Necessity is the mother of ‘reinvention’. Crushed by the Covid pandemic, India’s beleaguered hotel industry is looking at alternate ways to stay float. On the ‘out-of-the-box’ drawing board? Long-stay guests, foreign professionals who have had to vacate company guesthouses and those going on self-quarantine.
“There are some opportunities amid all this gloom,” points out Ajay Bakaya, managing director of Sarovar Hotels, which run many mid to premium business hotels and resorts across the country. One of the new revenue streams that Sarovar group, and possibly other hotel chains too, have hit upon is the long-stay business of foreign professionals working in the IT and MNC sector who were staying in company guesthouses which have had to be shut down due to government restrictions. “The rates fixed are low, but I guess any philosophising on room rents can wait while we try to survive these difficult times,” muses Bakaya. Chennai and Bengaluru are on top vis-a-vis this new revenue stream.
Another opportunity that has come as a silver lining to the clouds over the industry has been the requirement of beds for quarantine facilities, as more and more people have to be isolated while awaiting their test results. District authorities, and in some cases state governments, have contacted hotel chains for the same.
For example, in Delhi, the Kejriwal government has booked three star hotels—Lemon Tree, Red Fox and Ibis hotel for paid-isolation. The hotels are situated in the Aerocity area near the international airport and were taken up after complaints surfaced from international travellers, who form the bulk of those put under quarantine, complained about the bad facilities at government-run quarantine facilities like the ITBP camp in Haryana where initial bunch of returnees were taken.
In Mumbai, Hotel Mirage and ITC Maratha, again near the airport, are offering ‘pay-and-use’ quarantine facilities. “We are in touch with collectors and local authorities. There are more demands coming up elsewhere in the country,” points out Bakaya.
The hotel industry has suffered the worst of the economic impact of the coronavirus scare, right up there with the travel sector. “Hundreds of hotels have closed, or are beginning to close, until such time that demand begins to return,” warned Arne Sorenson, president and CEO of the world’s biggest hotel chain, Marriott.
Occupancies have plummeted to an all-time low with both business and travellers putting off their travels. Neil Kapoor, owner of the upscale boutique hotel, The Manor in South Delhi told this correspondent that he is keeping his hotel open only “so that stranded guests who had booked earlier are not further inconvenienced…Business is off 80%.” Many hotels have resorted to shutting down entire floors to save the cost of electricity and maintenance. Also shut down are banquet halls attached to hotels and F&B outlets, which in many cases earn up to half of a hotel’s earnings.
“And of course, if you want to do ‘social distancing’ and self-isolate, the safest place is to be in a hotel room, with room service and all amenities at hand,” Bakaya quips. Don’t await a promotional e-mailer plugging this, though.
