering to compliment our room business. Food festivals today bring in key decision makers from corporate which can augment

38 hotelscapes • May 2013

Vishrut Gupta F&B Manager, The Leela Mumbai

Food festivals, today, are a key component of the F&B marketing strategy and a key driver of our overall revenues.

As a hotel, we have always considered our Food & Beverage offering to compliment our room business.

Food festivals today bring in key decision makers from corporate which can augment our room revenues too.

The Oberoi, New Delhi

Soumya Goswami Chef de Cuisine, The Oberoi Group & Executive Chef, The Oberoi, New Delhi Due to increased globalisation, our guests have been exposed to various cultures and have been travelling abroad frequently; as a result, they experience cuisine from different parts of the world.

There is no dearth of choices for

F&B mites in Italy especially for this promotion.

• In January, 2013, we had as part of our pick of the harvest series – wild and exotic mushrooms from all over India.

• In May 2013, we have the Citrus and Mango Specials where we bring the best citrus fruits from around the world. Fruits, such as, clementine, blood orange, pomelo, carambola and grapefruit, will appease your palette on a scale ranging from tangy juiciness to bitter sweet sensations.

• As summer progresses, we further delight you with unique recipes of the ‘king of fruits’ –

them and experimentation is the norm. Thus food promotions and food specials provide a great opportunity to the guests to move away from the regular fare that can create ‘food- monotony’ and enjoy something ‘different’. It is also an opportunity for hotels to create a memorable culinary experience for them.

We organise unique food specials at least once a month.

Each food promot ion ha s a unique theme a nd concept.

There are three stages involved in organising a food festival: 1. Research & development : A lot of detailed and i n- dept h re s ea rch happ en s before and after choosing a particular cuisine or theme for a food promotion. We need to know everything about the cuisine: the origin, the popular dishes and its flavours and the presentation as well. We also conduct elaborate food tastings within the team

and seek feedback before choosing to go ahead.

2. PR: After having zeroed in on the theme, we start working on mediums to popularise the food and/or beverage promotion that include marketing and communicating the same. We create unique e mailers, show ca rds, newsletters and also generate buzz on social media to inform guests and media alike.

3. Finally, we come to the implementation and execution of the food specials. Getting the kitchen team and all members of the staff engaged, informed and ready to wow the guest!

Some of the food promotions we have successfully conducted are: • In November 2012 we had a Truff le Promotion where we had Michelin Star Chef Felice Lo Basso from Italy creating magic with white truffles: the diamonds of the culinary world. We had flown him down from the Dolo-

Soumya Goswami Chef de Cuisine, The Oberoi Group & Executive Chef, The Oberoi, New Delhi

Food festivals give us incremental business and visibility through various mediums like print media as well as social media. Positive comments and tweets translate into better business.

mangoes in all our restaurants.

• Currently, we are delighting our guests with South-East Asian Specials from Tokyo, Hanoi and Bangkok.

Food promotions usually run for a week to a fortnight.

Delhiites visiting our hotel are well-travelled and exposed to global cuisines. Thus they are open to experimentation. However, chicken in any form reigns supreme.

From a culinary standpoint, food promotions do generate a buzz and interest among guests who want to experiment with their palette or enjoy authentic cuisine, thereby adding to the popularity of the hotel. They attract new customers and keep loyal customers engaged.

Food festivals give us incremental business and visibility through various mediums like print media as well as social media. The influence of social media today is phenomenal and positive comments and tweets translate into better business.

Food festivals attract the wellheeled socialites and members of various gourmet clubs and social groups who meet for food. We offer an a la carte menu at these food promotions and the food is priced at par with the items in the a la carte menu.

Moevenpick Hotel & Spa Bengaluru

Rahul Korgaokar F&B Manager

Food festivals are great ways to showcase a hotel’s F&B capabilities. This gives a chance for an outlet to offer their guests something different from what they can always expect at that place.

It also provides the outlet an opportunity to be in the media limelight. I can narrow down few specific reasons for a hotel to conduct food festivals as follows: 1. To offer a refreshing change from the usual so that guests

May 2013 • hotelscapes 39

F&B benefit from the new offerings.

2. To showcase the F&B capabilities of the hotel, and in fact the company. In case of international hotel chains, it is normal for them to fly in a chef from one of their overseas properties. This not only demonstrates the F&B capabilities of the company, but also the international presence of the company, plus leads support to claims of authenticity since the chef comes from the same region as the food that is

being showcased.

3. To be in the media limelight, as when a hotel conducts a food festival, it always goes all out to promote it in terms of advertisements, OOH media, food write-ups in various publications, journalist chef tables etc.

So this also serves to increase the visibility of the hotel and the outlet where the festival is on-going.

Once in three months is a good interval to conduct food festivals otherwise not less than once in six months. More than that would be too frequent, there would be media fatigue as well as customer fatigue because they would stop going to such a place that often. Also, the original offering of the outlet will get lost if

[

there are so many food festivals.

Food festivals are always centered on a cuisine. Usually they may be clubbed with another important event. For example, many Thai restaurants do a food festival (Thai food obviously) during Loi Krathong – the Thai festival of lights. If you are doing a Swiss food festival for example, you may do it during the month of August, as 1st August is Swiss National Day. But it is not important to tie it to such events – that is just an option. Popular food festivals in the Indian market would be as follows: • Thai, or indeed any Asian cuisine – Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, Malay, Indonesian etc.

• Italian – this is an evergreen one.

• Mexican • Middle Eastern (Lebanese, Arabic, Jordanian etc).

• Mediterranean (Greek, Turkish, North African, South of Spain, France and Italy).

• Among the Indian gamut of cuisines, successful food festivals can be done with Goa, Kerala, Andhra, Rajasthani, Bengali and of course Punjabi cuisines).

Food festivals should not run for less than 10 days and for not more than a fortnight. You should try and include at least two weekends in the duration of the food festival. Although Bangaloreans are huge fans of South Indian food, there is also a large choice of regional cuisines which are very popular, like

Food festivals should not run for less than 10 days and for not more than a fortnight. You should try and include at least two weekends during the food festival.

Rahul Korgaokar

F&B Manager, Moevenpick Hotel & Spa Bengaluru

Food festivals are not necessarily profitable (unless you are doing a festival on an Indian cuisine itself). There are huge costs incurred in sourcing expertise (if you are flying the chef in), ingredients, marketing and advertising, and props and décor that you will procure for the festival.

40 hotelscapes • May 2013

F&B mat. We would generally price the festival food slightly higher than regular food, as this is for a limited period only, guests do not mind paying a slight mark to enjoy the limited edition food.

Radisson Blu Hotel Chennai City Centre Mahesh Dunnar Asst. F&B Manager

Food festivals are important as we need to showcase our culinary expertise to our guests

Coorgi cuisine, Mangalorean cuisine etc. The above mentioned cuisines would work here as well. I might also add that with our hotel being in Bengaluru, and having conducted a Swiss food festival already, I would add Swiss cuisine to the above list.

Food festivals help in the popularity of the hotel. It helps place the hotel in the guest’s mind recall, and puts the hotel in a certain niche that you want to put it in. Food festivals are not necessarily profitable (unless you are doing a festival on an Indian cuisine itself). There are huge costs incurred in sourcing expertise (if you are flying the chef in), ingredients, marketing and advertising, as well as various props and décor that you will procure for the festival. While it brings in the money, the margins are not as big as they are during everyday operations. However, the amount of publicity that the

hotel gets in money terms is immeasurable, in terms of write ups and media exposure. However food festivals add to the overall revenue of the hotel.

They at t ract t he foo d ie s around. Bengaluru has a clientele that loves to experiment and try new things. So they are always ready for such events. If you are doing a high end food festival like Swiss or Italian, you can always rope in wine companies to partner with you and do high end wine dinners and sit down plated black tie dinners as well, which also are big in the Bengaluru circuit.

