‘What we make out of this crisis depends on our internal wiring’

As the face of pandemic unfolded difficulties with time for the hospitality sector, FabHotels introduces ‘100 per cent Safe Place to StayTM’ experience for its guests to provide a safe and convenient stay. The company reported 60 per cent month-on-month growth in July 2020. BW HOTELIER talks to Vaibhav Aggarwal, Founder & CEO of FabHotels, to further understand the brand’s initiatives during these unprecedented times and how the hotels are gearing up for the new normal. He also gives insights on the #WorkfromFabHotels campaign.

As the hotels are re-opening, how has FabHotels prepared for the new world order?

We have always been a brand that has put hygiene, sanitization, and customer delight at the center of everything we do. Covid-19 just happens to be an unprecedented event that has greatly heightened consumer sensitivity towards property hygiene. As business and leisure travelers get back on the road once again, our staff is fully trained to provide a ‘100 per cent Safe Place to StayTM’ experience to everyone who checks-in. We have gone beyond the basic WHO guidelines and local administration recommendations to provide a 100 per cent disinfected, 100 per cent safe, and 100 per cent convenient experience to our guests. We are the first brand in the Indian hospitality industry to have launched a 100 per cent contactless check-in experience whereby a guest can move from reception to room in less than 10 seconds!

How has the brand been coping up during these uncertain times? What were the major challenges that you faced?

During these times of crisis, our partner hotels needed us all the more to manage even their daily expenses and pay their staff on time. And we believe we have not disappointed them. We have gone all out in providing them a high occupancy at segment-leading tariffs. In the month of March itself, before lockdown even began, we launched an innovative #WorkfromFabHotels campaign for our corporate clients. During the lockdown, we have tied up with more than 100 leading hospitals pan-India, and have served more than 150k room nights to our front line warriors. We have been an integral part of Vande Bharat Mission too and have been working closely with state administrations to provide high-quality hygienic stays to returning Indians.

We have been working hand-in-hand with our hotel partners not just to fill up their rooms but to also provide them with the operational support and training they needed in making their FabHotel a  ’100 per cent Safe Place to StayTM’.

What new initiatives has the brand implemented to mitigate the impact of covid-19?

We have taken multiple initiatives to support our clients, our employees, our hotel partners, and the broader community, and to come out of this situation stronger:

* We have tied-up with leading private and government medical institutions such as AIIMS, Apollo, and Dr. Lal Pathlabs, to provide high-quality sanitized stays for their medical personnel at highly discounted rates. This is our small way of contributing to the community that is putting itself at a huge risk for the health and well-being of others.

* We launched an innovative #WorkfromFabHotels campaign even before the lockdown began. Several leading IT, consulting, BPO, and essential service clients found value in asking their employees to work from FabHotels - this protects teams via physical distancing (as opposed to crowded offices) as well as maintains their productivity. This initiative saw significant uptake before the 21 days lockdown, and we've already received many requests for ramping this up further. Offered hotels are equipped with high- speed WiFi, comfortable work desk, and in-room dining service, to offer the best remote working experience.

* We are also proud partners of Vande Bharat Mission. We are working closely with multiple state administrations for providing paid quarantine facilities to repatriated citizens under the Vande Bharat Mission.

How do you plan to implement social distancing and the new protection, cleanliness & hygiene protocols? Tell us about the new technologies adopted by FabHotels keeping the new norms in mind?

Significant efforts have been invested on-ground for training of staff, central and cost-effective procurement of materials such as disinfection chemicals, PPE kits, face shields, masks, gloves, infra-red thermometers, etc. for all of our properties. In-property branding has also been re-visited with a point of view to keep only single-use materials in rooms or elsewhere at the property. Square distance marker signs have been installed on the floors at common areas like receptions, corridors, elevators to signify the importance of practicing social distancing. Informational COVID-19 posters have also been put around the hotel to encourage people to follow the new norms.

We are the first brand in the Indian hospitality industry to have launched a 100 per cent contactless check-in experience whereby a guest can move from reception to room in less than 10 seconds! Entire technology being deployed for this has been developed in-house.

What has been the occupancy rate in FabHotels since the beginning of the lockdown? How has it changed since before the pandemic?

We continue to ramp up extremely well even in these unprecedented times. Our demand has been growing by leaps and bounds every month - we grew our business by 60 per cent month-on-month in July itself.

Moving forward, how do you plan to get back into business?

You mean how do we plan to continue to ramp up from this point onwards? Obviously, the road ahead is difficult to forecast in the near-term, but over time, I do believe travel is a very resilient category, and our need to unwind, discover, explore, and connect is very fundamental and likely to overcome the current short term disruption.

As the head of your brand, how do you keep the employee morale up during these tough times?

We do understand that human beings everywhere in these unforeseen times are getting bombarded with a lot of unfortunate news on Covid-19 and are dealing with uncertainty about the future in general. That negative feeling is getting aggravated due to a prolonged work-from-home environment, limited social interactions, and general restrictions on going-out. I think we are spending increasingly more time looking at our screens and all of these things are taking a mental and psychological toll. To help our employees navigate this maze of uncertainty, we have started daily morning yoga classes - these are short and sweet and specially designed to reduce stress. We are flexible with our work policies - employees are free to work from wherever they want. We have also introduced Friday evening Zoom drinks across teams so that employees can continue to maintain their sense of camaraderie even though they are not F2F anymore.

What is your message for the tourism and hospitality industry partners, as well as to your loyal clientele?

To everyone in the hospitality industry, I would say just hang in there! Things are going to come back to normal, faster than you might expect today, and that no amount of tech would be able to replace the human connections that can be built by meeting face to face.

To our loyal clientele, we are open for business and more ready than ever to keep your employees healthy and safe!

What are the key lessons for the future to be learned from fighting this pandemic?

I think most importantly, this crisis should nudge, organizations and individuals alike, to be always ready for their world to turn upside down at any time. It would teach all of us to be agile, nimble, and frugal at all times, and inculcate these qualities in everyone as part of an organization’s culture.

Another equally important change I would expect within organizations is they would learn to develop resilience and grit coming out of this pandemic. What we make out of this crisis, whether we get bogged down or come out stronger on the other side would depend on our internal wiring.