Government needs to streamline policies: Dr Ankur Bhatia

Dr Ankur Bhatia, Executive Director of Bird Group, informed that even during the lockdown period, demands have been coming in the form of municipal taxes from left, right, and centre. He said, “Despite knowing that there is no revenue coming in, they (referring to the government bodies) are wanting to put pressure.” Bhatia, who anchored the growth of the Bird Group in the hospitality sector under the Bird Hospitality Services through building world-class hospitality assets through Roseate Hotels and Resorts, is the best person to listen to for understanding how the industry can be revived back to normalcy against the current pandemic crisis.

Bhatia, who has the privilege of working in two different demographics - both India and UK, gave a comparative analysis, “The UK government has been compassionate about losses in terms of having staff, ensuring they have been paid through schemes, licensing, local municipal taxes and rates, etc. They have given all those rebates instantly as soon as the crisis hit.”

With the pandemic’s impact hanging high on the hospitality industry, Dr Ankur Bhatia addressed the ground realities facing the hospitality sector speaking at the recently held BW HOTELIER Breaking The Pandemic WebBlast – ‘Overcoming Challenges: Hotel Owners’.

Building further on his argument, Bhatia opined that the Indian system needs to get streamlined, and there has to be consistency across policies. He pointed out that the central government allowed operations of hotels from 8th June, but now it's even more than ten days and there is no clue as to when in the National Caption region the hotels are going to open. The Delhiite further expressed, “The irony of the situation is that the hotels across the border, in Gurgaon, are operational and all the business is moving across the border.”

Furthermore, Bhatia feels that moving forward, there will be an abundance opportunity for the leisure segment as people have been confined in their places for a long time. Speaking about the developments, he informed, “I look forward to the formula we have at the Rishikesh property.” Analyzing the situation further, Bhatia stated, “Given the circumstances, the pandemic is going to stay here for some time, we will be happier to get into single units in leisure destinations rather than buildings because the sense of safety and openness is much higher there.” (As a matter of fact, the Roseate currently holds 17 different cottages in the Rishikesh catering to the leisure segment.)

Taking the discussion further, Bhatia shared that the upcoming hotels in India are being developed as unique selling properties by adapting hypothetical scenarios. “From leisure destinations, it is important that design aspects are re-thought completely. I can safely say that moving forward, while the social distancing is important between the two living units and also within a living unit, but we will have to work on that in detail to see how more effectively we can do it,” Bhatia concluded.

Bhatia, who has the privilege of working in two different demographics - both India and UK, gave a comparative analysis, “The UK government has been compassionate about losses in terms of having staff, ensuring they have been paid through schemes, licensing, local municipal taxes and rates, etc. They have given all those rebates instantly as soon as the crisis hit.”

With the pandemic’s impact hanging high on the hospitality industry, Dr Ankur Bhatia addressed the ground realities facing the hospitality sector speaking at the recently held BW HOTELIER Breaking The Pandemic WebBlast – ‘Overcoming Challenges: Hotel Owners’.

Building further on his argument, Bhatia opined that the Indian system needs to get streamlined, and there has to be consistency across policies. He pointed out that the central government allowed operations of hotels from 8th June, but now it's even more than ten days and there is no clue as to when in the National Caption region the hotels are going to open. The Delhiite further expressed, “The irony of the situation is that the hotels across the border, in Gurgaon, are operational and all the business is moving across the border.”

Furthermore, Bhatia feels that moving forward, there will be an abundance opportunity for the leisure segment as people have been confined in their places for a long time. Speaking about the developments, he informed, “I look forward to the formula we have at the Rishikesh property.” Analyzing the situation further, Bhatia stated, “Given the circumstances, the pandemic is going to stay here for some time, we will be happier to get into single units in leisure destinations rather than buildings because the sense of safety and openness is much higher there.” (As a matter of fact, the Roseate currently holds 17 different cottages in the Rishikesh catering to the leisure segment.)

Taking the discussion further, Bhatia shared that the upcoming hotels in India are being developed as unique selling properties by adapting hypothetical scenarios. “From leisure destinations, it is important that design aspects are re-thought completely. I can safely say that moving forward, while the social distancing is important between the two living units and also within a living unit, but we will have to work on that in detail to see how more effectively we can do it,” Bhatia concluded.