Mostly you would offer a buffet at food festivals. However, certain festivals have to be done a la carte style. You can’t really have a buffet of wholly Swiss food, or Italian or Mexican. However if you are doing an Arabic or Middle Eastern festival, that works very well in a buffet for-

Mahesh Dunnar

Asst. F&B Manager, Radisson Blu Hotel Chennai City Centre

Food festivals add to revenue and also are aimed towards our 100 percent guest satisfaction commitment.

Sometimes the costs involved are high but they turn out to create new market segment that become regulars for the hotel.

especially for those who are our regulars and would always like to try different cuisines. It also gives us a chance to introduce new concepts to our guests that are evolving from time to time with changing trends to keep them coming.

We normally organise food festivals every alternate month depending on availability of master chefs from our sister hotels, depending on coming festivals and happening days considered and accepted by our guests.

Food festivals are focused on the variety of cuisines that are not usually available in the current market or in the hotel and deal with certain dishes that are cooked in different styles. Mainly it is focused on our current guest demands and preferences from time to time depending on their feedback. We offer authentic as well as fusion cuisine which can be from any part of the world as long as it meets our standards.

For example, we introduced a Japanese comfort food festival in our all day dining restaurant which turned out to be a huge success. As a result we opened the first Japanese restaurant ‘Raku Raku’ in the city. Food festivals are usually carried out for two weeks or so depending upon the feasibility.

Most guests prefer to have authentic South Indian preparations and recently preparations from our Japanese chefs have been a big hit. These festivals certainly do help as in today’s vibrant market guests always prefer to have variety with quality for their taste buds. Food festivals tend to attract guests as there is lots of activity happening and act as a good marketing tool.

The guests get to have different taste and experience at their own favourite hotel.

Food festivals add to revenue and also are aimed towards our 100 percent guest satisfaction

May 2013 • hotelscapes 41

F&B commitment. Sometimes the costs involved are high but they turn out to create new market segment that become regulars for the hotel. Our clientele are guests from within the city and the people who stay in our property during the promotions.

The food is priced on the same guidelines as in our restaurants and we offer a la carte as well as buffet depending upon the restaurant concept where the food festival is organised.

Renaissance Mumbai Convention Centre Hotel & Lakeside Chalet Marriott Executive Apartments Hemant Tenneti F&B Director

Food festivals are a great way to offer something new to the customers. They offer value deals and are usually perfect for family outings. It has become a trend for families these days to dine out on special occasions and festivals (such as Holi, Baisakhi, Makar Sankranti etc). The food festivals offer a complete package of food, beverage and entertainment

[

adding more value to the guests’ money.

We introduce food festivals in tangent with most local festivals of the country. We ideally have one major food festival celebrating the local festival every month at our all day dinning restaurant Lake View Café.

The themes/décor for the food festival depends on the festival itself. We have held food festivals such as Makar Sankranti, Independence Day brunch, Holi brunch, South Indian food festival. The menu is a healthy mix of all cuisines however greater emphasis is put on offering guests specialty

dishes that are served during the festivals at homes. Specialty chef is invited from other part of the country/world to add authenticity.

The promotion can be either for a day or for 10 days depending upon the duration of the festival itself. Mumbaities love to experiment with food and prefer a bit of everything under one roof. Therefore we offer Indian, Italian, Chinese and Mexican alongside Mumbai chaats.

These festivals definitely add value to the existing brand and allow more business opportunity by offering newer deals/product offerings to the guests. Food

These festivals definitely add value to the existing brand and allow more business opportunity by offering newer deals/product offerings to the guests.

Food festivals are a great way to attract more walk-ins.

Hemant Tenneti

F&B Director, Renaissance Mumbai Convention Centre Hotel & Lakeside Chalet Marriott Executive Apartments

The menu is a healthy mix of all cuisines however greater emphasis is put on offering guests specialty dishes that are served during the festivals at homes. Specialty chef is invited from other part of the country/world to add authenticity.

42 hotelscapes • May 2013

F&B character to the entire experience. In recent times we have had Roasts and Reds Food Festival, Moroccan Food Festival etc.

The cuisine varies each time and we have had Punjabi, Awadhi, Seafood, Goan etc. The duration of the food festival can be anywhere between 10-14 days.

Ideally one should look at this duration because it will ensure that the marketing is able to make sound and your walk-in guests are able to register there

festivals are a great way to attract more walk-ins and get your customers to try new menus and varieties.

O u r cl ient ele a r e g ue s t s from five miles radius from our hotel i.e. from Hiranandani district, RahejaVihar and Andheri (East). The pricing of the food festival is fairly moderate considering the variety of cuisines offered under one roof. It’s an absolute value for money.

We serve buffets and a la carte menu options at the hotel.

The Westin Gurgaon, New Delhi and The Westin Sohna Resort and Spa Amit Kumar F&B Manager, The Westin Gurgaon, New Delhi

Food festivals are an extremely important element of all the dining venues, whether it’s a hotel or a standalone restaurant. In

recent times food festivals have become rather popular because the guests are always looking forward to new experiences and food festivals are a unique way of catering to them. Food festivals also help create top of the mind recall since they don’t just help provide great food but also introduce the local audience to some great Indian and international chefs.

I personally believe food festivals shouldn’t be done for the sake of doing they should always bring value and be experiential for the audience. Although we keep changing our offerings every month at each of our venues with different promotions food festivals are a different league altogether and we try and do them every two to three months.

A food festival is all about theme experiential dining. Usually a food festival is centered on themes because that adds more

Amit Kumar

F&B Manager, The Westin Gurgaon, New Delhi

Often your client is willing to spend a little more if the venue is offering something new, however what delights them even more is if they get to experience something new at the same price thus we keep the price constant and similar to our buffet prices and we try and avoid a la carte during this period.

is something new in the offing at the venue.

Delhites are foodies and one of the most experimental I am certain. The preferred food choice of Delhities is true to the region and they usually request for diverse Indian or Asian cuisine including Chinese, Japanese and most recently Thai.

Food festivals contribute to the popularity of the hotel since they help in generating word of mouth and authentic experiences that guests can speak of. They are an added attraction for the F&B segment; they not only cater to the guests, but also provide an innovative edge to the F&B outlets and motivate one to come up with unique dining experiences to stay ahead in the game. They contribute to the F&B business by enhancing the audience footfalls and significantly increasing the incremental revenue.

Food festivals contribute to the overall revenue of the hotel but the margin varies during each promotion.

Food festivals certainly attract the city’s foodies, therefore as mentioned before we need to ensure that the length of the festival is at least 10 days so that the guests can register that something unique is in the offing. The clientele for each promotion varies – sometimes it can be a younger audience for a ladies night or business audience for quick tea cake promotion. However one thing remains constant, they are great food lovers and seekers of diverse dining experiences.

Often your client is willing to spend a little more if the venue is offering something new, however what delights them even more is if they get to experience something new at the same price thus we keep the price constant and similar to our buffet prices and we try and avoid a la carte during this period. ■ as told to Manisha Almadi Midha

May 2013 • hotelscapes 43

trends

How does it help to build a hotel in a mall?

Hotelscapes unearths the real reason behind building a hotel in the complex of the mall, as this trend moves beyond tier 1 cities and now finds popularity in tier 2 cities of India.

T sanjay Kumar jain VP–Real Estate, Dainik Bhaskar

The retail component does not remain viable beyond three levels.

Thus, the developers seek to consume the remaining FSI by proposing a hotel to fully consume the available FSI.

