Event Round Up

A focus on hospitality operations

The first HOSI Summit was organised by the HVS, India in Gurgaon. The summit dedicated to hotel operations tried to look into the various aspects involved at the operational level. By Nupur Singh

The first Hotel Operations Summit India (HOSI) 2009 held in Gurgaon, Leela Kempinski hotel, was attended by professionals from the hotel industry. The summit mainly focused on the key issues of hotel operations like sales, marketing and HR related factors. It also looked at best practices in hotel operations and future travel trends.

The first day of the summit witnessed workshops by Laussane Hospitality Consulting. Prominent personalities in the Indian hospitality industry took part in the discussions held the next day. Attended by GMs, corporates, directors and CEOs, the summit witnessed interactions and panel discussions on key operational issues. Focusing on this, Manav Thadani, managing director, HVS said, "The idea behind organising HOSI is to have a forum for discussion of hotel operations on international standards in India, a subject of crucial importance." Providing great networking opportunity to the leaders in the sector, the summit provided them with a platform to interact on the issues of growth and the challenges therein.

Addressed by speakers like Manav Thadani-MD, HVS India, Nakul Anand, divisional chief executive-ITC, Raman Roy, chairman and managing director-Quatrro, Ashwini Kakkar executive vice chairman-Mercury Travels, Patu Keswani chairman and managing director-Lemon Tree Hotels to name a few, the sessions covered all the areas of hotel operations.

Session I

Welcome address
Manav Thadani, MD, HVS India

In his welcome address, Manav Thadani called for more platforms for hospitality professionals to interact on the issues of hotel operations. He said, "This conference is dedicated to hotel operations in India. HVS recognised the fact that there is an absence of an organised platform that would bring together pioneers in the industry. So we called for such an event,"

Speaking on the initiative of international standards, he further said, "In an attempt to provide a well organised platform, HVS aims to take the initiative of bringing international quality standards and Indian hotel operations system together through a series of interactions on this platform."

Keynote address:
View from the Top
Nakul Anand, division chief executive-hotels, ITC

Emphasising on the dynamic nature of the hotel industry, Nakul Anand said, "Given the nature of the industry, there is a need to focus on multi development, in terms of providing luxury to the guests throughout the period of stay." Speaking on new trends he added that bio-technology and molecular gastronomy needed to be focused upon. Reiterating the security concerns, he called 26/11 as the 9/11 of India and remarked, "There is a need to detect, isolate and effectively deal with threats to security."

Speaking on the service design he said, "There is a need to go green in a big way with green banquets, recyclable and suitable packing." Stressing on the need to volunteer for the same he said, "Voluntarism is the key for the hospitality to go green." He believed that spas need to be developed more as they enhance the experience of guests during their stay in hotels. Further, emphasising on sustainable tourism, he called for carbon neutral holidays.

Anand also streamlined the place of the nutritional aspect in the hospitality industry. He said, "There is a need to promote stress-free and nutritional holidays." He added, "Luxury in flux is fluxury and in such a scenario the guests don't feel comfortable. So there is a need to incorporate best practices and make the stay comfortable and pleasant for the guest."

Panel discussion

Moderator: Uttam Dave, head of development, Accor hotels.
Panelists: Ajay Bakaya, executive director, Sarovar Hotels
Dipak Haksar, chief operating officer, ITC
Chander Baljee, managing director, Royal Orchid Group
Peter Fulton, managing director, Hyatt International South West Asia

The panel comprising industry leaders discussed how they plan to expand by 2015. Ajay Bakaya, executive director, Sarovar Hotels said that they have 14 hotels with 3500 rooms and plan to increase the number to 6000 hotel rooms by 2015.

Chander Baljee, MD, Royal Orchid Hotel stated, "We have plans to set up 30 to 35 hotels by 2015."

Speaking on the challenges faced by the industry, Baljee said that there are various challenges in every aspect, for example, in revenue sharing model the challenge is to define as to what exactly is revenue. With a lot of outsourcing today there is a need to define the revenue accordingly. All this also calls for rethinking on management contracts. "Finding the right talent and security are the other challenges," he added. Speaking on the future perspective, Bakaya said, "Construction and project model are not developed the way they should. Hope in the future they are more developed."

The discussion also extended to the scope of franchising in India. Dipak Haksar, COO ITC stated, "The Indian market is still growing towards attaining the maturity level, as the market becomes mature it has the potential for franchising." The panelists concluded that a lot of business is brought by franchising but there is a problem as to how to maintain brand standards, which needs to be addressed by putting reasonable level of restraints and also regulating the standards.

Keynote address:
Operational excellence
Raman Roy, Quattro, MD & chairman

Managing director and the chairman of the BPO Quattro, Raman Roy, focused on the importance of operational excellence in the hotel sector. He discussed how parameters of achieving excellence differ from one organisation to another. The most important thing, according to him, is to satisfy the customer and the challenge lies in understanding what is critical to them.

