By Bikramjit Ray PULLMAN AND the Novotel at New Delhi’s Aerocity was formally launched at a function which had as special invitees Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati; French Ambassador to India, Francois Richier; Sebastien Bazin, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, AccorHotels. Kapil Bhatia, Executive Chairman, InterGlobe Enterprises Ltd; and Peter T Meyer from APHV India Investco Pte Ltd, represented AccorHotels strategic joint partners in the project. The Pullman at Aerocity, New Delhi was the 100th in the world and I got the opportunity to speak exclusively with Sebastien Bazin at the event. I began by asking Sebastien Bazin (see photo) about AccorHotels experience with the Indian market. ’It’s been almost 30 years since we first entered the Indian market. We started here on a very humble note, trying to understand the market. We have been believing for a long time that the prospects in India are mindboggling, beyond imagination,’ he began. It is India’s size, geography, architectural heritage, civilisation and people that make it so, he added. AccorHotels began slowly and today with 35 hotels are one of India’s largest international hotel operators, according to Bazin. ’We have a huge appetite, but we are going to be doing it the Indian way. We are global thinkers, but local executors. We need people on the ground, which is why we have signed 45 new contracts today,’ he told me. Since AccorHotels- is a professional, international operator, they work well within the rules of the country they work in’which for India is very processing oriented’’If you can't adapt, don't develop’, was one of his takeaways. ’Operating in different markets is a huge advantage because you can measure the risk much better. It’s a huge advantage because you are a better listener when it comes to dealing with local partners and investors. It is a great advantage because the talent that you bring into the country have experience elsewhere, so they are accustomed to surprises,’ he told me when asked what advantage a global outfit like AccorHotels had when it came to operating in varied markets. It is also a great advantage for people working for the company, according to Bazin, because if they were to spend 25 years, they would probably work in ten different countries and build a truly international career. I then asked the standard question for all global CEOs, what was his view of India? ’You can close your eyes and make a ten year bet and you will be right, you can make a 20 year bet and you are going to be even more right. What you don't know is what is in front of you for the next 18 months, because you know it's going to take six months more’, he said. ’Don't be short-sighted, be there for the long run. One thing that people don't understand and I should be repeating is--80 per cent of my guests in India are from India. This is the case in every country where AccorHotels operates. We are here to be the first international accessible, affordable brand for the domestic client. My clients are mostly small and medium size enterprises and I would like to think that we are contributing to developing the economy,’ Bazin added. The biggest challenge of working in India was time. When you put so much work, dedicated talent, architecture, design, regulations, security, furniture and a complete hotel including staff, in place and then not be able to open, it’s a waste, he thought. The biggest reward of working in the Indian market according to Bazin was in tune with the group philosophy of ’Feel Welcome’. ’When I come to India I feel welcome. When I meet your ministers or my business partners, they welcome me and wish me luck. This is the beauty of your market,’ he told me. The three markets globally that Bazin felt bullish about, where he wants to push AccorHotels to grow further, faster and bigger are India at number one, Iran at number two and sub-Saharan Africa. ’The thing these markets have in common are demography, a huge emerging middle class population, ancient civilizations, beautiful historic architecture, natural resources and the need to be open to the world,’ he expounded. ’India has something which is very rare. People here have a smile on their face. They love being of service to other. When you have that in your DNA, you know you are perfect for the hospitality business,’ he concluded. The author is Executive Editor of BW Hotelier.
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By Rashmi Pradhan WITH 25 properties operational in India, V Resorts, a chain of experiential resorts is looking at expanding to 50 properties across India by December 2015. Speaking to BW Hotelier, Aditi Balbir, Co-Founder & MD, V Resorts, (see photo) said, ’We are looking to ramp up our operations and marketing activities. We have recently launched the new version of our website that will enable online bookings and is user-friendly. With over 385 rooms across 25 properties in India, we aim to operate 700 rooms across 50 properties by December this year.’ Speaking about the expansion, Balbir informed, ’V Resort is based on the hotel aggregator model that runs resorts in the upscale offbeat segment of the Indian leisure industry. We are in the business of offering accommodation at getaway destinations in the premium segment and our resorts are located at the outskirts amidst greenery and natural settings. When we started last year, the focus markets were Mumbai and Delhi and by end of December we will tap the Kolkata market and look at penetrating Hyderabad and Bengaluru markets by next year.’ Balbir added, ’Currently, we have resorts in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Goa, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, as resorts at these destinations are ideal getaways for Mumbaikars and Delhiites. We have resorts in the pipeline in Darjeeling, Matheran, Mahabaleshwar, Amroli, Chikaldhara, Panchmarhi, Rishikesh, Shimla, Mukhteswar, Ajmer, Jaipur, Solan, Tadoba, Dehradun, Dalhousie, Udaipur, etc. These properties will have a room inventory between 15-20 and atleast two restaurants. We run these properties on a revenue sharing agreement with the owners.’ Balbir further added, ’What distinguishes us from other hotel aggregators is the quality of service and efficient manpower. A lot of emphasis is given on training the manpower. We are a chain of branded curated properties with SOPs.’ The author is Assistant Editor of BW Hotelier.