44 hotelscapes • May 2013

here has been a growing trend of hotels coming up in malls. Some of the prominent examples in tier 1 cities include the newly launched Shangri-La Hotel at Palladium Mall in Mumbai; Svelte Hotel & Personal Suites at Select City Walk and Hilton Garden Inn Hotel at DLF Place Mall in New Delhi; and Lemon Tree Hotel at East Delhi Mall.

In tier 2 cities, Courtyard by Marriott Hotel opened recently at DB City Mall in Bhopal; there’s The Leela Kempinski Hotel at Ambience Mall in Gurgaon; and Fortune Select Metropolitan Hotel at MGF Metropolitan Mall in Jaipur.

Hotelscapes ropes in the owners (Dainik Bhaskar Group) of DB City Mall and Courtyard by Marriott, Bhopal, and leading

hotelier – The Leela Kempinski Gurgaon to throw light on the real reason behind the popularity of this concept – that it helps the owner to utilise the remaining FSI (floor space index) by constructing a hotel above the mall.

Dainik Bhaskar (owns Courtyard by Marriott Bhopal) Sanjay Kumar Jain, VP–Real Estate, DB

‘Retail, Hospitality, Food, Entertainment and Office Spaces’ together in a single premise makes it an ideal urban centre; place where people work, congregate, dine and stay. All these activities certainly are complimentary to each other and make the place more holistic, meaningful and successful. It works particularly well in tier 2 cities

because they are not as decentralised as metros.

The e s s enc e b eh i nd t h i s concept is very simple; malls generally come up in commercial land – use with large FSI (floor space index). Further, the retail component does not remain viable beyond three levels. Thus, the developers seek to consume the remaining FSI by proposing a hotel, residential complex, offices or a mix of all on upper floors to fully consume the available FSI. Land prices in India are too expensive. Creating standalone hotels in business district areas becomes much easier when built above malls.

For various reasons this has been very successful all over the world. It has been successful in Mall of the Emirates at Dubai and so has been the case with several

trends

[

This is an advantage for the F&B outlets. It does bring footfalls to the complex and it is up to the hotel’s marketing team on how to take advantage of this.

other cities in India, including us.

A business traveller needs more options in the evenings to stroll around for entertainment, shopping and other dining options and at the same time, the city elites visiting the mall for entertainment and shopping get premium dining options in the form of F&B outlets of the hotel.

Even if having a hotel with the mall does not result in more footfalls for the hotel directly, it certainly gives enha nced visibility to the hotel, which subsequently results in it being a preferred option over competition.

Since the hotel is part of total FSI and the FSI is directly related to the land area, it will be wrong to say that it is just an opportunity cost and there is no land cost involved. However, of course the FSI consumed in hotel does not have the same proportionate land cost as the FSI at ground floor of the mall.

This results in better economics for us than having purchased a separate land for the hotel. For a similar location in the city, the FSI cost for the hotel would be steep, whereas, above the mall we can say that more premium FSI has been allocated to the mall and less premium to the hotel.

This concept has already evolved and its success is well proven now. It will be repeated particularly more in CBD (central business districts) of the city, where there is tremendous need for a hotel but the land costs are prohibitive to get a stand-alone hotel.

The Leela Kempinski Gurgaon Vipul Kamboj Director of Sales & Marketing

This is the new trend worldwide and India is no exception. We can expect more of such MUCs (m i xed-use complex) in the

future. Internationally this model existed since a long time.

It benefits both the owners and the guests.

The major cost in building the hotels is the land acquisition cost which is eliminated while building a mixed-used complex and the owner can spend this amount to create better facilities for the hotel. Also when a mall is built, it gives an option for the in-house guests to use this facility which becomes an added advantage.

This trend is continuing to be a success in India and all the hotels in the MUC or closer to the malls are preferred by corporate and leisure travellers.

This is an advantage for the Food and Beverage outlets of the hotel. It does bring footfalls to the complex and it is up to the hotel’s sales and marketing team on how to take advantage of this opportunity. ■

Vipul kamboj Director of sales & marketing, The Leela Kempinski gurgaon

The land acquisition cost is eliminated while building a mixedused complex and the owner can spend this amount to create better facilities for the hotel.

as told to Manisha Almadi Midha

May 2013 • hotelscapes 45

guest column

Select service – the winning concept Ankush Sharma GM, Courtyard by Marriott, Chennai

F

e w ye a r s a go, wh e n my w i f e K e l ly a nd I were enjoying a drink on the beach and contemplating our next move, the most obvious choice was India.

The economy was on the boom, business and travel were on a high, industry was expanding – there was quite a strong talk that India could well be the next super power. That was then, the scenario today is not really what we all saw the future to be and though the hopes on India remain strong, the current economic and political scenario are not really showing the promise that in turn would drive what we call a buoyant economy. It’s not reached a stage of ‘Doom and Gloom’ but not exactly the sunshine as we all expected.

The business in India has shown growth, there is no doubting that but the change in the supply in relation to demand is not really the balanced growth as we would have it best be. Going back to the basics of our heavy but extremely fruitful economics class in high school this is probably one of the situations that we all would not be in as businessmen, owners and professionals.

As this is what brings down rates, which in turn shrink down profits but at the same time drive the supplier to find innovative ways of showing advantage to the allpowerful consumer, so that at

46 hotelscapes • May 2013

Ankush Sharma writes about the select service concept in which the consumer decides on the level and type of stay and service that they would like to enjoy/experience over their stay with the hotel.

the end of the day they are not losing out their fair share to their competition but only gaining it.

I could say with confidence that we at the Marriott probably execute this better than most and how we do it, is with our select service brands such as the Courtyard by Marriott. In a nutshell, the select service concept gives the power to the consumer, the power of choice. Which is probably one of the most critical factors for all consumers today, no more is the Indian consumer the all shy and naïve, they are one of the most intelligent, most knowledgeable and for fair reason, the most demanding of the consumer lot today.

So in a select service concept, the consumer decides on the level and type of stay and service that they would like to enjoy/experience over their stay with us. If travelling on business the priority is a quick check in, a comfortable bed, a decent breakfast, swift and efficient service and a quick check out. If on leisure, the priority is a stress free check in but at the same time they want the information about the hotel, area around, entertainment options etc, the bed and room needs to be spacious with touches of luxury, the breakfast and meals to have a variety of options, the service to be friendly and relaxing and a fond farewell filled with good memories. The understanding and

“

This concept keeps our guests happy, they get exactly what they want and it constantly evolves to give more or less according to their needs.

It keeps our owners happy, it adds in more return to their investment.

It makes the associates happy (our most vital resource), it increases our brand value and faith in the market. adapting to this concept by the Courtyard and then executing it to the consumers’ satisfaction is the key to the Courtyard’s success. The entire service and experience is adaptive to say the least whatever it may that you are looking for, the Courtyard helps deliver to you and over your stay, the brand backed by its excellent team constantly evolves itself to increase your comfort and satisfaction level that in a period over time, it establishes itself to be your preferred choice on every future visit.

To see the other side of the most important stakeholder – our owners, since it adapts and evolves, it helps cut out many frills and extras that actually

pack in a lot of overheads and costs but in effect add in minor or in some cases no value at all.

Not saying that the presence of these frills take away value or bring it down in any way but if the consumer does not need and even if he/she gets does not utilise it they don’t feel the absence of it and it doesn’t in anyway take away the satisfaction. On the flip side, it does add into to a valuable component of business, the cost factor and any control in that (going back to school now) adds to the profit or the bottom line.

