The Sharpest and Fittest Will Come Out of the Pandemic

THE HOTEL Industry in India, unfortunately, has always been considered an elitist industry by all the Governments. They do not realise that it is one of the largest foreign exchange earners and creates many jobs directly and supports many industries and jobs indirectly, such as musicians, entertainment, caterers, tent houses, wedding planners, tourist guides, etc.

The present crisis of Covid-19 has really been a set-back to the entire world, but has been the greatest concern for the “Travel and Tourism industry”. The Hotels surely suffer the most as they are mostly closed and are having to bear the staff payroll cost, lease rentals, electricity bills, taxes, etc. and this is becoming a heavy burden to the Hotel Industry. During this period, it is the sharpest and fittest who will come out of the difficult situation as one would have to take major steps and play the survivor's role during and post period to only make two ends meet.

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST

India has been in an expansion mode and one wanted to see a lot of new hotels being added as the inflow of tourists for leisure, MICE, etc. was increasing. However, this is a period of being cautious and the Owners must reassess their expansion strategy and wherever there are large debts and expectations of high IRR and ROI, then one has to put a stop to such projects. Normally, one sees a cyclic nature of five years in the Hotel Industry but the present situation of Covid-19 has shaken the entire world and more so the Hotel Industry.

During this period, my suggestions to my colleagues and professionals as this is an extremely critical period for all of us, is to do the following:

* Brainstorm and re-strategize

* Look at alternate avenues of revenues

* Look at cutting cost and not getting blocked with old set standards

* Plan for effective and efficient ways to reopen our Hotel

* Plan for Best hygiene and sanitization going forward for our staff, guests, etc.

* Look at different segments of the business

* Use the present moment for inward-looking, such as meditation, yoga, physical well-being, etc.

* Look at various methods of working from home such as con-call, video call, skype, etc.

* Look at online training program for our associates

* Look at marketing through social media and staying in touch with our guests

DERAILING THE GROWTH

In my opinion, the Industry recovery will take some time and we will see the first financial quarter (Apr-Jun) literally being a washout. The Hoteliers are expected to pay salaries or a part of the salaries to the staff and in many cases also take the burden of housing them and providing them with meals. The other fixed costs of Fuel, Light and Power will remain the same and on the other hand, the business and revenue stream will take more time to come up. This financial year, I do not expect the Hotel Industry to show any growth in either the revenue or projects and we should concentrate on breaking even and sustenance.

SEEKING GOVERNMENT MEASURES

The Government could play an extremely vital role during such tough times by restricting the taxes and introducing the right policies to support the Industry. In my view, they should look at the following:

* EMI moratorium period to be increased

* Interest on loans to be reduced

* GDS payments to be deferred

* Municipal taxes, property taxes, income tax to be reduced

* Some concessions /subsidies to be considered in staff salaries as it will help to make the payments after the initial period

* ESI should consider payment of salaries during these couple of months to the concerned staff as this is force majeure.

* Government to consider reduction on Excise fee

* Government to have a plan for marketing destination India after the situation is in control

* Government to have a strong policy of checking all tourists coming into the country

* Domestic travel should be encouraged in India to support for guests to travel where income tax rebate should be given initially.

Post Covid-19 crisis the Indian Hotel Industry should be promoted by giving our guests and staff good hygiene environment. We should provide continuous sanitizers, face mask, gloves, best hygiene standards and best Housekeeping standards.

As International travel will take time to start once again, we must promote domestic tourism and the Hoteliers must look at attractive prices to compete with other international destinations.

Hoteliers traditionally sell only rooms and food, but will now have to look at selling spaces for film shooting, offices, encourage outdoor catering, industrial catering, etc.

OPTIMISTIC BUT CAUTIOUS

The urge to travel and see new places and meet people cannot restrict human beings to stay indoors for a lot of time. In my view post the removal of this virus - the desire to travel will come up again and therefore, I see things can surely come up in the second half of this financial year.

This period has really helped us in building strong bond for all human beings without walls of religion, politics or nations and also give us the opportunity to realize that money is not everything and health is so important to all of us. We all need to introspect ourselves as human beings by spending this time, meditating and thinking. We should look at developing

hobbies of reading, gardening, cooking etc. and overall asking this continuously to ourselves that what is the positive contribution that we are making through our life to our mother earth.