Business recovery is the buzzword in India’s hospitality industry. Hoteliers are gearing up for a quick reboot to make up for lost business over the past couple of years. At the same time, they have learnt some tough lessons, which they do not intend to forget in a hurry.
Hotelier India conceptualized the ‘GM Summit’ series to dissect these learnings and help hospitality leaders share their experiences to benefit their peers. The first edition was held at St Regis Mumbai on March 22, and will soon roll it out in Kolkata, New Delhi and Bengaluru.
“The evening is dedicated to General Managers (GMs), who supported the staff and worked with their owners to safeguard the fiscal health of their properties.”
– Bibhor Srivastava
The GM Summit saw the attendance of over 170 leading hoteliers who gathered in to understand how different brands reacted to the pandemic. The illuminating panel discussions helped them gain insight into the innovative dimensions adopted by top brands to survive and succeed. It included discerning ways to create new business models based on external resources, the need for collaborations and adhering to entrepreneurial thinking.
While launching the GM Summit, Bibhor Srivastava, MD, ITP Media India, said that Hotelier India has always endeavored to create new and meaningful platforms that allow knowledge sharing for the benefit of the industry. “The evening is dedicated to General Managers (GMs), who supported the staff and worked with their owners to safeguard the fiscal health of their properties,” he said. “GM Summit is dedicated to these stalwarts and is a salute to their resilience.” He also thanked Kohler, LG Electronics, AH International, Maharashtra Tourism and Hafele for supporting this much-needed initiative.
Vinita Bhatia, Editor, Hotelier India, said that despite the challenges brought in by the unpredictability past two years, many GMs innovated their business models to provide a first response. “The industry continues to be vulnerable to changes in their business environment due to workforce scarcity and spiraling costs. They also lack clarity of how and where they can get started when tweaking their existing models,” she noted.
SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE
The Summit began with a fireside chat between Dr. Dhananjay Sanwalkar, Joint MD, Directorate of Tourism, Maharashtra government. It was followed by panel discussions on ‘Digging deep to build stronger business foundations’ and ‘Acid Test – Caring for people, property and profits’.
Speakers shared their experiences in responding to the pandemic with simple yet smart ways to bring about positive change, which could spill over beyond the crisis. This included empowering internal resources and devising intelligent ways to help them deliver new offerings and services. They also spoke on how they tweaked their value proposition to prepare their brands to deal with unexpected challenges. Some invested in creating partnerships with existing and new business partners. This approach brought in new resources, knowledge and opportunities, which can go a long way in helping hoteliers tackle long-term opportunities in their environment.
Post these enlightening sessions, all attendees interacted with each other in an informal setting. Several of them had captivated conversations on ways and strategies they would embrace for their respective brands to get the highest returns post-crisis.
