We believe that the hospitality industry in India offers opportunities for strong and steady growth. The fundamentals that drive growth in the industry are strong and these continue to propel the sector. Some key drivers are continued growth of the Indian economy, steady investment in infrastructure, growing numbers of international and domestic travellers, and a burgeoning middle class with increasing disposable income. Additionally, the government's stimuli, such as extending the Tourist Visa on Arrival Scheme from 11 to 180 countries, and the recent introduction of the e-visa facility for 43 countries, will provide an additional boost to tourism-related activities in the country. Hilton Worldwide is a leading global hospitality company that offers a powerful portfolio of 12 brands catering to all customer segments, from luxury and full-service to mid-market. Four of our brands have a presence in India. These include our upscale, full-service brands (Hilton Hotels & Resorts and DoubleTree by Hilton) and our mid-market, focused-service brands (Hilton Garden Inn and Hampton by Hilton). Presently, we operate 14 hotels and resorts in India and we have a presence in seven of the top ten hospitality markets in the country (in terms of number of branded hotel rooms). Our footprint now extends from New Delhi, Gurgaon, Jaipur and Agra to Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Thiruvananthapuram, Goa, Vadodara, Pune and Shillim in the Western Ghats. Over the last 12 months, we have entered four new markets -- Bangalore, Thiruvananthapuram, Jaipur and Agra -- and opened five new hotels: Hilton Garden Inn Thiruvananthapuram, Hilton Embassy Golf Links and DoubleTree Suites by Hilton in Bangalore, Hilton Jaipur and DoubleTree by Hilton Agra. With our entry into Agra, we now have a presence across the Golden Triangle. We are committed to India, one of our key strategic growth markets, and continue to explore opportunities to extend our network in the country through a multi-brand and multiple-partner strategy. We now have a robust pipeline of 17 hotels with 2,899 rooms, which has given us the confidence to launch our luxury brand, Conrad Hotels & Resorts, in India. With over 4,250 hotels in 93 countries, at Hilton Worldwide we realise we are in a position to be able to effect positive change for our community and planet. Hilton Worldwide was the first major multi-brand hospitality company in the world to make sustainability measurement a brand standard, and a critical performance measure, just as quality, service and revenue. Our continued effort in this regard is resulting in the enhanced efficiency of our operations and a mitigation of their environmental impact. Earlier this year, we announced a global commitment to impact the lives at least one million young people by 2019. Our endeavour is to enable young people by exposing them to new cultures, preparing them for success in the workplace through mentorships, apprenticeships and our global career showcase, Careers@HiltonLive: Youth in Hospitality Month, which was our largest ever in May this year with more than 600 events reaching 73,000 young people across the globe. Daniel Welk is the Vice President (Operations-India), Hilton Worldwide
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India is at present an under-penetrated hotel market. In terms of hotel rooms per 10,000 people, India has a little over one, compared with 28 rooms globally and 180 rooms in the US. Even if one assumes that the country's consuming population is only 10 per cent of the actual population, there should still be a requirement of three rooms per 10,000 people based on the global average. Due to structural issues, India is also a unique market for hotel development. The high cost of land, the high cost of short-duration debt and opaque localised approval processes create significant barriers to entry. Consequently (and unlike in the rest of the world, especially the US), most of the hotels in the country are owned by individuals (rather than institutions) with an inverted pyramid of supply, wherein a majority of hotel rooms in India are either upscale or better. As an analogy, imagine a scenario in which the majority of airline seats in India were business class. Clearly, as a result of these factors, there is a price-demand mismatch with more high-priced rooms than required and far fewer lower-priced rooms. It means that over the next few years, India can easily absorb another 200,000 rooms in the 'right'-priced mid-scale (three-star) and economy (one- or two-star) categories. If one looks at the aggregate demand-supply mismatch in India, it was in favour of hotels up until about 2007-8, when occupancies across the country were in excess of 70 per cent. Over the past six or seven years, supply has grown at close to 16 per cent CAGR, and demand at only 12 per cent CAGR. Consequently, national occupancies for the last few years have been under 60 per cent. This has led to irrational pricing, great financial stress for hotels and significant debt on their balance sheets. Going forward, additional supply injections are slowing down to about 7 per cent CAGR over the next four or five years, whereas demand is expected to continue to rise at a minimum 12 per cent CAGR. It is clear therefore that by 2018-19, hotel occupancies across the country will once again cross the magic figure of 70 per cent. Indian hotels have a bright future provided they are able to manage short- to mid-term cash flows and debt service obligations. The Lemon Tree Hotel Company (LTH) at present owns 3,000 rooms and manages an additional 300 rooms across 15 cities in India. Since the launch of its first hotel in 2004, the company has grown at close to 50 per cent CAGR over the past decade. Another nine owned hotels aggregating 2,000 rooms are under development. By 2020, LTH will most likely own 7,500 rooms and manage an additional 10,000 in 30 cities across India. At that point in time, the company will control about 7 per cent of the total supply of branded hotel rooms in the country and more than 15 per cent of mid-market rooms. Of these, about a third will be upscale (four-star), another third, midscale (three-star) and the balance, economy (two-star). Patu Keswani is the Chairman and Managing Director, Lemon Tree Hotel Company
