Category Archives: Hotels

After serving 3 years as COO- India and South Asia at Accor, Jean-Michel Cassé has announced his retirement from the global hospitality brand. In a farewell letter to its colleagues and partners, Cassé said that his last working day will be July 15.  Furthermore, Accor announced the appointment of Puneet Dhawan as Senior Vice President Operations- India & South Asia. Dhawan will take charge from August 1.

The Lords Hotels and Resorts have resumed operations with heightened precautionary measures and new SOPs in place.

In order to understand the pulse of the industry amidst these unprecedented times, HVS ANAROCK conducted an anonymous online survey with Hotel General Managers (GMs) in the last week of April 2020. The survey revealed that despite expecting low occupancies, over 71% of the GMs will not discount their rates by more than 20%. Over 42% GMs believe that occupancy would be close to or higher than 50%, while 46% of the GMs believe that occupancy will remain below 40%. The survey revealed that most GMs expect demand to pick up by Q4 2020.

Though the occupancy rate across hotels in key cities of India has been plummeting for some time now, the sector is hopeful that by Q4 this year, they will be above 40%. This was revealed by HVS General Manager’s Sentiment Survey, where more than 53% respondents said that occupancies in Q4 could be anywhere between 40-50%, maybe even more. In fact, over 42% of the General Managers surveyed believe that occupancy would be close to or higher than 50%, while 46% of the General Managers believe that occupancy will remain below 40%.

A delegation of the Karnataka Pradesh Hotel and Restaurants’ Association (KPHRA) recently met the state chief minister BS Yediyurappa said at his office in Bengaluru and has requested him to grant permission to re-open hotels. The Karnataka Chief Minister said he will decide on the reopening of hotels and restaurants by May 31, when the fourth phase of lockdown ends. The KPHRA delegation has also requested Yediyurappa for a special package for hotel and restaurant workers in terms of waiving off three months of electricity bills and property tax of hotel buildings.

The Home Ministry has issued an order following complaints that some hotels, used as temporary quarantine centres for people travelling from outside the country, were refusing to return 7-day advance money after the government cut down institutional quarantine period from 14 days to 7 days. The hotels were charging all international guests for 14 days in advance. A notification issued by Ajay Bhalla, Secretary Home Ministry has instructed chief secretaries of all states to ensure that the hotels process refunds without any delay. The home ministry on May 24 had revised its guidelines to cut short mandatory institutional quarantine for passengers arriving from abroad on flights operated under the Vande Bharat mission—Repatriation flights conducted by the government of India—to seven days from earlier 14 days period. According to the revised advisory, people could choose to spend the second week of quarantine at their homes. But the ministry received complaints that several hotels had already charged 14-days rent from arriving guests and were now refusing to return a week’s advance rent.

Cross Hotels & Resorts concludes its webinar with an overwhelming attendance of around 850 people. The hospitality brand showcased 24 hotels in Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. Also, the brand is offering prices, much lower than the online prices, as a gesture to support the industry. Ms. Yui, Director, Cross Hotels & Resorts, along with Ms. May, Cluster Manager, Cross Hotels & Resorts from Thailand addressed the webinar and shared information on the brand and its various properties.

Mandeep Singh Lamba, President – South Asia, HVS ANAROCK, has said that the hospitality industry would see changes in terms of design and operations after the COVID-19 crisis is over. Speaking at the third TravTalk Digital Conclave, he said, “There are going to be some permanent changes that will happen in the industry, both in terms of operations of the hotels and in terms of design. We need to understand that this is perhaps not the last time we are seeing a disruption of this kind. It’s a reality which can hit us again, and hence we need to be far better prepared the next time. This crisis has stirred the industry into making some serious changes.”

Cross Hotels & Resorts is holding an exclusive webinar for the Indian travel trade today (May 25) at 2:30 pm IST. To attend the webinar, please register on this link https://event.webinarjam.com/register/113/1n728ak9 or contact Harish Chhetri at 9650196521 or sales@crosshotelsandresorts.in. The keynote speaker is from Thailand – Yui, Group Director of Sales, Cross Hotels & Resorts. The webinar will be an informative session for the trade and will elaborate on one of the leading hotel chains in SE Asia – Cross Hotels & Resorts.

Jatin Khanna, Market Vice President- North India, Bhutan and Nepal at Marriott Hotels India, has said that while technology is on the rise in the COVI- era and would be a predominant factor in creating guest experience once the crisis over, hotels should strive towards maintaining a balance between technology and interaction of guests with employees. Speaking at the 3rd TravTalk Digital Conclave, he said, “Hotels should create a good balance where the guest journey is complete and there is minimalistic social impact. We need to create a balance between technology and our human guests’ interaction with the employees. I think technology is here to stay, which will help us in the coming times.”