26 August,2022 05:56 PM IST |  Mumbai  |  BrandMedia

Being a veteran in the industry and someone who has been known to be a transformational person at the operational level we had a small catch up over a coffee, with questions raging from the future of hospitality to the new sustainability thrust as well as the acute talent crunch in the industry. We also want to know why Mumbaikars should choose Hilton Bengaluru as their hotel of choice.

Q.1 What are your thoughts on the hospitality sector in the next 2 years in India?

A lot of skilled and semi-skilled manpower have left the industry during the pandemic period and most of them have found employment in the Edutech and Fintech industries which were witnessing a big boom in the last couple of years. So replacing that talent is an incredibly difficult task and will need a huge intervention if we as an industry wish to succeed. Secondly over the last two decades, slowly but steadily the industry was on the way to reduce manning numbers to achieve a leaner organizational structure. However this process has been short-circuited by the pandemic and will never go back to the pre-pandemic numbers and rooms to headcount ratios of the past. Inevitably and eventually I believe quality will supersede quantity of people employed.

Q.2 Sustainability today has become key in premium and luxury products. What has Hilton Bangalore done to enable and imbibe sustainable practices?

It*s apparent that the new-age traveler is certainly conscious of his/ her environmental impact caused by traveling. In some markets it is already becoming a buy-decision maker. Going by the trendlines on the subject, it appears that this facet of travel will only get more relevant as time goes by.

‘Travel with Purpose* is Hilton*s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) mission to drive responsible travel and tourism globally. Through ‘Travel with Purpose*, we seek to create positive environmental and social impact across our operations, supply chain, and communities.

At Hilton Bangalore Embassy Golflinks, we have taken several measures to deliver this company-wide focus locally. For instance, our electricity is partly sourced from sustainable sources, like wind and solar farms. Recently, we did away with single-use plastic water bottles by investing into a water bottling plant at the hotel, this will reduce single-use plastic dramatically. We are now installing aerators in the taps and shower heads of all hotel guest rooms, this will reduce our water consumption by almost 20-30%, with little or no impact on the guest experience. For short distance transport from the Hotel an electric golf cart is used, instead of a traditional fuel vehicle. The Hotel has a Sewage water Treatment Plant (STP) through which 30% of water usage is reused, the treated water is used for gardening, AC cooling towers and toilet flushes. Our ESG focus does not end here, we believe this is only the beginning and we have a lot more coming up in the months and years to come.

Q.3 You*ve seen a massive comeback after Covid in terms of travel and hotel bookings? Do you see this trend continuing? If so, why?

- We have seen an unexpected (but very welcome) bounce-back of business in the recent months, wherein some markets have surpassed 2019 or pre-pandemic levels while others will certainly do so soon. This recovery is very heartening and well deserved considering the pain that the industry had to endure during the last two years. I believe it*s due to a combination of two elements, pent-up demand also sometimes referred to as revenge-travel and revenge-dining. Another reason for the bounce-back of travel is because business and personal travel cannot remain boxed-up forever, it has to come back and the relatively milder strains of the virus currently prevalent have reduced the fear of travel and have been a catalyst in this recovery.

I believe Hotels in cities are likely to continue to see normal, pre-pandemic levels of demand, while resorts will certainly see continued heightened demand, higher than pre-pandemic levels. Domestic resorts will see this higher demand for the foreseeable future due to a variety of reasons, for instance international leisure travel is still nowhere near 100% of pre-pandemic levels, and is getting converted to domestic leisure, more so at the upper end. The reasons for slow recovery of international travel include long visa waiting periods, ambiguity over ever-changing COVID rules and instability in Eastern Europe and parts of Asia.

Q4) Why should Mumbaikars chose Hilton Bengaluru as their hotel of choice when in Bengaluru

It*s simple. The well heeled Mumbaikar has everything he needs at our hotel, from business facilities to recreation, gold to gastronomy. When a Mumbaikar comes to our hotel he is not coming to just another hotel, he is coming to a destination. He is business or leisure we welcome people from Mumbai. Mumbai is a huge feeder market for us and we have seen a range of travellers from the city – families, business people, young couples and more. There is a place for all at Hilton Bengaluru Embassy Golflinks.