Cutting Waste: GMs Session on Operating Costs and Room Rates

By Rashmi Pradhan INCREASING OPERATING cost and reducing room rates have affected hotel operations and made it all about survival for the fittest. The group discussion ’Managing the Gap: Balancing Rising Costs & Dropping Room Rates’ at the BW Rooms Conclave & Expo 2015 held recently in Delhi, witnessed panelists Vijay Wanchoo, Senior Executive Vice President & General Manager, The imperial New Delhi; Nikhil Sharma, COO ’East, Central and West, The Lemon Tree Hotel Company; Vishvapreet Singh Cheema, General Manager, Radisson Blue Plaza Delhi; Nitesh Gandhi, General Manager, Trident Gurgaon; have a lively discussion moderated by Bikramjit Ray, Executive Editor, BW Hotelier. The panel discussed ways and means to reduce the operating cost and increase the revenues. Gandhi, said, ’At Trident Gurgaon, we believe not in cutting cost, but cutting the waste.’ Cheema, said, ’The aspect of doing business has changed. Now it is about Revenue Per Available Guest (RevPAG) and Revenue Per Occupied Room (RevPOR).’ There was no doubt hotel operation costs have risen and hoteliers are looking for ways to reduce costs either by hiring multi-skilled workers or by cost cutting on HLP (heat, light and power), the panel agreed. In the current scenario the aggregators are the new trend setters in the Indian hospitality industry. A group discussion, ’The Disruptors: Is there Room for More Room Aggregators’? moderated by Rifaquat Ali Khan Mirza of Canvas Hospitality with panelists Keshav Baljee, CEO, ZiP Rooms; Prafulla Mathur, Founder and CEO, Wudstay and Rahul Chaudhary, Co-Founder, Treebo Hotels, explained the issues. The aggregators claimed that they provide standardized services to guests across properties. Quality is important for us. Technology is the part of our business. We are entrepreneurs however, we don’t specialize in hospitality business and hence hire those who have expertise in hotel operations and empower them, they said collectively. The author is Assistant Editor of BW Hotelier. Photo (right to left):-Bikramjit Ray, Executive Editor, BW Hotelier; Vijay Wanchoo, Senior Executive Vice President & General Manager, The imperial New Delhi; Nikhil Sharma, COO ’East, Central and West, The Lemon Tree Hotel Company; Vishvapreet Singh Cheema, General Manager, Radisson Blue Plaza Delhi; Nitesh Gandhi, General Manager, Trident Gurgaon during the session. Photo by Sanjay Sakaria.