30 Minute Interview

'We were looking for a partner that shares the same values'

Roland Jegge, vice president - Asia Pacific of WORLDHOTELS, which recently tied up with The Claridges Hotels in India, is planning to have a WORLDHOTELS member in every key Indian city. He divulges his plans to Express Hospitality. By Praveen K Singh

Roland Jegge Vice President - Asia Pacific WORLDHOTELS

Why has it taken this long for WORLDHOTELS to enter the Indian hospitality market?

It was important for us to find the right hotel partner that shared the same values and reflected the quality requirements of our hotels. A strong USP conveying a sense of place to the international traveller, coupled with a certain 'Indian touch' was also necessary. This took time. We are happy now to have found such a partner in Claridges Hotels, Delhi.

What is your perception of the Indian hospitality industry and what are your plans for the future?

From a portfolio perspective we would like to have a WORLDHOTELS member in every key Indian city and we are looking at Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Goa and Calcutta with top priority. On the other hand, we have just appointed Discover the World Marketing as our GSA, and together with them we want to develop the Indian outbound market to bring forth a double-digit growth.

Kindly elaborate on the benefits for hotels through your membership.

The hotel will get great benefits in terms of positioning - as the hotel will be part of a quality alliance of luxury hotels, also in terms of revenue generation, we will provide the hotel with state-of-the-art distribution technology and feed it with reservations from our network of more than 30 international sales offices. We will also assist the hotel in the areas of training and of procurement.

Do these benefits vary from brand to brand and market to market?

The benefits offered to our hotels are the same for all the markets we operate in, but the way we promote our brand to the customers will vary in certain markets.

What is the promotional and marketing strategy for the Indian Market?

We want to position WORLDHOTELS as the leading European brand of independent hotels and as a chain offering a portfolio of unique hotels with character and distinction.

What is your target for the next five years?

Our goal is to have 20 member hotels in India and to triple the number of travellers from India staying at our hotels worldwide.

Kindly throw some light on the revenue management and guest recognition programmes?

We have a team of experts in our performance and revenue optimisation department who travel to each hotel to ensure that the hotel has the right rate strategy and uses our distributions tools to the fullest. WORLDHOTELS was the first brand of independent hotels to offer BAR rates across the board for all our hotels and to offer a best available rate guarantee for our website.

Our guests are being awarded miles with 18 different airline partners, among them, Jet Airways. We are also currently working on a new CRM and Guest Recognition Progamme which will be announced shortly.