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TO EMPHASIZE Hyatt’s focus on its rich culinary heritage, Hyatt Hotels in India introduced the ’Hyatt Culinary Challenge - people cooking for people’ in 2014. The first season was a memorable experience for our guests as well as the hotel associates engaged in the preparations. The challenge is back in 2015, with the second season which was held on October 31 across ten Hyatt India destinations. Hyatt India Culinary
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By Rashmi Pradhan WITH 47 properties operational across seven brands in India, Starwood Hotels & Resorts is looking to bring in the W Hotels brand next year. Nelli Yong, Vice President, Brand Management Asia Pacific, Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels & Resorts spoke to me about the launch of the new entrant to India and the Starwood brand strategy for the country. I began by asking Yong about the entry of W Hotels in India. ’We are at the discussion and planning stage for the debut of ’W Hotels’ brand in India. We will be opening the first W, the W Retreat & Spa Goa in Vagator Beach, Goa by mid-2016,’ she told me. The resort will have 160 rooms, she added. Even with nine more months to go before the opening, Yong felt this was a critical time for the brand launch. Goa has been on the global map for travelers seeking something different. The global traveler may be aware of the destination without having actually visited it, she told me. ’The destination (Goa) has everything from music to lifestyle to cuisines. This syncs with the three-core pillars of W--Design, Fashion and Music. Goa being a hub for design and fun, is a perfect match,’ Yong said. This year Starwood opened nine hotels across India and is looking forward to surpassing the 100 hotel mark next year, she told me. ’This will be a mix of operating hotels and signed contracts. By next year Starwood will have eight of their ten brands operational in India (except for Tribute and Element),’ she added. The fastest growing Sheraton brand in India currently was Four Points by Sheraton, Yong shared adding that India was witnessing tremendous growth in the metro as well as Tier II cities and the upscale Four Points brand, with the largest number of hotels in the pipeline for Starwood, was a perfect fit. ’We started in India back in 1973 associating with Oberoi for our Sheraton brand and with ITC Hotels for Luxury Collection. India has strong domestic brands in the hospitality segment. The country has self-created and developed brands like the Taj, Leela and Oberoi. Not many country in Asia can boast of such a strong selection of home grown hospitality brands,’ she said. In the 1990s, more Indian tourists began to travel abroad and that gave them brand awareness, this saw increasing numbers of international brands entering the Indian market in the early 2000s, she observed. This was when chains found owners to tie up with the international brands, Yong added. When it came to the Starwood group’s brand strategy, Yong said, ’Each of our brands have different brand positioning and are marketed independently. We have a clear brand position that is understood by our guest’. Yong gave the example of the Westin brand’s 6 pillars of wellness: Sleep Well, Eat Well, Move Well, Feel Well, Work Well and Play Well. This wasn’t merely a marketing tool, she explained, but something all guests staying at Westin Hotels actually experienced. ’We are marketing through the experiences provided to our guests. We have a strong SPG (Starwood Preferred Guests) loyalty programme, which is the common thread that links our 1200 hotels and 10 brands worldwide,’ she concluded. The author is Assistant Editor of BW Hotelier.
