Post-pandemic care in hospitality industry

The hospitality industry has been noticing the increasing importance of customer service and cleanliness post-pandemic. Royal Orchid, Convin.ai, and Freudenberg Gala share their insights on the same.

In a post-pandemic world, the concept of customer service has changed significantly with brands embracing empathy and human connection. This can be as simple as asking how customers are doing or even as complex as slowing down complicated interactions to walk customers through step-by-step instructions. The sole objective of brands is to make customers feel a part of the family. This is to retain loyalty.

Chander K Baljee, Chairman and Managing Director, Royal Orchid Hotels & Regenta Hotels says, “At Royal Orchid and Regenta Hotels, we believe in making customers feel valued which is the heart of our customer experience. Empathy has always been a key skill for customer service, but it has become even more essential during uncharted moments. Customers are most loyal to businesses that have demonstrated empathy during the pandemic. It is no longer just about problem-solving for a better customer experience but building on enhancing relationships and retaining customer loyalty.”

He further adds “Our customer service success is also evident in other areas such as care for hygiene and cleanliness, be it post or even pre-pandemic times. Adaptability is another key strength. In our view focusing on the key aspects below helps us better our customer service experience in a post-pandemic world”.

• Focus on customer care
• Promote health and safety measures
• Interact and understand customers
• Forecast for the future
• Focus on flexibility

According to Ashish Santhalia, CEO and Co-founder Convin, “The pandemic has definitely altered a few things for businesses and customers. Customer purchase decision-making is one of them. Customers expect a high quality of service at every interaction stage, especially in the case of the hospitality industry. And one such key interaction stage is the first call made by the customer. The process of making a buying decision starts on the first call. Convin has made another significant observation. Relaxation on travel restrictions surged the number of people booking trips and vacations. The competition between hotels and agencies to attract the masses and improve booking numbers increased, compensating for the lockdown losses. Consequently, travel agents are swamped with customer calls. Businesses in the hospitality industry need to ensure each conversation quality is impeccable. This interaction is a representative of the brand and has a long-term impact on the customer’s perception.”

“At Convin, we identified the performance gap and assisted agents in understanding how interactions affect the end-users (customers) and how they can improve– to beat the competition, increase bookings, & gain positive word of mouth. Our scalable call center solutions are targeted at fast-tracking call monitoring and agent coaching to improve conversation quality and explicitly handle simple to complex customer queries. Archaic manual agent coaching techniques like call shadowing are time-consuming, end up costing the company, and lastly, unfeasible with the hybrid working model. In accordance with changing buying trends, Convin encourages the reapplication of call best practices that have given high success rates in previous customer interactions. Convin solutions tackle several post-pandemic challenges by automating the call monitoring to the agent coaching process. With automation, we are able to meet the speed and agility of today’s consumers without compromising on customer experience.”

“Vileda Professional a part of Freudenberg Home and Cleaning Solutions, Weinheim – Germany. The company manufactures innovative professional cleaning tools for various application areas such Hotels, HoReCa, Schools, Corporates, Healthcare, and Enterprises Vileda Professional offers innovative hotel cleaning solutions to significantly improve the cleanliness of all accommodations:

• We offer robust and durable cleaning systems
• You can rely on highly perceivable cleaning results
• Our microfiber products comply with highest hygiene standards
• All our products are easy to use and fulfil high ergonomic standards
• We train your staff in user friendly and highly efficient cleaning methods
• We offer a sustainable hotel cleaning concept that decreases chemical and overall water consumption

“By increasing the cleanliness and overall hygiene of your hotel accommodations you can increase your room occupancy rate, while reinforcing guest loyalty. Vileda Professional promise to help you raise cleaning efficiency and effectiveness to achieve that exact goal.”

“Besides ensuring a safe working environment for housekeepers, we work hard to make our hotel cleaning solutions as sustainable as possible. We support the environmentally friendly production of our sustainable cleaning products”, says CRG Prasad, India Sales Director of Vileda Professional.

Set one’s sight

Customers’ desire for shorter holidays, better transit connections between smaller towns, and the wedding season contributed to the company’s growth

Royal Orchid Hotels Ltd, a Bengaluru headquartered listed player in the hospitality sector is targeting to add at least 25 more hotels to its existing chain of 75, according to Chander K Baljee, Chairman and Managing Director of the company.