So this concept keeps ou r guests happy, they get exactly what they want and it constantly evolves to give more or less according to their needs. It keeps our owners happy, it adds in more return to their investment. It makes the associates happy (our most vital resource), it increases our brand value and faith in the market which allows us to expand, add more jobs and in turn adds to their growth. The Marriott’s core concept of ‘Spirit to Serve’ adds immense value to the community and environment, our increased value allows us to reach more. So at the end of the day, we have all our stakeholders satisfied and happy all because of a simple concept and its execution. I am sure we all will agree that this is sure winner, that is something we don’t even need to go to school for to agree. ■

BOLLYWOOD IS LOOKING FOR UNIQUE LOCATIONS PARTNER WITH US AT

YOUR HOTEL COULD BE ONE SUCH UNIQUE LOCATION Contact us at: info @ crosssectionmedia.com

brand analysis

CDHR to come up with The Serai Resorts in Andaman & Mangalore Hotelscapes caught up with Anand Menon, Head-Marketing, Coffee Day Hotels & Resorts Pvt. Ltd., during his visit to Delhi, to talk about the brand’s luxury resorts – The Serai.

A

nand Menon was in the capital for a road show for The Serai Resorts. He gave a presentation about the luxury resorts at Cafe Coffee Day Lounge, Connaught Place. While sipping a tall glass of cold coffee on a summery afternoon, we got to know that Coffee Day owns luxury resorts by the brand name of The Serai and the CCD coffee we are addicted to is manufactured at Chikmagalur in Karnataka that also houses one of the Serai properties. Read on for more:

Q A

Tell us about Coffee Day Hotels & Resorts (CDHR).

Anand Menon Head-Marketing, Coffee Day Hotels & Resorts Pvt. Ltd.

We are coming up with a resort in the Andaman Islands and a beach resort in Mangalore in the next two years. We are planning resorts in Kerala and Mysore – these are a part of the 10 resorts we are planning to open over the next five years.

Coffee Day Hotels and Resorts are from the house of Coffee Day. CDHR have three resorts, The Serai Chikmagalur, The Serai Kabini and The Serai Bandipur in Karnataka. These are fairly new – they came up about four to five years ago. These resorts are a few hours drive from Bengaluru, and the nearest airport is Bengaluru.

The Serai Chikmagalur is a coffee plantation and a romantic hill station. The Serai Kabini is a wildlife destination by the waterfront and The Serai Bandipur is situated on the foothills of the Nilgiri mountain range.

These are eco friendly resorts, we have hired 70 percent of the workforce from local villages to provide them livelihood. We follow eco friendly practices like rain water harvesting and CSR in forestry at these resorts.

Q A

How is The Serai as a brand positioned?

We are in the leisure luxury boutique segment. We have a niche clientele. We don’t have a huge inventory because we like to focus on individual guests.

The Serai Chikmagalur has 29 rooms attached

48 hotelscapes • May 2013

with a pool each, The Serai Kabini and The Serai Bandipur also have some 20 plus rooms.

QA QA

What is the room occupancy?

Our room occupancy is 72 percent across all three properties.

What are the room tariffs?

The room tariffs are between Rs 25,000 to Rs 40,000 for two nights, three days stay for a couple. We are expensive!

Q A

What are the features of The Serai resorts?

We have one Pan Asian restaurant at each of the resorts (we serve Jain cuisine since we have a lot of Jain groups staying with us), a bar, a spa – Oma, a shopping arcade – Turquoise and conference halls for business meetings.

We organise indoor and outdoor activities at an extra cost. For example, we take guests through the experience of making their own cup of coffee which includes plucking coffee leaves to brewing The Serai Bandipur

brand analysis

The Serai Kabini

The Serai Chikmagalur

their own cuppa coffee at The Serai Chikmagalur – the hometown of coffee. We are planning to take guests to the nearby villages to teach them to make local merchandise. The market is evolving and we have to keep rediscovering ourselves.

However, we have certain restrictions in terms of timings at The Serai Kabini and The Serai Bandipur.

We cannot organise late night parties and make noise at night as these are wildlife destinations.

QA

What is your selling point?

I would say ‘Experience life through Serai.’

We deliver experience rather than holidays.

The guests take back memories.

QA

Who is your clientele?

Our clientele are leisure travellers and top of the rung corporates like Board of Directors and CEOs of companies. We get the IT sector and corporates from Bengaluru over weekends, and domestic in-bound travellers from Mumbai, Delhi and Gurgaon.

50 percent of our clientele are direct travellers, 30

percent are MICE and 20 percent are travel trade. All are important to me as a brand. We get international tourists from UK, Germany, France, Europe and Italy.

QA

What are your expansion plans?

We are coming up with a resort in the Andaman Islands and a beach resort in Mangalore in the next two years. We are planning resorts in Kerala and Mysore – these are a part of the 10 resorts we are planning to open over the next five years.

Q A Q A

What is the investment for the Andaman Islands property?

It’s an acquired property. We have invested Rs 80 crore. It has a larger inventory of 80 rooms.

Does tourism in Karnataka needs to be promoted?

Karnataka is not yet as popular as the other destinations in India like Goa, Rajasthan and Kerala. But these are more than 20 years old while Karnataka is just eight years old. We are trying to make Karnataka as popular. We want to promote it as a tourist destination.

QA

Who is your competition?

At the Serai Chikmagalur our competition is with Orange County – the only luxury resort in the region but we sell experience. The Serai in Chikmagalur has competition from Coorg as a destination but Chikmagalur has temples, historical places and is also known for trekking.

Since we are moving beyond South and expanding on a national level, our competition will now be with The Taj, The Oberoi and the Four Seasons because they have good wildlife resorts, for example. ■

“

Karnataka is not yet as popular as the other destinations in India like Goa, Rajasthan and Kerala. But these are more than 20 years old while Karnataka is just eight years old.

We are trying to make Karnataka as popular. We want to promote it as a tourist destination.

as told to Manisha Almadi Midha

May 2013 • hotelscapes 49

events & happenings

Calligraphy art exhibition at The Met

T

Babita & Kaveen Gupta

he Metropolitan Hotel & Spa, New Delhi hosted a calligraphy art exhibition titled ‘Sacred is the passion of sacred integrity’ by contemporary artist Poosapati Parameshwar Raju, at The Met art gallery, Art Spice. The exhibition was inaugurated by Babita Gupta, Director, Art Spice and the artist Raju by lighting the lamp.

The exhibition showcases the works of Raju in calligraphy ink on archival paper inspired from Shiva, Ganesha, Jagannath Temple of Puri, Surya and Krishna Leela from the Bhagavatam, Allah, Buddhist symbols, the story of Jesus, conceptual trees et al. Babita said, “the artist believes in all Gods, and this comes across in his works that God in any and every form or religion is one.”

Babita joked, “I have invited Raju because he is from Hyderabad, and I am from Andhra” and then added, “Art is close to my heart because I paint myself. What I like about Raju’s work is that it’s unique and minimalist. Raju uses only paper, ink and nibs and the inks are all imported.” The art pieces are priced from Rs 25,000 to Rs 3 lakh, and the exhibition is on till 9th of June.