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New consumers are looking beyond just the hotel, but is the industry prepared to wake to this new reality? The perceived differences between the Indian and international travelers are now blurring. Don't forget that a lot more Indians travel abroad, so they are getting used to the service abroad. A lot of mid-level operators coming into the country are now giving the kind of service they offer in their hotels abroad. There are no bell boys in many of the new three-star hotels. You have to come down to get a newspaper, which is an add on. I believe that the over-expectation of Indian customers is getting tempered today. They have more realistic expectations. What has changed today is that customers no longer expect just a good hotel. They want good food and a good experience overall. Whether they are there for leisure, business or a conference, it's the overall experience that they get in a hotel that counts. What do we do differently, being an international brand, in India? We are bringing in an entirely new culture. Many Indian hotel companies are trying to do new and different things. A number of international companies are already doing them. We have the experience and expertise globally, which makes it easier for us to bring it into India. For the Indian companies, the challenge and the opportunity is to quickly understand this fact and do it better. I don't for a moment believe that Starwood can come here and operate hotels better than Indian companies can, but I certainly believe we bring in more efficiencies to the use of technology and to the use of our global processes, which Indian companies will certainly start adopting as well. The transition in the attitude to service we see in the hospitality industry isn't just limited to it. Indians are changing the way they live. Look at social media platforms. Indians use them more than anywhere else in the world. We have Gen Y travellers, millennial travellers who are more adaptable to global trends. When we have a 60-year-old customer, they would probably say, "I don't want to do laundry", while someone who is from the younger generation, a techie who travels abroad, may not mind. He has done it abroad, after all. The altering demographics of the customers are making changes like those happening in mature markets easier to adapt to India. When we speak about service in hotels, we have to also look at whether India has enough people to staff the industry. The industry is growing so fast that questions being raised on the quality and availability of talent to meet its demand for skilled hands. Rooms will remain in short supply, but what about the shortage of talent? The talent crunch is a reality that the industry must face up to. Nonetheless, we are heading towards another golden era of the hospitality industry. The surge in business that it saw between 2003 and 2008, when demand grew faster than supply, is poised to come back in 2015. It's back to the days of growth. As spoken to Bikramjit Ray. Dilip Puri is the Managing Director-Indian and Regional Vice President, Starwood Hotels & Resorts.
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THERE are changes in the air for the Taj Group. Rumour mills are working overtime, but one confirmed piece of news is the imminent departure of Hemant Oberoi, the master of restaurant launches and Corporate Chef of the chain's luxury division. A very reliable source has informed BW Hotelier that Chef Oberoi is retiring this year. When we contacted Chef Oberoi, who is now in Davos, Switzerland, he neither confirmed, nor denied the news. "No comment," he said, and added: "Everyone has to be in a company as per company rules." A culinary super star, Chef Oberoi has launch a series of prestigious restaurants, from Mumbai's Zodiac Grill to the Masala series, Blue Ginger, Wasabi by Morimoto and Varq. He joined the chain of hotels as a trainee chef in 1974 after graduating from the Pusa Institute of Hotel Management, New Delhi. It took him just 12 years of single-minded dedication to climb up the kitchen ladder to become the Executive Chef of the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Mumbai. In his four-decade-long career with the Taj, he has won multiple awards, been invited twice to demonstrate his skills at the World Gourmet Summit, and he was the only Indian chef to be invited by Alain Ducasse, the man with the most Michelin stars, to the 25th anniversary bash of the Louis XV in Monaco. In his four-decade-long career with the Taj, Chef Oberoi has prepared meals for dignitaries such as Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Bill Clinton and Margaret Thatcher, and for Hollywood celebrities, notably Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. What will life be post-retirement for the chef who's famous for his daunting 7 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. daily work schedule? Prefacing his statement with a "No comment", Chef Oberoi assured us that he was not one to rest on his laurels, nor change his routine. Bikramjit Ray is the Executive Editor of BW Hotelier.
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