With the changed dynamics - leisure resorts seem to be the answer to the revival in the hospitality industry: Vikram Lalvani

There is a popular saying, "when the going gets tough, the tough get going." Working on the same lines, the hoteliers are taking various initiatives to adapt with the changing dynamics of the world in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. 

Sterling Holiday Resorts is one of the leisure holiday hospitality brands and is a pioneer in bringing Vacation Ownership and TimeShare model to India. The company offers over 35 contemporary resorts located across the most iconic and exotic locations in India with a majority of them situated at drive-to destinations from the busiest cities in our country. Spread across 30 or more unique destinations the resorts cater to various holiday needs like leisure vacations at the beach, rivers and mountains, pilgrimage, heritage, wellness and wildlife.

The resorts cater to 2 segments of audience – one is the loyal network of members and the other a strong FIT guests (solo and groups) and Corporates. Commenting on their progress, Vikram Lalvani, Chief of Revenue, Sales and Destinations, Sterling Holiday Resorts Ltd. said, "We are expanding aggressively through a predominantly asset-light model, and have added 8-9 resorts in just two years across key holiday locations in India." 

Varying average occupancies

While occupancies may vary month on month, Lalvani recounted that January 2021 was a good month for them as they witnessed around 65 per cent occupancies. However, in February and March the travel restrictions were re-imposed and there was an immediate impact on Maharashtra and Kerala. Their current average occupancy is about 60 per cent to 65 per cent with a healthy mix of members as well as FITs, weddings, MICE, and other events.

They are expecting a busy summer with an immediate surge in occupancies provided that the travel restrictions of those areas are lifted over two to three weeks. Currently, the average lead times for occupancies and bookings have shortened. Traditionally, these were over five to six days, but have now come down to two to three days.

"The long-haul traffic has subsided but the short-haul traffic to destinations from big cities has increased. Thus, our most popular resorts are the ones in Mussoorie, Manali, Nainital, Mt. Abu, Corbett, and Kodaikanal. The destinations in the North are generally doing better because of the critical mass of people travelling out from Delhi-NCR. The Delhi-NCR region is a huge domicile market source when it comes to short-haul stops for holidays. Similarly, Kodaikanal, Ooty, Yercaud and Yelagiri in Tamil Nadu are doing better because of the critical mass of travellers from Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Erode and Salem. Mt Abu is doing well because of the traffic from Gujarat, while Jaipur is getting travellers from Delhi-NCR," he added.

They hope for things to improve in Maharashtra and Kerala where people still have to go through the RT-PCR test to travel. They have multiple resorts situated in Maharashtra, Goa and Kerala. Those resorts are facing a considerable impact due to no travel restrictions in other states.

Strategy to maximise room occupancy rate

Talking about their average rate, he stated that they have not noticed any adverse impact on the average rates; rather it is still growing year by year by a healthy 9-12 per cent, depending on the destination.

"However, as far as the occupancies are concerned, we tend to exceed 95 per cent. Weekends and long weekends often mean a full house for us. To lift our occupancies beyond 70 per cent on weekdays, we focus on conferences, weddings and domestic travel groups," he asserted.

‘Sterling CARES’ for its guests and staff

In times of adversity brought on by the pandemic, it is imperative that staff and guests receive a safe experience in the premises. To provide the same, they have launched ‘Sterling CARES’ – a 360 degree hygiene and sanitation program, in association with Apollo Clinics to reassure its promise of safe and hygienic holidays. The norms and SOPs that have been introduced are in line with guidelines from the Government and institutions like WHO and ICMR.

Elaborating on the programme, he mentioned, "It encompasses various practices for the staff and guests to be followed at all times within the resorts. Some of the SOPs such as mandatory temperature checks at various entry points, self-health declaration forms, use of sterilised pens, availability of masks for purchase from our curio shops, frequent and periodic sanitisation of high-access-touch-points in public areas, and ensuring social distancing are now a part of our daily hygiene standards."   