Interestingly, the finger foods served over the evening had flavours of Andhra, and there were wines to match the hors d’oeuvres. The guests included Kaveen Gupta, Director, The Met; Pisan Manawapat, Ambassador of Thailand and Aarti Thapa among others. ■

by Manisha Almadi Midha

Pisan Manawapat, Ambassador of Thailand

50 hotelscapes • May 2013

The guests

Poosapati Parameshwar Raju

Shangreiso Shimray & Kiran Sindwani from Tourism Authority of Thailand

DELHI & NCR

I N D U L G E

I

E X P L O R E

I

E X P E R I E N C E

Name:___________________________________________ Address:_________________________________________ City:___________________State:____________________ Country:______________Pincode:____________________ Email:___________________________________________ Telephone:___________________Fax:_____________________ SUBSCRIPTION PLAN Choose Plan Term 1 Year 2 Years

No of Issues 12 24

Cover Price Rs. 600 Rs. 1,200

You Pay Rs. 450 Rs. 800

Date____________________Signature__________________ Name____________________________________________

CA L L

@

011 4378 4444

r irrfan kha n celebrit y spea k: acto

| city speak: dinaz madhuk

ar

ry 2013. Rs 50 Volume 1. Issue 5. Februa

DELHI & NCR

I N D U L G E

I

E X P L O R E

I

C E E X P E R I E N

olume 1 | Issue 5 CITYSC AN Februar y 2013 V

ECIAL VALENTINE'S DAY SPPLE Ú COU SPEAK: MEERA AND MUZAFFAR ALI Ú 26 GIFTING IDEAS

FOR HIM AND HER

Ú ROMANCE ON YOUR PLATE Ú ROMANTIC

•

EM AIL i nfo@crosssecti on m edi a. com

CityScan is also available online on iPhone/iPad/Android and Web Search CityScan in your App or Play Store.

Subscribe today!

ESCAPES +

STYLE GOES TO THE CINEMAS EXPLORING FABULOUS INDIAN FUSION FOOD

/cityscanmagazine

TRANSCENDING ETERNITY A WITH ARTIST SATISH GUPT

Shopping Catalogue Exclusively on Delhi

DREAM SHOPPING FOR FANTASY HOMES AT THE GALLERY ON MG

CROSS SECTION MEDIA PVT. LTD.

IIIrd Floor, Rajendra Bhawan, 210, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg, New Delhi - 110002. Tel: 91-11-43784444; Fax: 91-11-41001627 E-mail: info@crosssectionmedia.com; Website: crosssectionmedia.com

May 2013 • hotelscapes 51

events & happenings

Students learning with the executive chefs

Cooking with the Experts at Westin Culinary Academy

Chef Deepak tasting a preperation by a student

O

ffering its guests with a unique experience, The Westin Gurgaon, New Delhi brings the secrets of the culinary art from its celebrated kitchens to its patrons. Their newly launched initiative – Westin Culinary Academy is an exceptional platform which offers its guests with a very interesting gastronomic session by world class team of expat chefs. These classes would take place once a month and based on different cuisines. This is a chance to learn the secrets from the masters and a chance to gain better understanding of different cuisines and cooking styles.

Speaking about the initiative, Sanjay Sharma, Complex General Manager, The Westin Gurgaon, New Delhi and The Westin

52 hotelscapes • May 2013

Chocolate making at Westin Culinary Academy

Sohna Resort and Spa said, “We are extremely thrilled to launch Westin Culinary Academy. The curated cooking classes are a fantastic opportunity to get first-hand insights into the techniques of our professional chefs.” He further elaborated, “We are proud of our culinary talent and the whole idea behind this concept is to allow our guests not just learning from the best but also an experience of producing tantalising meals firsthand from top chefs.”

The class is limited to just 8-10 guests at a time so that special attention can be given to each of them. Each session of Westin Culinary Academy is priced at Rs 1,500 followed by lunch at one of the restaurants of the hotel.■

by Nikita Chopra

7th Annual Expo: Mumbai: 18th-19th October, 2013

Book now and network with 300 leading producers from Mumbai cinema, both from the big and small screen. Become a part of a growing niche segment – Cinema Tourism exclusively promoting cinema tourism conference and B2B meet with Bollywood

7th Annual Conference & Expo October 19th 2013. Mumbai.

ANCHOR PARTNER

Email: cinemascapes@crosssectionmedia.com Website: www.cinemascapes.co.in May 2013 • hotelscapes 53

Awards & recognition

Royal Orchid Beach Resort & Spa, Goa awarded 5 Star classification

R

oyal Orchid Beach Resort & Spa set on five acres of beach front gardens in South Goa got classified as a 5 Star hotel by FHRAI. The hotel is situated off the main road in the picturesque village of Uttorda, and offers a bespoke Goa experience. A water body and a deluge of flowers lead you to the lobby dotted with antique Portuguese furniture.

The resort boasts of expansive lawns that face the Uttorda beach, the backdrop of your tropical holiday. At the far corner is the property’s designated greenhouse cultivating fresh produce for the kitchens.

The resort offers 73 rooms and suites. For an exclusive experience choose the Royal

Suite that of fers a personal Plunge Pool with Jacuzzi or go for the Suites that offer a balcony with a partial beach view.

Enjoy the best of gastronomic treats in a relaxed environment.

Cosmos – the multi- cuisine restaurant offers Indian, Oriental and Continental cuisines. The open kitchen gives a peek at the chefs whipping up treats.

Nestled at a corner of the pool, the Sunken Bar offers cocktails, mocktails and chilled beers to quench the thirst after a game of water polo or pool volley ball, the pool area with the sun bed is indeed ideal for relaxation during the day. Boat Quay Grill is known for grilled seafood spread along the coastline.

A visit to the hotel’s Sohum

Spa is a must. Each treatment room is designed as a suite with its own changing room, toilet, steam, rain shower and dressing area. The gym with a thatch roof has an all around glass

enclosure and offers state of the art equipments. Adjacent to the gym is the children’s playroom and a mini play park just outside the playroom. ■

Six Senses Spa, Jaypee Greens Golf & Spa Resort awarded at 6th GeoSpa AsiaSpa India Awards 2012

S

Tracey Poole, Director-Six Senses Spa and Amit Midha, GM-Jaypee Greens Golf & Spa Resort

54 hotelscapes • May 2013

i x S e n s e s S p a , Jay p e e Greens Golf & Spa Resort in Greater Noida won the Most Luxurious Spa Resort award at the 6th GeoSpa AsiaSpa India Awards held at The Kingdom of Dreams in Gurgaon. A unit of the globally renowned Six Senses Spa (Thailand), this is the first Six Senses Spa in India. It is spread over 90,000 sq ft of area, dotted with inner courtyards, water features and offers various therapies.

The spa is k now n for its mesmerising array of holistic therapies, promising a complete ha rmony of the mind, body and soul. The spa’s philosophy of balancing all the senses is represented in the spa menu,

w h i c h f e a t u r e s nu r t u r i n g and soothing treatments, result-oriented therapies and personalised programmes which are administered under the guidance of expert therapists.

O n t he o c ca s ion, Ma nju S h a r m a , D i r e c t o r, Ja y p e e Hotels said, “We are honoured to receive the Most Luxurious Spa Resort award for Six Senses Spa. It is a matter of great pride to get this award as we are the first one to bring the Six Senses Spa to the country. At Jaypee Hotels, we believe in providing the best service to our patrons and this award epitomises the contributions made by Jaypee Greens Golf & Spa Resort to the wellness industry.” ■

awards & recognition

The Lalit Bekal wins Best Luxury Resort Spa at World Luxury Spa Awards

T

he Lalit Resort & Spa Bekal’s signature brand Rejuve – The Spa was awarded Country Winner in the category- Best Luxury Resort Spa by World Luxury Spa Awards 2013.

Spread over 20,000 sq ft and located on the prime spot of The Lalit Resort & Spa Bekal, Rejuve – The Spa has 13 multifunctional treatment rooms for ayurvedic, aroma, herbal, international and beauty therapies.

“The World Luxury Spa Award is an epitome of recognition for achievement in service excellence for spas globally and we are

honoured to receive the Best Luxury Resort Spa award. Rejuve – The Spa Bekal, offers guests the ultimate spa experience through its ayurvedic healing and curative therapies,” said Dilip Mishra, Resident Manager, The Lalit Resort & Spa Bekal.

