100 & Happening, The Journey of Excellence Continues

“One hundred operating hotels is a milestone that both celebrates our legacy and heralds a new era of hospitality at Radisson Hotel Group,” said an elated Zubin Saxena, Managing Director and Vice President Operations South Asia, adding that the Group is focussed on building a future-ready roadmap for the business to uplift its brand equity, transform operations and establish a culture of excellence. On September 21, with the opening of Radisson Bhopal, the Radisson Hotel Group achieved the historic milestone of 100 operating hotels in India. 

Earlier, when Saxena had joined the Radisson Hotel Group, it was already a leading international hospitality player with a strong success story and a robust domestic network. The key priority, at that point, was to “unlock economies of scale” and develop an excellence-driven mindset that would redefine Radisson Hotel Group’s business, brands and culture to make it a preferred choice for owners, guests and employees. The direction was defined by the company’s global strategic plan, but needed an excellence-driven mindset and a strong team to deliver it.

The first area of priority was talent. At Radisson Hotel Group’s corporate office, a strong leadership team was built to support the new vision and roadmap for their repositioning. “Our leadership team is the bedrock and flagbearer of the culture we want to foster. We actively encourage collaboration, open and direct communication and engage in healthy debates. This team of leaders, representing diverse experiences, varied backgrounds, and unique perspectives, comes together to deliver astonishing results driven by a common mindset, excellence-driven approach and mutual respect. This team has enabled a complete transformation of our business over the past years. They have been the unwavering pillars of strength in the worst times of uncertainty, and role models for professional achievements,” says Saxena.

Radisson Resort & Spa Lonavala

So, the Group took a sharp look at the role of its General Managers. “Our GMs in position today are best-in-class professionals, with a focus on new guest expectations and changing consumer trends. Our GM selection process is intensive and well-structured with less than 5 per cent of the total applicants being hired. We added the roles of Cluster Manager to harness top performing GMs, manage their career aspirations and provide them enriched job content. Fifty per cent of our GM vacancies are filled through internal mobility,” he shares.

Malhari - The Storytelling Bar at Radisson Resort and Spa, Lonavala

The Radisson Hotel Group actively encourages and nurtures new talent. Radisson Future Leaders programme, a step in this direction, is designed to groom and develop young leaders out of dynamic hotel school graduates and offers cross exposure training, corporate office exposure, participation in the General Manager’s engagement workshops and pre-opening operations exposure. “We have recruited, trained, and placed about 20 graduates through this programme in the past three years, which represents a selection rate of less than 0.1 per cent,” informs Saxena. With an estimated hotel opening rate of 15-16 hotels every year, the Group aims to add over 6,000 new jobs over the next three years.

Another key focus area has been to redefine the brand portfolio. “We represent one of the most widely connected domestic networks in India today and are present within a four-five hour drive across the length and breadth of the country. This is a key strategic advantage. The Group has been growing at an exceptional momentum with plans to open 15 new hotels in 2021 and more than 60 hotels in the next five years,” he says.

Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel Banjara Hills, Hyderabad

In 2021, Radisson Hotel Group introduced two new brands: Radisson Individuals, with the first hotel announced as Classic Grande Imphal, a member of Radisson Individuals and Radisson RED, to be announced soon with the first hotel as Radisson RED Chandigarh, Mohali. “With Radisson Individuals, the newest affiliation brand, the Group has been equipped with speed to market. The brand will help us expand our portfolio and go into newer destinations and explore newer investor relationships. Radisson RED will support our repositioning efforts and usher in a new culture of unconventional, bold and unique hospitality,” Saxena lets us know.

The Group plans to strengthen its presence in leisure destinations with the addition of six upper upscale resorts this year: Radisson Blu Resort, Dharamshala; Radisson Blu Resort Visakhapatnam and Radisson Resort & Spa Lonavala opened recently while additions in Goa, Puducherry and Pahalgam are to follow soon. Also, development of Tier 1 and 2 locations and strategic trade centres remain important aspects of the Group’s growth strategy in India with hotels in Bhopal, Nashik, Kufri, Sonamarg and Katra on the anvil.

Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel, Mysore

Strategic choices for expansion of the flagship brand, Radisson Blu are being made with about 10 new hotels to be opened under this brand in Tier 1 and high visibility locations in the next four-five years. Mid-segment focus, informs Saxena, will be driven through Radisson, Park Inn by Radisson and Country Inn by Radisson brands. “Nearly 60 per cent of our development pipeline constitutes these brands over the next three years. Fifty per cent business conversion will come from Tier 2 and 3 cities further strengthening our domestic network,” he says.

Operational excellence has been the underlying theme across all work and at the heart of business. A strategic framework to enhance operations was rolled out within six months of Saxena’s taking over office. Significant progress, despite the challenges, has been since made. “The swift implementation of operational blueprint – India Unification Plan – has worked strongly in our favour during the pandemic. Under this business strategy, we leverage the strength of our network to unlock economies of scale and deliver efficiencies across talent management, procurement, Food and Beverage (F&B), operations and commercial, driving value for owners in the form of reduced costs, higher returns and improved efficiencies,” he adds.