While speaking about Critical to Quality (CTQ) measures, he said, "What is critical to customers is different in different industries as same CTQ have different implications in different industries. Therefore, it is important to identify what is critical" He further informed that 85 per cent of causes for failure in meeting customers' demands are the systems and processes, and not the employees. He asserted, "The role of the management is to change the process rather than badgering the individuals to do better." Speaking about the pre-requisites to achieve operational excellence he said, " To achieve operational excellence one needs to incorporate a process that includes a few steps like defining customer needs, defining management criteria, finding out variation, putting action plans to reduce the variations, and again take feedback from the customer." This alone can help achieve operational excellence ensuring better results.

Keynote address:
Future trends in travel
Ashwini Kakkar, executive vice chairman, Mercury Travels

In his keynote address, Ashwini Kakkar, executive vice chairman, Mercury Travels, made an assessment of the growth trends in the economy. During the session he brought to light the future trends in the travel industry. "This decade has produced more GDP and economic growth than earlier. There have also been a lot of events that have led to a change in the business and the change in customers' thought processes." Talking about the short and long-term changes in consumer behaviour, he pointed out, "This new paradigm is closer, shorter and cheaper." This new paradigm is short haul instead of long haul, it is domestic instead of international. He further said that this change has brought in a number of opportunities to grow. Speaking about making optimum use of the resources, he said, "This also gives rise to a number of opportunities. There is wealth at the bottom of the pyramid like micro-finance and nano. The hotel industry has somewhere lost its way. We need to use the wealth right below the stratum of the operating scenario to increase profits."

Addressing the key issues of environment and security, he said, "The concern for security and environment are hugely changing the profitability picture for the hospitality industry. The crucial thing is to be able to figure out the ways to club these with profitability." Speaking on the long-term changes, he said that time is replacing money as the most precious commodity. "Customers around the world are polarising dramatically into cash-rich time-poor customers and time-rich cash-poor customers. This dichotomy between these two types is becoming more marked today and there is a need to address their demands accordingly." This apart, with technology changing at a dramatic pace there is a need to be updated than lag behind. Stressing on the need to involve the customers through regular feedbacks, he stated, "It is important to see the ways to keep customers involved and associated in the business."

Session II

Sales strategies and policies in today's times

Moderator: Dena S. Behi, consultant, Laussane Hospitality Consulting
Panelists: Renu Basu, VP sales, Taj Hotels Resots and Palaces
Amit Prasad, chief operating officer, Go India Journeys
Ashwin Moodliar, GM sales, ITC Hotels
Deep Kalra, founder and chief executive officer, MakeMyTrip.com.

The second session started with discussion on sales, strategies and policies, during and post downturn. The panel discussed various aspects of sales and brand promotions. Speaking on the effects of downturn, Deep Kalra, founder and chief executive officer, MakeMyTrip.com said, "The downturn affected mostly the supplies side of the business, like the hotel and airline industry. However, there is a lot of business on the supplier side." Emphasising on the use of technology to curb the effects of downturn, he stated, "Technology, like the internet, offers more opportunities to do business even during recession. Yield on the online business is much higher." Reiterating the benefits of online marketing he further added that 10 per cent of the total business of Taj and 23 per cent of the Lemon Tree Hotels last year came from the Web.

The discussion further involved the strategies employed during recession. Amit Prasad, COO, Go India Journeys said, "We opted for both structural changes and changes in terms of growth. Impetus on both traditional and non-traditional market was laid." Discussing on the methods used in sales, the panelists focused on both sales and marketing through the internet and the human touch. Stressing the importance of the human touch, Ashwini Moodliar, GM Sales, ITC Hotels said, "Trust and equity can be made beyond the world of the internet. They help keep this trust firm, but cannot make it throughout on their own. The panel further discussed the measures to protect the brand by defining the brand and identifying the touch points to protect it.”

Patu Keswani, chairman and managing director, Lemon Tree Hotels started his address by drawing a comparison between the hospitality sector in India and the US, "In India, the labour is cheap and product is costly so the differentiation in India is across the product, unlike the US where it is around service." He further added, "This is the reason why service department in India will not work as it becomes difficult to give cheaper service when procuring the products is costly."

Speaking about the barriers to entry in India he said, "The barriers to entry in India is mostly around creation of the asset due to the abnormally high cost of land." Speaking on the inverted pyramid supply in India he acknowledged it is largely due to the high cost of land. Commenting on the present situation and the ongoing trends he said, "In India the growth in economy should increase demand for hotel rooms. This growth in demand is directly related to 2/3 growth in the services sector and 1/3 growth in the manufacturing sector."

Anyone with a focused approach to overcome the barriers, should concentrate on mixed scales and economy as there is an enormous demand for the same. He remarked, "The key to success lies in clearly defining unique brand proposition by identifying the key product and service tradeoffs. It is vital to design, build and own hotels to meet the brand standards."

Keynote address: Challenges in completing new hotel projects
Rajiv Puri, senior design management- Asia Pacific, Marriott International

Rajiv Puri, SDM, Asia Pacific, Marriott International, highlighted the challenges faced by Indian hoteliers in completing hotel projects. He said, "It takes a lot of time to get the license to build hotels in India." Speaking on the environment friendly measures largely stressed upon today he stated, "It is good to see the industry going green but the process towards green hospitality is quite challenging and there are various aspects involved that make the thing easier said than done."

