“HVAC systems will be an added advantage to Hospitality industry”

Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) industry, the operations that deliver a favourable environment in the hotel, will play a key role in accommodating the needs of guests in these unprecedented times. BW HOTELIER talks to Neeraj Gupta, Senior General Manager, Living Environment Division, Mitsubishi Electric India Pvt. Ltd. about the preparedness initiatives taken by the company to support the industry.

What, in your view, would be the impact of the COVID-19 on your industry and the hospitality industry? 

Like every other business in the country, there is no business activity for us during the nation-wide lockdown. Due to overall impact of COVID-19, the business dynamics is expected to change, but we are still left with good 10 months to bounce back, and to regain some of the lost business of April-May. 

Airconditioning industry specifically has been severely impacted as the Covid-19 lockdown occurred during summer which is the peak season for our business.

What are the key challenges that you face as the leader of your business? Enumerate some of these challenges and obstacles that need to be handled to restart.

Aside from the challenges that includes providing customers with safety guarantees during installation and service, rebooting operations and supply chain is the main challenge. Since relaxation of the lockdown, the business has started to gain some momentum. I think, that we will have to live with lean cash-flow structure for some time till the economy stabilizes from the COVID-19.

The hospitality industry has been on an expansion mode and that being stalled, what is the impact in your view and how much and when do you see the industry come out of this downturn? 

COVID-19 a pandemic has led to the worldwide crisis with its major effects on the tourism & hospitality industry as compared to the rest of the sectors. This is surprising as the Hospitality industry has never seen such a sudden downturn and is always accompanied by phase-wise expansion over the last few years. Now the time is such that some hoteliers don't see this sector reviving any time before October. In India, the cancellation in number of reservations almost doubled starting March. Moving forward, the hospitality industry will have to learn to cope-up with the current situation & take necessary actions, which will be beneficial while handling the business post-crisis. It all starts with the basics of building a relationship through trust and regain customers confidence. New approaches and emerging trends should be kept into practice while regulating strict and sanitary measures. Thereby, creating an environment where the staff and the guests are comfortable and safe, which makes our business run efficiently.

You are a very prominent supplier partner, how are you geared to support the industry? Do share some preparedness initiatives.

Mitsubishi Electric India Air Conditioners has taken up many measures to maintain a regular work style even from remote locations. Some of our initiatives includes extending the warranty till 31st May 2020 on its entire range of Air-conditioners, for products with their warranty expiring between 15th Mar’20 and 31st May’20. Customer Care Service team extended the support from remote locations through voice call or video call , Making use of PPE kits mandatory for all our service technicians/ site engineers and issuing advisory of carrying personal water bottles, mask, gloves, elastic band head cap, shoe cover and sanitizer to reduce the possibility of Covid-19. Similarly, we are working closely to sanitize our pan India exclusive showrooms and warehouses. We also initiated sanitization arrangement for all walk-in customers to our exclusive showrooms.  We organised online training sessions for Dealers and maintenance staff of customers during lockdown to enhance their knowledge. 

How has your company efficiently utilized this lockdown from a review and planning standpoint?

During the lockdown, Mitsubishi Electric India conducted online training for field engineers responsible for their duties at Hospitals and Covid-19 isolation areas. Through the lockdown period, we are channelizing and improving the planning side of the business to improve the efficiency of the operations to face the new challenges in Post Covid-19 world.

From your perspective, what steps do you suggest for the industry's recovery and in what horizon?

We appreciate and believe in the actions taken by the Government of India. The process of temperature check-up and wearing mask is not going to increase the confidence level required for a guest to stay at hotel premises, Hospitality industry needs to provide clean & hygienic premises and rooms which can eliminate any chance of infection during guest’s stay. HVAC industry can provide extra filters to maintain the clean air which can increase the confidence for the guests to stay at the premises. It is advisable to have minimum interaction of staff directly with the guest. Remote operation of essential services like HVAC will be an added advantage for hospitality industry to gain guest confidence and provide a comfortable stay. 

What would be the time-bound agenda that you would set for your team and cross functional colleagues to support the industry’s urgent needs to restart.

Mitsubishi Electric Air Conditioners can guide the clients to establish clear procedures and methods to have clean air for the guests. The clean air can be obtained from the air filters like HEPA and PM2.5 filters which is guaranteed to improve the air quality and keep you cool and comfortable. The HEPA filters in air purifiers can trap 99.97 percent of particles that are 0.3 microns. Similarly, PM2.5 filter is installed in the AC units which can help to o purify the indoor air thereby reducing the risk of contracting respiratory problems.

Mitsubishi Electric India Air Conditioners can help to automate, semi automate or remotely operate the HVAC system which will reduce the presence of hospitality staff in the guest area. 

What would be critical maintenance, procurement, or must fix items/issues that you envisage the industry may face.

In addition to the other hygiene activities, taking care of the HVAC system to avoid any spread of disease-causing organisms is very important. Retrofitting the existing system to reduce the spread of disease-causing organisms is the first and most important activity before restarting the operations. This includes checking the filter capability, fresh air supply, ventilation, air flow patterns, compartmentalisation to limit the spread of disease-causing organisms.

What is your message for the industry as a supplier partner: Share some positive pointers for better times ahead?

Humans are basically Nomads and it is in their genes. People will start travelling very soon to quench their thirst for new experiences and this inherent nature will help the hospitality industry to bounce back to normalcy very soon.

Any other pearls of wisdom to cheer up the industry and anything that we may have missed but needs to be addressed.

I would like to share the three mantras for our Industry:

Trust: It is going to be the key factor in determining survival for long. Trust by going extra mile to take care of the health of the guests and reduce the chance of spreading of the disease through proper design and operation of various systems.

Transparency: Seeing is believing. If the guest can see and experience the various measures taken at the normally hidden HVAC systems to maintain hygiene and clean air will be an added advantage to Hospitality industry. 

Travelling: It is a way of life for humans and it will remain same in future. We need to be resilient and cope-up with the current conditions.