The Lalit Resort & Spa Bekal was also recognised as the Best Wellness Resort at the CNBC Awaaz Travel Awards 2012, Best New Spa Resort 2010 by the Pevonia Asia Spa Awards and won the first prize for the Best System and Procedures for Pollution Control by the Pollution Control Board Awards 2012. ■

NeoVeda Spa at The Met honoured at World Luxury Spa Awards

N

eoVeda Spa of The Metropolitan Hotel & Spa (aka The Met), New Delhi has bagged two titles – Best Luxury Emerging Spa and Best Luxury Beauty Spa at World Luxury Spa Awards 2013.

On the occasion, Vipul Gupta, Executive Director, The Metropolitan Hotel & Spa said, “We are very happy with these honours being bestowed upon us. The Met has always tried to give the best of the services to its customers and has earned a distinguished position among its customers. We express our gratitude and thank the World Luxury Spa Awards, 2013 for recognising our efforts at such a celebrated platform.” ■

May 2013 • hotelscapes 55

news snippets Domestic

Best Western India ties up with AVN Arogya Ayurvedic Hospital

B

est Western India, with 41 hotels, in operation and under development in India, announced the launch of the Best Western AVN Arogya in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. The new fully opened Best AVN Arogya is the result of a tie up between Best Western India and AVN Arogya Ayurvedic Hospital and aims to give a boost to medical tourism in the region.

Sporting, contemporary furnishings the Best Western AVN Arogya features 20 well appointed cottages and rooms with up to two bedrooms with a private Jacuzzi. A special feature for these rooms is the attached private therapy suites giving the discerning Best West-

ern traveller not only privacy but also the comfort of home at the same time.

The Best Western AVN Arogya offers private luxury suites with two bedrooms and a private therapy suite and with a private Jacuzzi, deluxe villas accommodating up to four persons, with attached therapy suites, classic villas and deluxe AC rooms with attached therapy suites. The three star category Best Western AVN Arogya also has Dhyana (yoga centre), Saffron (ayurvedic restaurant),

Tamarind Tree (the garden restaurant), Hotpot (coffee shop), Tejus (beauty spa), Kaya (health club), Vilasa (indoor games area), Apanika (the gift and boutique shop), Bodhini (the library ), Sabha (the board room), Indraprastha (banquet hall) along with an organic dairy and vegetable garden, walking track and laundry facilities among others.

Four Points by Sheraton to debut in Ahmedabad

S

ta r wood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. announced t he debut of Fou r Points by Sheraton brand in Ahmedabad.

O w ne d by SA M H I Hotels (Ahmedabad) Private Limited, Four Points by Sheraton Ahmedabad will be a conversion f rom an existing hotel and will be Starwood’s first managed Four Points by Sheraton in India.

In India, Starwood Hotels & Resorts currently operates four Four Points by Sheraton Hotels in Navi Mumbai, Pune, Jaipur and Vishakhapatnam, and has three under development in Gurgaon, Mumbai and Faridabad.

The hotel is Starwood’s first in the city under its upscale portfolio. Starwood will further strengthen its upscale brands portfolio in the city of Ahmedabad with the opening of Aloft Ahmedabad, SG Road later.

Four Points by Sheraton Ahmedabad has 104-rooms. The hotel will have one food and beverage venue, approximately 2,500 square feet of meeting space and a fitness center.

56 hotelscapes • May 2013

Absolute Hotel Services India announces two more management properties for Delta Group

S

ameer Dharkar, Managing Director of Absolute Hotel Services India announced new management contracts with Delta Corporation to manage two new hotels in Daman and Goa under their Deltin brand of which one is operating and another one will open within this year.

Deltin Suites is a 106-room hotel located in Nerul Goa. The facilities include an all day dining restaurant, a bar and 24x7 lounge, spa with two treatment rooms, a large courtyard swimming pool, gym, entertainment zone and kids play area as well as banquet space for business or leisure gathering.

The soon to be opened within this year

is The Deltin Daman. The Deltin Daman will be a 5-star deluxe hotel with more than 35,000 sq ft space for a large casino facility with bars and restaurants, located in Daman featuring 186 rooms and suites.

Facilities include an all day dining restaurant, a specialty restaurant, a bar and pool bar, a pastry shop, a spa with eight treatment rooms, a fully equipped gym, a swimming pool with separated kid’s pool and kids play area, entertainment zone and eight retail shops. For conferences and events, there are a ballroom and four small function rooms with total space of 16,000 sq ft and parking space for over 250 cars.

news snippets international

JW Marriott Essex House celebrates opening with night of iconic luxury

J

W Marriott Hotels & Resorts celebrates its newly acquired landmark luxury hotel in Manhattan – the JW Marriott Essex House New York. The evening will bring together an array of Marriott VIPs, including Marriott International’s President and CEO Arne Sorenson, and showcase a variety of activations from brand partners including Christie’s, Jane Packer, and Aromatherapy Associates.

With 60 properties in 24 countries and an additional 20 expected to open by 2015, the JW Marriott luxury brand is growing rapidly, bringing a fresh perspective to the luxury travel industry worldwide. The opening of the JW Marriott Essex House comes on the heels

of the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai, which debuted in February 2013 as the world’s tallest hotel. The hotel is the brand’s first Marquis property outside of North America.

With a coveted address on Central Park South and an inimitable Art Deco sign atop the 40-storey hotel, the 509-room JW Marriott Essex House first opened in 1931 and has hosted a wide range of dignitaries and celebrities alike over the years. The hotel features world-class amenities including a full-service spa and fitness center, a fine-dining restaurant and well-appointed meeting and event spaces. The 509 guestrooms offer

stylish furnishings that celebrate the property’s rich history while offering guests all the comforts of a high-end hotel. In partnership with Christie’s, JW Marriott will debut an exhibition inspired by the Essex House sign illuminating the New York City skyline since the 1930s. Offering commanding views of Central Park, the Essex House underwent a $ 90 million renovation in 2007.

GHM scales new heights with Chedi Andermatt debut

G Accor unveils the first Pullman Resort in Vietnam

A

ccor announced the rebranding of Lifestyle Resort Danang to Pullman Danang Beach Resort, representing the first Pullman “resort” in the country, and the second Pullman-brand property in Vietnam. The resort has a private, serene beachfront and is located just 10 minutes from Da Nang International Airport and is less than 15 minutes from world-class golf courses.

The 187-room Pullman Danang Beach Resort has undergone a transformation of its guest rooms, meeting rooms and public areas. The guest rooms are spacious and comfortable, and designed with colourful textures and contemporary décor.

The resort’s highlights also include food and beverage outlets, Infinity Bar with breathtaking views of the blue ocean and a full selection of wines, brick-oven baked pizzas, and luscious cocktails; and the Az-

ure Beach Lounge.

The meeting facilities include a grand ballroom which can be divided into three smaller meeting rooms, four meeting rooms, state-of-the-art audio/visual equipment, extensive meeting and conference solutions, and a personal event manager to tailor-make every event and ensure success. Free Wi-Fi is provided throughout the resort.

The resort’s leisure facilities include a swimming pool, tennis courts, fitness centre, massage and spa facilities, a kids’ club, and a butterfly garden, where guests can stroll through amongst the flowers and butterflies. The resort is suitable for guests looking to unwind: whether you’re looking for a beach getaway, world-class golf, tourist attractions, or a day-trip to scenic Hoi An and Hue – UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

HM, the hospitality management group that pioneered some of Asia’s luxury hotels and beach resorts announced that its first ski resort is on track for a winter 2013-2014 opening in Uri, Switzerland.

Nestled in the Urseren Valley at the foot of some of the country’s most exhilarating ski

slopes, The Chedi Andermatt will debut as the centre piece of the Andermatt Swiss Alps project, the largest integrated year-round holiday destination currently under development in the canton of Uri, Switzerland.