Talking about the challenges specific to projects, he added that project management poses challenges in India. According to him, specialists required in estimation and cost management are missing which make the job even more difficult. He felt that in order to ensure supplies proportionate with the demand, effective techniques to make hotels more cost effective with a great speed was called for.

Session III

Where have all the right people gone?

Moderator: Geetanjali Pandit Gupta, corporate head-talent engagement, Indian Express
Panelists: Anil Sharma, vice president HR, ITC Hotels
Chandan Chattaraj, executive vice president HR, Oberoi Group
Gourmeet Singh, area director-HR, Marriott International
H N Shrinivas, SVP- corporate HR, Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces
Nirbhik Goel, director HR, Hyatt International South West Asia.

The panel discussed HR issues in the industry and the need for getting the right kind of people in the hospitality sector. Anil Sharma, VP - HR, ITC Hotels said, "There is no dearth of talent in India. Right people are there but a couple of changes have happened." Chandan Chattaraj, executive VP - HR, Oberoi Group added, "We need to check our focus. The major focus should be to give the platform for learning and development."

Addressing the issue of compensation, H N Shrinivas, SVP-corporate HR Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces said, "It is not that the industry does not offer good compensation. Compensation level is increasing. It is a growing and expanding industry." He further added that it is vital to address the concerns of the lowest common denominator.

The discussion further took into loop the dynamics of the trend of employer branding - a new and evolving concept in India. Speaking on the same, Sharma said, "There is a need to differentiate into employer branding and reputation. The kind of people a company promotes is employer branding." Suggesting the best approach to employer branding, he conceded that word of mouth branding by an employee is the biggest one. The panel unanimously agreed to carefully engineer training programmes for employees at each level in an organisation.

How to create a differentiator?

The summit, in the third session, was addressed by Ingo Schweder, chief executive director, Spatality. He spoke about the spa industry as it evolves as a huge business earner for the Indian hotel industry. Speaking on the statistics he said, "Over 80 per cent of the total guests in luxury hotels opt properties that have spa." He said, "Asia Pacific makes more money than other continents. There are substantial unlicensed spas that make money in this region. It is more important to know the trends in spa to be able to gain out of it. Spas are there to stay and would continue to grow."

Later, Prasanjit Singh, chief executive director, DLF Emporio Restaurants, presented some innovative designs from restaurants and hotels world over.

The last part of the session was addressed by Mrinal Jhangiani, MD, NutritionVista. In her address on the changing menus to suit today's lifestyle, she spoke on the nutritional aspect of hospitality that is largely ignored by the hotel industry. She emphasised that there is need for hotels to focus on nutrition along with comfort and luxury. She said, "The hotel industry should educate the guest to pick healthier options."

General Manager's seat:

Is it really hot?

Moderator: Manav Thadani, MD, HVS India
Panelists: Digvijay Singh, GM, Taj Mahal Hotel, New Delhi
Ilan Weill, GM, Grand Hyatt, Mumbai
Kapil Chopra, senior vice president, Oberoi Hotels and Resorts
Philip Logan, GM manager delegate, HICC and Novotel Hyderabad
Qasim Jafri, GM, Avari Hotel, Lahore
Rajat Chatterjee, GM, Goa Marriott Resort, Goa.

The session witnessed discussions by the GMs of various hotels moderated by Manav Thadani, MD, HVS India. The panel discussed the most vital issues pertaining to the hotel industry, the expectations of customers, the roaring security issues and the strategies for 2010. Speaking on customer expectations, Kapil Chopra, senior vice president, Oberoi Hotels and Resorts said, "The customer's expectations have changed today and there is no doubt about it. The customer wants the value for money without putting their security at stake." Adding to this, Philip Logan, general manager delegate, HICC and Novotel Hyderabad remarked, "The trends in customer expectations have shifted considerably as price is not the only discussion today, consistency in terms of providing services has become a part of the concern."

The discussion further extended to the issue of security. Speaking on the security front, Qasim Jafri, GM, Avari hotel, Lahore said, "We have elaborate security set ups in place but we carry on the same without making the customer uncomfortable." Focusing on the operational costs involved, Kapil Chopra remarked, "The cost of security is however an issue that needs attention as elaborate security arrangements shoot the cost up."

The panel also discussed the post recession scenario in terms of strategies for 2010. Speaking on the same, Digvijay Singh, GM, Taj Mahal Hotel, New Delhi said, "A genuine approach towards safety and environment friendliness is the right strategy. The wellness industry is not given its due. The challenge for now is to bring the same to the forefront." Suggesting his strategy, Rajat Chatterjee, GM Goa Marriott Resort, Goa said, "Repositioning of hotels is important. While renovating, one has to take care of associate engagement and customer satisfaction."

Through theses series of discussions, the operational heads of hotels understood the vitality of such kind of interactions. Speaking after the session, Singh said, "Such interactions are always helpful to come up with new ideas to chalk out proper plans together."