Pushing for More Social Banqueting Business
AFTER A successful stint at Le Meridien Jaipur, Sanjay Gupta has been appointed as the General Manager of Le Meridien Gurgaon Delhi NCR. With 19 years of experience in the hospitality industry, Gupta is the recipient of the Starwood General Manager of the Year 2013. In his previous roles, he has worked with The Oberoi Hotels and Resorts, and Trident Hotels, Mumbai in the capacity of Food and Beverage Manager.
Speaking to BW Hotelier, Gupta began by telling us about his responsibilities at Le Meridien, Gurgaon. “The difference between the Jaipur resort and the Gurgaon hotel is that the latter is a more corporate and transient hotel, in that the length of stay for a guest at Le Meridien Gurgaon is not more than one and a half days. But at a resort like Le Meridien Jaipur, anyone coming will stay at least for three nights-so the time to wow a guest here is short.”
Another sector which the hotel is trying to enhance is its social segment, “a lot of weddings and social crowd is coming here because our hotel’s food and beverage is well known. We are known for serving one of the best buffets in Gurgaon,” he said.
According to Gupta, road infrastructure connecting Gurgaon with Faridabad has been good for Le Meridien’s social segment. “We map the geographical dynamics where the business is coming from. Earlier a lot business used to go to Connaught Place, but now because of the ease to travel, we get a lot of business from Faridabad,” he said.
Gupta, a graduate from the Institute of Hotel Management in Kolkata has made substantial contributions to the properties he has worked in, recalling his stint with Le Meridien Coimbatore, Gupta said, “In the south, a wedding comprises of at least 1500 people and can reach up to 10,000 people on the invitation list. We started going to the hinterlands because these are big business families and their families and guests are spread across Coimbatore, so we used to go and market our hotels there.”
Gupta says, 70 to 80 percent of in-house guests at Le Meridien, Gurgaon, are corporates. "I would say at least 20 percent of my guest are repeat clients on a weekly basis. Our loyalty programs has platinum and gold status. We are situated in a place where the cyber city is a short distance away, this is an advantage for corporate travelers because the proximity to their offices is very close,” he added.
