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Hotelier India speaks to three industry stalwarts about the trends that drove the hospitality market in 2010 and emerging trends for the next year.

With the burgeoning number of hotels opening up in the country, India’s hospitality industry is experiencing a slow but steady revival after the economic slump. With demand increasing exponentially, especially with domestic travellers, the market is growing at a rapid pace. The global economy continues its speedy recovery, and India displays only positive notes ahead.

Growth is on the charts speaking about this rapid growth, Anil Madhok, managing director of Sarovar Hotels says, “The mid-market is growing at a phenomenal pace. The economy is growing, and there’s a huge explosion of demand domestically.

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Also with better roads and better cars, travelling has become very frequent. Our resorts are now doing business for six to eight months a year compared to the earlier trend of two months a year. There are more weekend travellers with young couples having double incomes and a car.”

Referring to the luxury market, Madhok adds, “Luxury by definition is changing, room sizes have gone from 13 sq m to 55 sq m, huge spas are coming in, there is a total redefining of luxury as a product. You are now competing with the best brands internationally to be able to be called luxury.”

Agreeing with this is President, the Leela Palaces Hotels and Resorts, Rajiv Kaul, “I think that more than ever before the issue at hand if is value rather than price, where people are willing to pay more provided there’s value. For example, in the Bangalore market, the highest occupancy in the city is being done by the four hotels that have the highest rates. People really are willing to pay more to stay in a 5-star.”

Outlining the trend is Area Vice President – India, Pakistan, Maldives and Malaysia for the Marriott, Rajeev Menon, “Now it’s all about taking care of experiences, it’s becoming focused around creating a great experience for the guest and this doesn’t seem to be the case with luxury hotels alone, even mid-market brands are ensuring that they give their customers the highest satisfaction.”

A common factor that emerged across the board, is how the domestic traveller is now more discerning than before, knows what he wants and is willing to pay to get it. “The customer is becoming more discerning in terms of food and beverage and a specific focus on authenticity,” says Menon.

Adds Kaul, “There’s an emergence of a very sophisticated and discerning traveller. In Delhi we have international brands, which we’re bringing in such as a Japanese brand and an iconic fine dining brand Le Circe. The reason we’re bringing in all this is that our market research clearly shows that a great number of Indians go to these restaurants when they travel.”

Madhok explains,”The tastes have changed with people travelling more frequently; they know what they want and we have to provide it to them. Earlier if you had one Indian restaurant, one Chinese and one Continental, it was sufficient as far as providing an F&B experience went, but that’s no longer valid. People are willing to experiment, they demand cuisines like Japanese and Vietnamese, they want more creativity and that is happening across the board because there is so much competition between hotels to attract guests.”

With arrivals in Asia expected to top pre-downturn levels by 2011, aided by proactive government tourism initiatives to help boost demand, hoteliers express the need for specific measures that they expect from the government such as the ease in procurement of visas, seamless travel, and GST rationalisation.