Radisson Blu Resort Dharamshala

Also implemented were the data tools to accelerate financial analysis and to provide key performance insights of the portfolio. The user-friendly tools effectively collected and exported information of hotels from the monthly reports and displayed it in an organised manner; provided granular hotel performance insights, enabled data-based decision-making and identified internal best practices. Centre of Excellence Key Parameter Indicator (KPI) Programme was introduced to foster a culture of performance, recognise high performing GMs and hotels, identify hotels to champion clustering initiatives. “F&B contributes about 45 per cent to our business. We are making strategic changes to this segment to uplift our contribution and position our hotels as ‘social hubs’. Last year, we launched traditional Indian sweets brand, Meetha, and we will expand it pan-India this year. The first outlet will open in Mumbai this year,” says Saxena. The Group recently forged an alliance with Massive Restaurants as a significant step towards strengthening F&B capabilities. The corporate tie up with EazyDiner since 2020 also remains a key partnership to enhance national reach and maintain guest loyalty.

The commercial strategy at Radisson Hotel Group has focussed around five key pillars: strengthening brand positioning; building platforms, systems and capabilities; enhancing guest experience; driving brand recall and business recovery and developing business, customers and partnerships. “Our Cross Selling Incentive Programme (CSIP) constitutes over 500 sales associates across our network enabling robust hotel discovery and bookings for existing guests in any part of the country. Focus was more on guest experience through specific programmes like Sports Approved, Rad Family and branded spa concept to offer personalised service for target audiences,” he shares.

Radisson Blu Spa & Resort, Karjat

WOW!, a guest experience programme to add delight factor to a guest’s journey from check-in to check-out, was introduced and Radisson Hotel Group’s social media and digital marketing efforts helped them stay close to guests and deliver brand promise even when they couldn’t stay or dine with the Group. “With India Road Trip, we leveraged pent up travel demand and made travel planning and execution experiences easier. We created a one-stop-platform where guests can choose from 26 drivable circuits. These circuits cover the most scenic routes and exciting destinations. We combined the concept with exciting ‘staycation’ offers. With our strong domestic network, guests can now be assured of our signature hospitality and safety, whichever route they may take. Another Safe Staycation offer has been rolled out recently to leverage the positive response and deliver a safe and hygienic travel experience for our guests. Agile and innovative thinking, value-driven mindset and being open to new ideas; these key factors have helped us solidify our market leadership and have been the cornerstones of our growth story in India in the past few years,” Saxena informs us. 

Radisson Hotel Group is present in more than 60 locations across seven distinct brands in India and is currently trending at 100 operating hotels with 11,500-plus keys. Talking about the thinking and underlying design philosophy across brands and categories, Saxena says that the Group’s design language has evolved sharply to articulate clear values and tailor the experience to the needs of the target customers.

Restaurant atRadisson Chandigarh Zirakpur

“We are developing brand defining hotels and resorts, each being a unique expression steeped in history, culture and environment. Each hotel is hand-picked and developed in collaboration with high quality owner partners and most celebrated and accomplished Indian design firms. We focus on delivering a dynamic, thoughtful and sophisticated experience through our design approach,” says Saxena, adding that a conscious evolution towards a new design mindset is being made. 

“We want our portfolio to stand out as a collection of stories. Each hotel reflects thought-provoking design and architecture and cultural authenticity which is deeply ingrained in our DNA,” he puts in. 

The biggest challenge today undoubtedly is to recover from the aftermath of Covid-19. The Group too is conscious that this crisis will change the way hospitality works, perhaps permanently. “Steady business continuity, cost optimisation and return on investment for our owners are our top concerns. Attracting and retaining the right talent as well as protecting our employees’ livelihood always remains a priority. We have survived the biggest adversity of our times by leveraging the strength of our network and recalibrating our business strategy into what is today known as the India Unification Plan. With this as our bedrock, we have created an exceptional growth momentum with 15 new hotels to be launched this year,” informs Saxena.

Banquet Hall, Radisson Gwalior

To be a good hotelier, Saxena feels one needs to think creatively and find new ways of driving purpose-led engagement in order to elevate their level of guest service. “Great hotels are created and led by hoteliers who put the guests first and can develop great teams who have a sense of ownership and empathy for all stakeholders – owners, colleagues and guests. Developing a culture where individual members can build and innovate in delivering the highest standards of customer service, is what defines a passionate leader,” he avers, adding that as hoteliers, one must never forget of being in the service business. 

“It is imperative we put ourselves in the shoes of the stakeholders before taking decisions. At Radisson Hotel Group, empathy, transparency and our signature ‘Yes I Can!’ spirit is what drives every team member to strive for excellence. Maintaining guest loyalty in this age of perpetually evolving consumer sentiment, it is even more important than ever, for businesses and individuals of the industry to be flexible, agile and responsive to guest expectations and assure them of our commitment to their wellbeing,” concludes Saxena.