The hotel has 50 rooms and 119 residential units as a blend of contemporary luxury and traditional Alpine architecture. Two gourmet restaurants, indoor and outdoor swimming pool and a spa and wellness centre are a few of the features of the soon-to-open luxury hotel.

May 2013 • hotelscapes 57

products Grespania Ceramica launches Coverlam 3, 5 mm

C

overlam is the newest collection by Grespania Ceramica.

It is a laminated porcelain tile 3mm thick produced by mixing natural raw materials, ground together in the presence of water, compacted using a technologically advanced pressing system and then fired in a novel hybrid kiln which amongst other things enables major reductions to be made in CO2 emissions.

Furthermore Coverlam is structurally reinforced by means of fiber glass mesh .5mm thick, adhering to the back endowing it with opti-

mal mechanical strength.

It is made in pieces measuring 3000mm X 1000mm which are rectified and available in a variety of shapes and sizes made by dividing the original piece using an automated cutting system. Sizes available are 500mm X 500mm, 500mm X 1000mm, 1000mm X 1000mm, 200mm X 1500mm (for the wood series) and finally 1000mm X 3000mm.

C overla m i s re si st a nt t o

bending, UV rays, attack by chemicals, wear, fire and frost and can be used in wall coverings, floor coverings, outdoor and indoor facades and heavy

t r a f f i c a r e a s . C ove r l a m i s available in a variety of more than 25 shades and textures.

For further information call 98116 19810

Armstrong launches Rejuvenations Vinyl Sheet Flooring

A

rmstrong World Industries (India), a leader in the design and manufacture of f loors and ceilings launches Rejuvenations, a new vinyl sheet flooring line from Armstrong Commercial Flooring which offers a versatile range of designs that bring high visual impact and lasting performance to interiors ranging from healthcare and retail to hospitality.

Rejuvenations pattern brings elegance and finesse to functional resilient flooring. The three Rejuvenations collections include Ambigu, a more trend-forward style, which includes tweed, pearlised and end-cut wood grain visuals; StoneRun, which features the look of travertine and concrete; and Timberline, with realistic wood looks that range from traditional oak, maple and walnut to more exotic woods like Merbau and bamboo.

Rejuvenations also feature a durable, abrasion-resistant wear layer and a UV-cured polyurethane coating, which may eliminate the need for polishes and spray buffing.

The collection answers the customer demand for high design that also meets maintenance, cost and durability requirements.

For further information visit www.armstrong.co.in

58 hotelscapes • May 2013

products

Vegetable slicer & mixers from electrolux

E

lectrolux launches TRS vegetable slicer.

The stainless steel discs and the components (cutting chamber, stainless steel lever and hopper) can be disassembled and are 100 percent dishwasher safe, ensuring easy cleanliness. Choose among more than 40 discs to prepare over 80 different cuts: slicing, grating, wavy cuts, julienne, a specific disc for mozzarella and much more, such as dicing and French fries cuts.

The vegetable slicer can be changed to a food processor, touch the user-friendly control panel to select required speed and pulse function and choose among an extensive range of slicing discs and cutting blades.

Electrolux has also introduced the new 5 and 8 litre-BE stand mixers, a range of planetary mixers (from 5 to 80 litres). The planetary movement, the variable speed rotation (from 67 rpm to 740 rpm) and the shape

and size of the stainless steel bowl and tools (hook, paddle, whisk), ensure every part of the bowl is covered for uniform working of all ingredients, resulting in superior performance in kneading, blending and whipping.

The planetary mixers are compact and offers 100 percent dishwasher safe components (tools, double-handle bowl and splash guard).

The splash guard offers a simple movement that activates both the raising and lowering of the bowl, the shape allows to add ingredi-

ents during operation, the new clip system without screws ensures easy removal and cleaning, and the Eastman Tritan copolyester, bisphenol-A free (BPA) transparent screen guarantees high impact resistance for longer durability.

For further information visit http:// professional.electrolux.com/products/ food_service/food_preparation

LG unveils new air conditioning solution & inverter

L

G Electronics India presents a full line up of Commercial Air Conditioning (CAC), energy solutions, System Air Conditioning (SAC) solutions, and in particular, its new commercial HVAC solution, the Multi V IV and Single Inverter CAC. Multi V IV minimises energy loss under partial load conditions and reduces defrosting times via a continuous heating function. The Multi V IV is LG’s latest water-cooled air conditioning solution, and is particularly well suited for high-rise HVAC applications. It boasts a 5.5 COP when cooling or heating. Additionally, the Multi V Water IV is 26 percent more efficient in partial load conditions than any chiller; it registers an Integrated Part Load Value (IPLV) of 6.73. LG’s original shell-and coil-type heat exchanger can be removed and washed separately.

Meanwhile, LG is moving into the inverter market with its new Single Inverter CAC. This product is designed for air conditioning applications in commercial spaces such as offices and retail stores. It delivers advanced seasonal energy efficiency with a COP of 3.65 and stable, convenient operational modes. Moreover, the Single Inverter CAC boasts advanced compatibility features to allow outdoor units to work with indoor units, including ceiling cassettes, ceiling concealed ducts and ceiling and floor consoles. This translates into reduced installation costs.

For further information visit www.lg.com

May 2013 • hotelscapes 59

products

Pergo’s Public Extreme collection of laminate floors

P

ergo introduces Public Extreme collection of flooring. It has been graded class 34, a grade which only reconfirms the durability and quality of the laminate flooring from Pergo.

The f looring is cut out for heavy duty work and performance in the most demanding public areas and in keeping to that Pergo offers a lifetime residential triple guarantee towards surface wear off, colour fading and there will be no stains on floor, if this flooring is placed in a residential area. As a part of technological advancement Pergo again has new feature for reduction of sound with its sound block technology in the Public Extreme collection.

This collection is made out of Pergo’s patent technology TitanX Advanced that makes the flooring the second hardest after diamonds.

Pergo has also used technologies like anti-static, anti-microbial, perfect fold and a few more that makes this collection the perfect choice for heavy traffic public areas like hotels, restaurants, clubs, offices, malls, stores etc. The planks are available in two international variants of plank sizes which are 1200mmx200mm and 1200mmx140mm. Pergo Public Extreme collection is priced at Rs 330 per sq ft.

For further information visit www.pergo.com

IDUS introduces stylish wine racks

T

hose who enjoy a nice glass of wine also enjoy bringing a bit of the wine stack into their decor. IDUS has introduced a wine rack collection that contains easy solutions to keep the wine and other bottles handy. The selection of wine racks and bottle holders are designed to suit your home or hotel, whatever your style.

The slim line wine racks can slip into the tightest of spaces, either free-standing or hung on a wall. Racks can be stacked and extended for a large wine collection.

Wine racks can be used to conver t a storage space into a decorative display of

60 hotelscapes • May 2013

the wine collectibles. There are many designs and materials to accommodate space requirements, different sized wine collections, or decorating schemes. Wine racks are available in a wide assortment of materials, sizes and styles to suit any situation or decor for both home and commercial use: wood, metals and stainless steel, wire, wall mounted or hanging as well as attractive wine furniture pieces to compliment the home, office or hotel. The wine racks are priced from Rs 50,000 onwards.

For further information call 011-4588 8000

All weather furniture I No Maintenance I Customization

Interblocco, manufacturers of luxury outdoor furniture, introduces its new range of live-in furniture. We are best known, for our innovative and efficient approach, in producing attractive woven furniture, that transforms outdoor areas into sophisticated, relaxing spaces and looks equally spectacular indoors.

