These are exciting times for the hotels sector. 2006 was the Year of Hospitality. There was an over 20% category growth in 2006, 35 five-star hotels were added with another 155 put under construction and an over 20% growth in tariffs was registered. In the economy segment, 112 projects were sanctioned for south India alone by the central tourism department this year.
ECS has extensive expertise in some industry clusters and believes that the product portfolio available can be leveraged for some other clusters like airlines & fleet management
India forms an important part of the agenda of all leading global hospitality players. Some plans:
Hilton will roll out 'Hampton Inn and Suites', 'Hilton Garden Inn' and 'Double Tree'
Accor Group will launch 'Sofitel', 'Novotel' and 'Macure' brands in India
Starwood Group will introduce its “Luxury Collection”, and 'Four Point' brands
Inter Continental Hotels is spreading 'Holiday Inn' and 'Express Holiday Inn'
Worldhotels, Jumeirah, Emaar, Wyndham are entering India, as are several others
Indian Hotels has bought over The Ritz Carlton at Boston
However, while customers are flocking to the country and hence the business houses, companies are making rapid efforts to streamline project management, revenue management, quality of operations, supply chain and IT enablement to see to it that the growth becomes sustainable and long-lasting.
Key challenges facing the industry
Suitable land at a price which makes sense: In the recent auctions for hotel land at Delhi, the reserve price asked was sited as exorbitant by almost all players
Intense competition: The industry is witnessing heightened competition with the arrival of new players, new products and new systems
Attrition: A booming retail, airline and BPO sector as well as lucrative overseas F&B contracts have all led to high employee turnover with some chains registering as high as 65%
Customer expectations: As prices skyrocket and India becomes a destination on the global travel map, expectations of customers are making companies move the satisfaction-delight-relationship coordinates. Companies have a much greater stress on ensuring customer loyalty and repeat purchase.
Manual backend: Though most reputed chains have IT enabled systems for property management, reservations etc., almost all data which actually makes the company work resides in manual log books or is simply not tracked
Payback: As property prices increase, a vertical start-up and least gestation are becoming important cornerstones in the hospitality landscape
Productivity: Employee strength per room is cited as higher than some countries