Currently, the company manages a mix of managed, franchised, and owned properties. Customers’ desire for shorter holidays, better transit connections between smaller towns, and the wedding season have all boosted the company’s business post-Covid hiatus, Baljee said.

“Since March 2022, the business has been booming, which is evident from our Q1 results,” said the MD. In the quarter ending June 2022, the company had revenues of  63.4 crore and a net profit of  11 crore. Earlier for the full financial year of FY2021-22, it had revenues of  138.52 crore and a net profit of  26.8 crore.

The hotel chain has set a target of having 100 hotels in its portfolio by the middle of 2023. Baljee said, “Our current portfolio stands at 75 properties, with another 33 hotels already signed. We are close to achieving our target.”

Tapping opportunities

Royal Orchid will add new hotels to State capitals and tier-II and -III cities. Baljee said, “We are exploring opportunities across Gwalior, Jhansi, Raipur and Ambala. These are some of the places people prefer to stay in hotels rather than with their relatives.”

Although the company runs an asset-light business, Baljee stated that during the pandemic, the revenue-sharing model picked up. “We will add 10-15 hotels on a revenue-sharing basis, and our capital expenditure for the same would be 100 crore,” he added. As of now, it operates two hotels in a revenue-sharing format.

According to Baljee, while earlier people saved up for vacations and opted for longer vacations of 15 days, today tourists prefer shorter vacations of four to five days. “Moreover, these shorter gateways have received an impetus due to improved road connectivity and many more accessible driving destinations. This has led to a big boom in business,” he added.

The wedding season is another growth channel for the business. Baljee said, “We have around 18 hotels in the country that cater to the wedding segment. Weddings are a recession-proof business, and that is the silver lining there — the wedding business will grow significantly.”

Royal Orchid to add 25 new hotels to its chain by mid-2023

Customers’ desire for shorter holidays, better transit connections between smaller towns, and the wedding season contributed to the company’s growth

Royal Orchid Hotels Ltd, a Bengaluru headquartered listed player in the hospitality sector is targeting to add at least 25 more hotels to its existing chain of 75, according to Chander K Baljee, Chairman and Managing Director of the company.

Currently, the company manages a mix of managed, franchised, and owned properties. Customers’ desire for shorter holidays, better transit connections between smaller towns, and the wedding season have all boosted the company’s business post-Covid hiatus, Baljee said.

“Since March 2022, the business has been booming, which is evident from our Q1 results,” said the MD. In the quarter ending June 2022, the company had revenues of 63.4 crore and a net profit of 11 crore. Earlier for the full financial year of FY2021-22, it had revenues of 138.52 crore and a net profit of 26.8 crore. The hotel chain has set a target of having 100 hotels in its portfolio by the middle of 2023. Baljee said, “Our current portfolio stands at 75 properties, with another 33 hotels already signed. We are close to achieving our target.”

Tapping opportunities

Royal Orchid will add new hotels to State capitals and tier-II and -III cities. Baljee said, “We are exploring opportunities across Gwalior, Jhansi, Raipur and Ambala. These are some of the places people prefer to stay in hotels rather than with their relatives.”

Although the company runs an asset-light business, Baljee stated that during the pandemic, the revenue-sharing model picked up. “We will add 10-15 hotels on a revenue-sharing basis, and our capital expenditure for the same would be 100 crore,” he added. As of now, it operates two hotels in a revenue-sharing format.

According to Baljee, while earlier people saved up for vacations and opted for longer vacations of 15 days, today tourists prefer shorter vacations of four to five days. “Moreover, these shorter gateways have received an impetus due to improved road connectivity and many more accessible driving destinations. This has led to a big boom in business,” he added.

The wedding season is another growth channel for the business. Baljee said, “We have around 18 hotels in the country that cater to the wedding segment. Weddings are a recession-proof business, and that is the silver lining there — the wedding business will grow significantly.”

Revenue boost

Royal Orchid intends to boost its revenue to 300 crore in FY23. Baljee said, “Our target is supported by rapid growth in the business. In FY24 and FY25, we intend to generate revenues of 400 crore and 500 crore, respectively. As we continue to pursue the completion of numerous deals, our goal is to have 200 hotels in the next three years.”

The hotel chain currently employs 6,000 people across all of its operations and as a result of the addition of more hotels, its workforce would expand by 2,000 people by September 2023.