The growth of the Indian market has paved the way for several hotel chains of international repute to set up shop and benefit from the burgeoning industry. However, estimate suggests that the rapid growth of the hospitality segment in India has led to an oversupply in the markets, especially the metro cities which are almost every chain’s first stop. Among these is the city of Mumbai, financial capital and one of the busiest gateways of the country.
Arguing against this belief are the five star properties running successfully in the city, notching year-on-year growth in Revenue per Available Room (Revpar) and occupancy. According to Andrew W. Harrison, General Manager, Four Seasons Mumbai, 2013 saw continued strength in the luxury segment and the hotel stabilised in occupancy, to the low 70s. Furthermore, Revpar grew as business into the city grew after a prolonged period of lull, he revealed.
The Sofitel Mumbai BKC also did well last year and the first six months of 2014 have been very positive for the hotel, said Biswajit Chakraborty, General Manager, Sofitel Mumbai BKC. The property has recorded enhanced occupancy levels over last year and the coming season looks buoyant in terms of both, average room rate (ARR) and occupancy levels.
“The Financial Year 2014 proved to be the best year for The Westin Mumbai Garden City. The hotel has reported a positive revenue growth of 11 per cent during Jan-June this year over the last year. The overall productive performance of the hotel in facets of catering/ banquets, F&B and rooms business is indicated by increase in the occupancy level up to 4 per cent over the previous year and augmentation in ARR by 3 per cent as compared to the last year,” said Anurag Bhatnagar, Area General Manager, Westin Mumbai Garden City.
2013 was also a record breaking year for Renaissance Mumbai Convention Centre Hotel that saw a surge in business travel. “Being a MICE hotel, whilst most of the annual conventions were retained at the hotel, the weddings and social segment too saw an increase in revenue. The hotel had over 67 per cent growth in the wedding and social segment,” said Rex Nijhof, General Manager, Renaissance Mumbai Convention Centre Hotel & Lakeside Chalet Marriott Executive Apartments.
Staying ahead of the game
So how do these properties stay ahead of their competition while servicing the same market? The Westin Mumbai Garden City names it’s positioning as a ‘Lifestyle’ inspired brand as it’s niche. Proximity to Bombay Exhibition Center, Infinity Business Park, Nirlon Knowledge Center and Mindspace has driven the ‘Corporate Segment’ and MICE organisers to the hotel. Moreover, the new T2 flyover connecting the international and domestic airports has given the hotel a breakthrough in airline, crew and transient business,” Bhatnagar said.
“We are changing the way we do meeting by providing our guests numerable meeting space options besides the traditional boardrooms. A very popular new trend at Renaissance is the ‘Green Meetings’,” revealed Nijhof.
Taking a different route, Sofitel Mumbai BKC has focused on increasing it’s thematic offerings to guests as a way of staying ahead of it’s competitors. In the past few months, the hotel has seen a host of events including performances by an international all-girl band from the UK and mentalist Nicolai Friedrich apart from few more such events.
Harrison stated that the launch of the Four Seasons Luxury Private Jet and The Four Seasons Extraordinary Experiences have been great brand enforcers as it has led to greater guest engagement and a better understanding to recognise and serve luxury travellers. “We have worked hard to capture more direct bookings with continued enhancements to the fourseasons.com website and are in the process to introduce a new mobile application,” he added.
Treading as per the trends
Bhatnagar opined that the market is demonstrating a sturdy inclination towards the upper-upscale business hotel. And this seems to be a unanimous opinion in the segment. Speaking about the trends seen in the traveller today, all the General Managers agreed that the customer today is better travelled, better informed and more demanding of quality accommodation and services.
“A traveller today is very well informed about his rights and privileges, understands value for money, is technologically savvy and expects the hotel to be agile and flexible to meet his demands. This has led to a certain degree of impatience. Groups and conventions have increasingly been demanding all inclusive packages which impact profitability in an adverse way,” said Harrison. Commenting on the excess inventory in Mumbai, he said that Mumbai has to be the “best value” luxury hotel market.
According to Chakraborty, in terms of product offerings, when one talks about room amenities, it certainly has changed dramatically. Also, as technology advances people’s choices have also grown and now they expect hotel rooms to offer them flat-screen TVs and iPod docking stations among others.
Nijhof opined that the lead time for booking hotels is becoming shorter whilst the customer bookings are getting more and more personalised, customised and unique. He further added that the hotel industry is increasingly moving towards the digitalised world.