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By Bikramjit Ray HOW DOES a young man with ambitions of becoming an Air Force Pilot, become the COO in charge of Asia Pacific of one of the world’s best hotel brands? This is precisely how I began my chat with Rajeev Menon, the Chief Operating Officer, Chief Operating Officer - Asia Pacific (Excluding Greater China) at Marriott International, during his recent visit to inaugurate Marriott’s 29th property in India. ’Basically, my first ambition, while I was growing up, studying at the Navy Public School, Chanakyapuri, was to become an Indian Air Force pilot. Unfortunately, my eyesight wasn’t good enough, so I had to look for my next best option. As I had a couple of relatives already in the business, I was lured in during those early days by the ’glamour’ of the business. I jumped right in,’ Menon told me at our tete-a-tete. Menon went on to complete his hotel management from IHM Pusa in 1988-89 and joined ITC as a management trainee. He was one of the group of trainees who were involved in running the Searock in Mumbai. Menon wanted to see the world and when the opportunity came in 1992 to move to Australia, he jumped and shifted base to Sydney, without a job in hand. ’I moved to Sydney when Australia was going through one of its worst recessions and being a young boy from India with no Australian experience, I must have given 25 interviews and got rejected on the proviso that I had no Australian experience. That is when I decided I was going to start from scratch. I applied to a reasonably new hotel, a Radisson property in Sydney, for a front desk job. After six rounds of interviews over three weeks, I ended up as the banquet manager for that hotel,’ he recalled. -A big part of Menon’s training was in the F&B Operation side of the business, which held him in good stead. He travelled around Australia working for Radisson for the next five years before joining a company called Stanford who were entering Australia with an eye to buy hotel assets. ’I started with them as Director F&B for what was the largest food and beverage operation in South Australia in Adelaide. I grew to become the operations manager for the group’as they continued to acquire various hotels, the Intercontinentals, the Four Seasons, the Ritz Carlton, I was like the ops guy for the CEO of the company,’ he said. One of Menon’s life goals was to become a general manager by the age of 30. ’I got the job 15 days after my 30th birthday in 1998. I ended up taking over a couple of Ritz Carlton Hotels that Stanford owned and were re-branding,’ he remembers. This was also the time that Menon decide that he wanted to be in an organisation where he was going to spend a large part of his career. He had shortlisting two organisation and it was in March 2001, that Menon joined Marriott, one of his two choices. ’The opportunity that Marriott gave me was to move back to India in late March 2001, and open what was going to be our second complex here--the Renaissance Mumbai Hotel Convention Centre and the Marriott Executive Apartments,’ Menon told me. He opened the complex in September 2001. Though the going was tough initially, he said, once things caught on, the destination really shone. Not only was Mumbai shifting outwards towards the north, but from a destination point of view, it was like an urban resort, he felt. At the end of 2004 Menon was asked by Marriott to go back to Australia and run Australia and New Zealand as country GM, as well as be the GM of the flagship hotel which was the Sydney Harbour Marriott. ’So I moved back and almost three years later I got a phone call from our head of Asia Pacific, asking me to set up the India Area Office,’ he remembered. In 2007 Menon moved back and set up the area office in Mumbai. ’At that point we had six hotels in India. I was looking after South Asia, which included Pakistan all the way down to Malaysia and I had Australia as well. As India started to grow, I slowly started to shed countries and basically eventually it was South Asia given where we are with India today,’ Menon explained. His latest move has been to Singapore to take over the whole Asia Pacific region, which happened in early 2015. His career path has stayed well on course, because in his words, he has been in the right place at the right time. When I asked Menon about what was his style of management and how it worked, he began by saying, ’to me there are three things that are important. One, is an inclusive style of management which means you need to engage with the team, get people's opinions and make decisions based on sound advice. Second, focus on performance through simplicity. Don't overcrowd your sheet with too many goals. Focus on key goals. Third for me is to lead by example, you need get dirty and learn with the team. That is my personal style.’ From a company perspective, he added, ’the aim was to position each of our brands as the best in class. We do a lot of research before we bring in a brand into India and when we do, we want to make it the best in class. This is proven by the premiums that we drive compared to our competitors’. The other critically important factor are the people. ’As a company we have always enjoyed a very strong culture. We wanted to make sure we were creating global careers with Indian associates. If you look at our journey over time, we have really gone from having loads of expats in the early days to today where 98 per cent of our colleagues are Indians. Over the years we have sent hundreds of Marriott associates to work in other hotels around the world. Our core culture is taking good care of our people. We make sure we focus on our training development growth and really create careers,’ he explained. And the life lesson which has really held him in good stead was the experience of working at the Searock Mumbai, during the strike. ’We worked from 6 am till 12 or 1 am at night, non-stop. Even today, if things get tough, I can roll up my sleeves and jump into anything,’ he told me, with a glint of excitement in his eyes. A version of this interview first appeared in BW Hotelier Magazine. The author is Executive Editor of BW Hotelier.
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THIS IS the second time that Stephen Holmes, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Wyndham Worldwide Corporation (see photo), has been to India and he is happy with what he sees. "I enjoyed it then and I am enjoying it this trip as well. It’s an amazing marketplace. Amazing culture and great growth potential,’ he told me during our interview. ’I think all the indicators are pointing towards great growth in India. If you look at the demographics, you have got a very young, very technology savvy, consumer base here.
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One of the most common queries I receive on my YouTube show is asking me why hotels adopt digital strategies last. Hoteliers analyze every channel of publicity and marketing, conduct audits and post mortems before realizing the true value of investing in digital strategy. Sometimes, they jump on to the proverbial ’bandwagon’ which others are already using.
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