Sofa Sets I Stackables I Dining Sets I Bar Sets I Coffee Sets I Loungers I Gazebos I Accessories

w w w.interblocco.com

Manufacturing Unit: 170 Sector 6, IMT Manesar, Gurgaon, Haryana – 122050 India Phone: 0124 4367710 Mobile +91 9810344411, + 91 9811062555 Email: rohit@interbloccofurniture.com Office: 23, M Block Market, Greater Kailash Part II, New Delhi – 110 048 Mobile: +91 98111-42204 Email: info@interbloccofurniture.com May 2013 • hotelscapes 61

people Berggruen Hotels

Park Hyatt Goa Resort & Spa

Goa Marriott Resort & Spa

Hyatt Regency Gurgaon

Vijay Sethi has been appointed as Chief Operating Officer. With an experience of around 28 years in various verticals of hospitality he is an asset for the company.

He has been associated with some of the well known brands of hospitality industry including, The InterContinental Hotel, The Leela Kempinski Hotel, on different levels. Before joining Berggruen Hotels, he was working with Thomas Cook India as SVP & Head, Tour Management and Customer Service. With his multifaceted exposure in the industry, he possesses an unbeatable combination.

Ranju Alex has been appointed as General Manager. She moved to Marriott International in 2010 after her tenure at Oberoi Grand Hotel, Kolkata as GM. She brings with her close to two decades of experience in hotel management and operations. Alex was associated with Courtyard by Marriott, Pune recently as the GM. She has a great sense of paying attention to details and taking critical judgements and her prime motive has always been guest satisfaction. She is an alumnus from IHM Kolkata.

Courtyard by Marriott, Mumbai International Airport

Chandrashekhar Joshi has been appointed as Director of Operations. With deep understanding of both operations and sales, Joshi has been effectively working in the industry since last 11 years. He initiated his career with Le Meridien Pune in the Food and Beverage section followed by Renaissance Mumbai Convention Centre Hotel. He then moved on into the sales department after a certain period of time. Before joining at the current position, he was associated with JW Marriott, Mumbai as the Director of Sales & Marketing.

62 hotelscapes • May 2013

Bharat Ratanpal has been appointed as Director of Sales and Marketing. Prior to this assignment, he was associated with Grand Hyatt Goa as the Director of Sales and was instrumental in positioning the hotel through appropriate initiatives. In all, he has been in the industry since last 10 years. In his current position, he would be leading the sales and marketing team and will strategise effective plans. He has also had a very impressive work span at Grand Hyatt Mumbai, where he was promoted to Associate Director of Sales.

Ravi R has been appointed as Director of Events. With a rich experience and knowledge in event planning and management, he has been associated with many events previously. He has an experience of about 25 years in this industry and will lead the management of the events department. A qualified hotel school graduate from IHM Bhubaneswar, he has been associated with Jaypee and Taj Hotels in the past. He has been associated with the Hyatt Hotels Corporation since last eight years which was started with Grand Hyatt Mumbai.

Shangri-La’s-Eros Hotel, New Delhi

SS Vijaya has been appointed as Financial Controller. At this position he brings along with him a rich experience of 15 years in the industry. Before joining at the current position, he was associated with various hotels at different positions, including The Lalit, Orchid Hotels etc. In his previous role he was at the position of a Financial Controller with Trident Agra which is a property by The Oberoi Group.

In his current role, he will guide all the financial decisions and will lead the hotel’s finance team.

people The Westin Mumbai Garden City

The Leela Palace New Delhi

Pawan Sharma has been appointed as Director of Security and Wellness. He has been associated with the hotel since its pre opening stage. At that point, he had joined as Director of Security and now has been re designated to the current position. In this capacity, he would be responsible for the operations of the fitness studio, spa and the car valet along with security. He is a fitness freak with a pleasing personality and has achieved various accolades in the field of weight lifting.

Kunal Chauhan has been appointed as Resident Manager. He has been associated with The Leela Group since a long time, before this he was leading the F&B affairs at The Leela Kempinski Gurgaon. Immediately before joining at the current position, he was leading the project development for The Leela Palace Jaipur. In all, he has been making a mark in the hospitality industry since last 13 years. In his current capacity, he will oversee and drive operations and initiatives for the group’s flagship property in New Delhi.

Anurag Mishra has been appointed as Assistant Financial Controller in the Finance Department.

With over five years of experience in the industry Mishra had joined Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels & Resorts as a Management Trainee in the Finance Department. He then was heading the Finance Department at Le Meridien Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

He has also worked with CA firms.

With acting as a passion, Mishra has completed his chartered accountancy and is now pursuing an IFRS certification course conducted by ICAI, at New Delhi.

Christophe Gillino has been appointed as Executive Chef. He will oversee and drive the kitchen operations and initiatives for the palace. In a career spanning over 20 years, he has added many feathers to his cap and his last assignment was with the Four Seasons, Marrakech. Having spent years working with many finest hotels across the world, Chef Gillino has a global outlook and exposure. He has mastered the fine dining techniques working with many renowned chefs such as Alain Ducasse, Paul-Louis Meissonnier, Manuel Martinez Alain Senderens and Christian Willer.

Courtyard by Marriott Pune City Centre

Hyatt Regency Mumbai

Neha Saigal has been appointed as Associate Director of Rooms. She has spent an effective decade in the customer service industry and has been associated with various properties of Marriott hotels. Before joining at the current position, she was holding the position of Assistant Front Office Manager at Courtyard by Marriott, Mumbai International Airport. She has also been associated with JW Marriott Chandigarh, JW Marriott Mumbai and Melbourne Marriott Hotel, Australia at various positions.

Kedar Bobde has been appointed as Executive Chef. With over 19 years of experience Chef Bobde has been an integral member of the Hyatt family. He brings his expertise to Hyatt Regency Mumbai’s outlets – Glasshouse, STAX and The Bakery. Bobde is a diploma holder in hotel management from IHM Ahmedabad. He was associated with hotel brands like Kempinski, Jumeirah, InterContinental and Radisson. Bobde joined the Hyatt family in December 2008 as Executive Sous Chef and worked until August 2012 at Grand Hyatt Mumbai.

May 2013 • hotelscapes 63

last page

Raghavendra Rathore revamps the look for Taj Vivanta!

T

he saying, ‘Clothes m a k e t he m a n’ t a ke s a d i f fer ent t u r n w it h hot el s appointing fashion gurus to design staff uniforms.

Everywhere, international designers are being roped in to redesign the fresh look for the employees and jazz up the overall experience.

Be it French designer JeanCharles de Castelbajac who is busy whipping up staff uniforms for Sofitel hotels or Givenchy’s designer Julien Macdonald redesigning the uniforms for British Airways, the movement has arrived.

Carrying the baton further, Indian designer Raghavendra Rathore designs the fresh and refining look for Taj Vivanta for its 30 outlets across India. The uniforms

[

guests and its staff. The corporate glam look is in perfect harmony with the style and luxury which characterises a premium chain of hotels.

Carrying the baton further, Indian designer Raghavendra Rathore designs the fresh and refining look for Taj Vivanta for its 30 outlets across India.

‘Rathore Uniforms,’ offers practical and distinctly designed uniforms for hospitality and other industries.

by ‘Rathore Uniforms,’ a design division of Raghavendra Rathore offers practical and distinctly designed uniforms for hospitality and other industries.

A s i g n i f i c a n t b r e a kthrough from the traditional hotel uniforms, the new designs for Taj Vivanta make a successful attempt at breaking the barrier between hotel

64 hotelscapes • May 2013

The essence of the designs, inspired from hotel interiors was conceived keeping the geographical diversity in mind. It reflects the geographical location in which the hotels are set.

The clients of Rathore Uniforms’ design department include The Umaid Bhawan Palace and The Park Hotel Chennai. ■

Date of Publication: 18/5/2013

RNI No. deleng/2012/47318 No.U(C)-105/2013-2014, Posting Dt. 22-27/5/2013 Reg. No. DL(C) 01/1353/12-14