Make in India, Make for India

THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY IN THE COUNTRY, to use current terminology, should be an expression of 'Make in India'. It should draw from the consciousness of India. It should reflect the Indian personality. It should address Indian issues. It should be vernacular India. It should be original. And this must translate into its architecture, the way people behave, the dress they wear, the food that is served. It should be an Indian value system. It cannot and should not be a copy of something somewhere else in the world. I think this is our biggest challenge. It comes from our colonial past when we thought -- and we continue to think-that anything foreign in better. Even our regulatory codes must accept the Indian reality. We have the ability to be the best in our class worldwide. If we are catering to visitors who wish to see the country, they would quite naturally want to experience India, the destination, in all its manifestations. Hotels, I believe, need to orient themselves to be as local as possible, yet to subscribe to the highest industry standards. When it comes to fulfilling ecological and environmental responsibilities, they must start by including the local community and adopting local ethos. For example, if you are in Kerala, it would be strange, and environmentally offensive, to bring marble from Rajasthan to embellish hotels. The challenge is to provide to all international visitors an experience of India in India. Using Allen Toffler's enduring chapter title from The Third Wave, 'Gandhi with Satellites', I would emphasise the need for our industry to be as inclusive. Adopt almost village-like qualities on the one hand, while at the same time employ top-of-the-line, cutting-edge technology. Take the case of the Mars mission. It was successful at the first shot at the least cost. It was a case of disruptive innovation. Such disruptive innovations should be seen in hotels across the country. It hardly makes any sense to try and be what we are not. Make in India, Make for India. Such a transformation will give the hotel industry a unique identity, a personality, and differentiate it from hotels in other countries. Only then will the world not measure us according to standards set elsewhere. We have to see the ability of hotels to adapt themselves to different environments and different contexts. Be it at the mega city, at the international airport, or in small towns and in rural environments. This is what we have set out to achieve at CGH Earth. Drawing sustenance from our non-negotiable core value of caring for the environment and the local community, what CGH Earth offers are experiential holiday products. We are now situated in peninsular India, our 16 properties being spread across Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. We believe that in the space we are in, we have considerable competitive leadership. Now we believe the time has come for us to cross the Vindyas and be seen all across India. Our plan is now to go forcefully forward and make our presence felt in newer locations, away from established destinations, without deviating from our brand position. In Kerala, we'll establish ourselves in the north. I don't want to go into the specifics, but we have started work in several locations. We have hotels in the pipeline in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu and Hampi, Karnataka. We are bullish about our plans for the future.

Jose Dominic is the Managing Director and CEO of CGH Earth

The article first appeared in the inaugural edition of BW Hotelier, JAN-FEB 2015.