Spotlight

Country magic in Goa

Country Inns and Suites Goa, a Portuguese-themed resort, has plenty to offer for both leisure and MICE travellers. By Dinkar Farwaha

Rahul Joshi Resort manager

Country Inns and Suites Goa, the recent addition to the luxury portfolio of Phoenix Group Global, has been positioned as a five-star at an affordable price. Says Rahul Joshi, resort manager, Country Inns and Suites, Goa, "The USP of our resort lies in its design and architecture. It captures the very spirit of Goa." He continues, "Our product differentiation lies in the fact that it mirrors to a typical Portuguese village life, not only in terms of design but also in terms of experience. We sell the product as well as the experience." Another strong point of the property is the Maya Spa.

The ARR of the 106-room property is close to Rs 7,000 post the soft launch. The group anticipates a lower ARR for the non-peak season of April-September. It is targeting an international and domestic guest profile of 40 per cent and 60 per cent respectively. Joshi says, "The international guest profile we are looking at includes tourists, airline crews, incentive groups and MICE. The domestic guest profile we are targeting comprises of holiday groups, holiday packages, weddings and MICE."

Country Inns & Suites, Goa

For the MICE market, the resort houses two conference halls (Elegancia and Estilo of 226 and 114 sqm., respectively). It offers state of the art banquet facilities with audio-visual, wi-fi connectivity and business support services to take care of meeting requirements. It also provides corporate team building programmes. "Events are a very important part of our business and hence the operation team has also been chosen very carefully to meet the growing demands. All this has given us a large reach in the market and confidence in ourselves to deliver the best. Thus, even in the initial days of our operations we have experienced considerably large MICE movements and are very satisfied with the results that we have got," says Joshi.

Ensuring guest loyalty for any property is a challenging task. So what is it that the property is looking at to bring out the recurring appeal for guests? Says Joshi, "Ours is a business that relies on image, personal interactions, word-of-mouth, and a positive guest experience - hence we focus on one-to-one marketing. We capitalise on the fifth 'P' of marketing, which is personalisation. On the basis of our feedback mechanisms we learnt that 80 per cent of the guest's satisfaction was relative to the treatment rendered to them by hotel employees. Keeping this in mind, our team is hand picked and intensively trained to do everything to make our guests happy, thus delivering as per our theme 'Be our guest'." The property follows the international loyalty program of Carlson Hospitality. "We subscribe to 'Goldpoints Plus', which is a highly effective program and has 100,000 members worldwide," informs Joshi. He adds, "The members of 'Goldpoints Plus' can stay free in hotels of Carlson Hospitality in more than 70 countries and can earn airline miles with over 20 airline partners. Members can redeem points for the rewards. In addition, the members also receive exclusive hotel and travel offers."

"Armed with these tools in our hands we are eagerly looking forward to attracting a big market share, thus taking our business to new heights," concludes Joshi.

About Country Inns and Suites Goa

Country Inns & Suites is situated off Benaulim Beach. The rooms and suites are built around courtyards, giving the feel of a private house complete with gardens, patios and pergolas for relaxation. Other facilities include three F&B outlets, a spa, conferencing facilities and a children's club.