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Vishal Singh
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Says Vishal Singh, general manager, Vivanta by Taj, Goa: “Hotels throughout the world are facing factors that put brands, market share and even market cap at significant risk, but also represent new business opportunities. We believe that sustainability is about increasing the profitability of businesses by holistically managing economic, social and environmental risks and opportunities.”

Says Menon: “Understanding that market segments shift from season to season and the ability to take fluid and fast decisions in responding to the changing needs guests remains vital to get the market share right.” According to Manocha, the answer lies in continued evaluation, focussed approach and keeping the ears to the ground. “Monitoring parameters of business such as occupancy, ARR’s and market share index, along with continuous rapport building as well as identifying areas and opportunities to grow business in are some key areas,” he adds. Declares Nayar: “As long as my sales associates and I remain ‘hungry’ we would keep driving the business and maintain growth above the competitive set.”

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differentiators is a wholly nebulous area in India; ill defined and therefore poorly perceived by the consumer. Menon concurs this aspect is still in its infancy, Razdan thinks it’s all still hazy, while Kobrin feels it all depends on the market segment - the uber luxury segment offers distinctly unique differentiators. Manocha thinks every product has its own different market that creates a niche for itself in good times; when people get spoilt for choice is when every product will have its own identity. Fabregoul is of the opinion that the increase in global travel means customers now have a higher awareness about product differentiators and know what to expect from hotels. Singh sums it up: “For many consumers, competing brands are essentially the same; a branded differentiator can be a feature, service, programme or ingredient. To be worthy of the term ‘differentiator,’to be more than just a name slapped on a feature, it must be meaningful to customers, it must be both pertinent and substantial enough to matter. Successful new brands consistently score highest on that dimension, and mature brands -even when they remain strong on relevance, esteem and knowledge - start to fade when they lose clear points of differentiation,” he says.

Many markets are now facing over saturation, that is, an inverse situation of more supply and less demand (read Hotelier India March issue). Business is cyclic and such imbalances are temporary, says Nayar; Menon believes a continuously evolving business model is the key; while Fabregoul thinks it is important to retain the positioning strategy and not take reactive measures – these are some of the survival tactics these GM’s follow. Says Manocha: “Demand and supply never go hand-in-hand, so there will times when either are up or down - now appears to be the saturation time in some markets, however, serious players and industry leaders have enough of experience with them to see through such times and markets.” Razdan does not see much of a problem here; “Where is the question of survival when you will be on top of the pack?” he asks confidently.

Apart from the above, general managers, being at the helm of the ship, have loads of other problems to handle, not the least of which is being sitting ducks for their various vendors, including cable channel suppliers. Fabregoul concurs that the current monopolistic situation has given cable TV operators/broadcasters the benefit of levying prices which have no logic.

Manocha counters this: “Maybe at some places and in the past, but not anymore - these suppliers and cable TV operators are also faced with lots of competition and have to earn their buck. It’s not as easy as it may look, with hotel companies too now working on economies of scale especially on the supply side,” he says.

Says Menon: “I think a reasonable discussion between both parties that share relevant data for reaching decisions on what they’re supposed to get is essential. A win-win is not just desirable but possible in all these relationships.”
Every general manager has his own modus operandi for controlling costs, be it in terms of the energy factor or raw materials. In Singh’s opinion, inventory control is a significant aspect of management accounting and effective hoteliering, and one aspect of inventory control is the storage of raw materials. Says Nayar: “Our resource maximisation strategy is participative - everyone contributes. We strongly discourage savings at the cost of quality; reductions are driven by minimising loss from wastage.”

Razdan says that the mantra in these testing times is the deployment of ‘Lean Six Sigma’ across all functions in the hotel. Menon believes that there is a clear need to control waste and have small, integrated teams, instead of just saying that costs need to be controlled in a luxury offering, which often leads to compromises on standards or customer experience. Kobrin’s way is to ensure vigilance starts at the source and educating the team of the importance and the effect each and every one of them has directly on the final outcome. Avers Manocha: “The modus operandi is follow the 80:20 principle, that is, 80% of costs come from 20% of items be it in raw materials or energy. Identify the 20% which contributes to 80% of the cost, analyse these and put measures to control them along with the department heads.”

A constant debate is who has it better so far as business is concerned – leisure or city hotels. Says Manocha: “Leisure is the first to get impacted when businesses suffer.” Menon says diplomatically that the seasonality does offer interesting challenges. Adds Fabregoul: “Both have their own challenges but leisure hotels definitely face a greater challenge in attracting trained manpower and more so in retaining them.” Kobrin is more emphatic in his viewpoint: “No, in my opinion they withstand economic downturns and market difficulties in the long run better.”
 

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