He continued, "Enhanced digitalisation is another part of the Sterling Cares initiative. With the introduction of QR codes for menus and contact-less ordering of food, Sterling has re-modelled its entire food service structure to make it contact-less. Along with à la carte services, buffets are served to the guests with pre-set meal combos provided to ensure contract-less service. Even for groups or weddings, all the protocols are implemented by our trained teams to ensure a hassle-free experience for our guests." 

Summer offerings by Sterling

Sterling Holiday has always prioritised catering to different types of audiences that holiday with us. Keeping the summer holidays in mind, they introduced 'Sterling Discoveries and Experiences' – which enable guests to experience the uniqueness of each destination from safari, trails, savouring local delicacies to NadiJyotishi, Chakra Healing, Spelunking and zip lining. 

Along with that, they have also introduced 'Sterling LOCAL', a signature bar at some of our resorts. Sterling LOCAL is conceptualised with an idea of making 'desi' beverages with locally produced ingredients as a part of the bar’s experience.

To make their resorts an integral part of the brand, they have tried to create local experiences at each resort’s activity centre.  Discovery Central, a place where a holiday meets fun, offers their guests with the opportunity to indulge in popular board games and virtual reality activities, meet their D&E experts and understand the highlights of the destination, explore special itineraries that includes Yoga, cycling, Segway, archery, paintball, and other creative activities for all age groups. 

Spreading its reach in Tier-2 towns

Since the country is highly dependent on the domestic tourism for its revival, steps should be taken to appease the domestic market. Discussing about their plan of action, he explained, "Sterling Holiday has always attracted domestic tourism in a large way. Our entire business is pre-dominantly domestic. Therefore, there was no tactical shift required to switch from another segment. In fact, we have increased our distribution width in Tier-2 cities by tying up with travel consolidators across the board, almost 65 of them are in the process of tying-up with effect from April 2021 onwards for business. Hence, in order to grow the business, we decided to consolidate. Since 95 per cent of our business is domestic, we are increasing our penetration in the domestic market by expanding in tier-2 towns and not just staying dependent on the main cities. All in all, it is more like a weighted distribution that is happening for Sterling Holiday resorts across the country."

According to JLL's Hotel Momentum India report, India's hospitality sector saw a 43.5 per cent decline in RevPAR in H1 2020 over the same period last year, due to the COVID- impact. 2021 is being deemed as the year of revival as the vaccines have been rolled out and people are indulging in getaways, staycations, etc.

In his opinion, despite the limitations posed the second wave of the pandemic, people are getting more conscious of basic safety and hygiene as a result of which they have witnessed a surge in occupancies. 

"When we talk about the JLL report, this takes into consideration the city hotels, leisure hotels and resorts, etc. So, we have to deal with city hotels along with the resorts. Resort occupancies are far higher than the hotel occupancies. People taking drive-to holidays are on the rise, therefore, the resort RevPAR could possibly look better than city hotel RevPAR," he said.

"Traditionally, the trend has been the complete opposite because city hotels charge in order to achieve higher occupancies for five days in a week primarily due to business travel, i.e. Monday to Friday. Whereas, leisure resorts tend to have higher occupancies over the weekends, which is about two days out of seven days in a week. Therefore, with the changed dynamics – leisure resorts seem to be the answer to the revival in the hospitality industry. They are expected to witness more demand when compared to business-oriented or city hotels," he shared.

Hoping to see a buoyant 2021

Ending the interaction on a positive note, he remarked that at the end of the day, once fear of the pandemic recedes, surge in holidayers will go up. 

"We saw some indications of this prediction in the latter part of 2020, when a couple of locations, such as Mount Abu, Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh, started opening up before others. With an early opening, we saw a surge in occupancies. The fact is that pinned-up demand always results in higher occupancy levels and hence higher average rates for leisure tourism to resorts that are at driving distance from the main source market as we saw in the year 2020. Hence assuming that fear of the pandemic recedes and no further travel restrictions are imposed, we should see a very buoyant 2021," he concluded.