Current situation is an opportunity to make hospitality industry more efficient: Arun Saraf

As the country makes adjustments to tackle the challenges posed by the pandemic for the hospitality sector, Arun Saraf, Managing Director of Juniper Hotels, believes that most of the large events, including banqueting, F&B business, and buffet restaurant, will have to be minimized for times ahead. The manpower shortage has been a major issue inhibiting the hospitality industry from revival. Industry experts have painfully agreed that in the current situation there is going to be a reduction in manpower across the board. 

“Coronavirus has created a negative impact on socializing,” Saraf said at a recently held BW HOTELIER Breaking The Pandemic WebBlast – ‘Overcoming Challenges: Hotel Owners’. He also discussed fast-changing clientele move in the current situation, expectations after the pandemic, and the need for the hotels to tackle issues that the industry is facing.

Taking the discussion further, Saraf, who is also the co-owner of Grand Hyatt Mumbai which hit the ground running in 2004, holds the view that the current situation can be used as an opportunity to make the industry more efficient. He pronounced, “In terms of presenting our physical products and sizing of the public spaces, rooms, and how our customers will interact with us (our employees), there can be a major improvement in efficiency.”

On talking about the ritual of providing professional services to the customers like escorting to the tables, pulling the chairs, providing the menu, Saraf said, “The interface in terms of physical contact will have to be reduced.”

And, like every cloud has a silver lining, Arun Saraf feels that the job losses phenomenon has a positive side to it as well. He believes, “We would be losing one-third of our human resource but that is a positive thing as under-deployed people will get somewhere that they can be useful.”

He thinks that the re-deployment of human resources where it is required is important. Also, hospitality industry experts have long discussed the issue of simplifying the licensing process. Elaborating on the topic, Saraf shared, “If you look at the situation in Mumbai, except for the excise licenses which are quite cumbersome, the rest of the stuff is quite straightforward. There is BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) Approval for Health and safety.”