Take This In Stride, Don't Hide, Live With It: Sanjay Sethi

In uncertain times, people need to find the resilience and the energy to move on and emerge successful post the hard times are over. This thing with the coronavirus is that everyone is going to have to learn to live with it, and survive. The hospitality sector is arguably one of the hardest hit sectors and while people dismantle their hopes, it becomes more imperative to draw hope and inspiration from hospitality sector veterans including Sethi who got together to discuss how and when the sector will regain its past glory. 

When addressing the issue of ‘living with the virus’, Sethi of Chalet Hotels highlighted that “this virus is like the flu, everyone is going to get it, we may not know that we have it, but at some point, everyone will be impacted by it”, the question is how despite its presence people learn to co-exist are revert to operations as before. 

Money was and will be of prime importance; therefore it is imperative to manage that aspect well, said Sethi. “The endeavor is to manage reductions in salary as that is better than letting people go; we will have to adjust our cash flow with the revenue”, said Sethi. 

The main goal, according to Sethi for the hospitality sector, is to “keep the company sovereign”. For that, “small tweaks, here and there, will be necessary. Hoteliers are jack of all trades and master of many”, Sethi said adding the importance of being resilient. Sethi believes that the sector needs “urgent support” from the government on issues of relief with regards to property tax and excise.

When talking about the future, Sethi said: “There will be more preparedness, costumers will need validation of sorts in relation to the safety aspect. There will be a lot more automation, and even the presence of buffets may be questioned. The design of various things may change. Every crisis is an opportunity and the main priority is to grow the revenue.” 

He also added that he felt that “management contracts play a much better role”, however ultimately everything will come down to “hard decisions”, which will simply have to be taken. His concluding statement, and message to people: “Stay strong, stay safe, keep your head high and feet on the ground.”