Experience Agra with Clarks Shiraz
Debasish Bhowmik, Senior Vice President, Hotel Clarks Shiraz, elaborates on the hotel’s MICE facilities and the scope of the segment in the city of the Taj
Kindly tell us about the USP of your hotel? Hotel Clark Shiraz is the first five-star hotel in the state of Uttar Pradesh with a glorious legacy and is traditionally known for its warmth, hospitality, care and very high guest satisfaction levels. The hotel is located in green, serene surroundings overlooking the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort and is a perfect venue for leisure, destination weddings and MICE events.
Kindly elaborate on the MICE facilities. What makes you stand out?
We offer a host of MICE facilities. We have almost 12,000 sqft area of covered MICE facilities and more than 25,000 sqft area of open lawns for various exhibitions, activities during conferences, theme dinners, etc. Our food is amongst the best in the city and that adds up to the value for money.
All our banquet halls are technically equipped for a great experience. It's just not only about
what you have, but today, it's all about what you offer, value for money and the overall experience of the guest and their level of satisfaction which determines your edge over others. In all these above aspects we are second to none.
How has the hotel faired for MICE in 2017? The MICE segment is doing quite well both in terms of social functions and corporate events. It has registered a growth of seven per cent over previous year. We have had a fair share of market in both the segments.
What kind of specialised service in terms of food, technology and vendors do you provide for your customers?
As a hotel, that understands the varied requirements of our guests and with our long years of experience in hoteliering, we have realised that today hotels need to provide services much beyond than their core area of operations. Similarly, we at Hotel Clarks Shiraz try and
accommodate all special requests including outsourcing certain activities to work as a true partner for any event at the hotel. As said earlier our food is amongst the best in the city and we offer a wide variety of cuisines to select from. Our state-of-the-art banquet convention halls are equipped with the best technology available and we do have registered vendors for various activities in case it needs to be outsourced.
Which major events and conferences have taken place in the hotel in 2017 and what's in store for 2018?
We have had quite a few national conferences, from medical and healthcare, infrastructure sectors. Some corporate events and destination weddings have taken place this year. There is an ongoing demand for 2018 for events as well.
Agra has numerous hotels now. What are the trends that you are witnessing in the city?
It's a fact that there has been a major upsurge in the room inventory at Agra over the last couple of years with all major brands opening their properties. Whenever such high growth takes place, there are always initial hiccups in the market and it takes time for the situation to settle down. On one side attractive rates are available because of higher competition but on the other side there is an increased business from the domestic, leisure and the MICE segments because of the locational advantages of the major hotels in Agra. The future looks very encouraging.
Elaborate on the government's role to improve MICE in Uttar Pradesh?
For growth and sustainability of any industry I feel the Public Private Partnership (PPP Model) plays a very important role. Infrastructural development is a very important factor for sustaining growth. If infrastructure is developed adequately it will provide an unique experience. To make the city more vibrant and viable the issue of air connectivity needs to be addressed immediately, effective implementation of tourism policy and timely completion of tourism and environmental friendly projects are also the need of the hour.
We have almost 12,000 sqft area of MICE facilities and more than 25,000 sqft of lawns