Knotty affair @Radisson Blu Udaipur
Radisson Blu Udaipur Hotel Palace and Resort expects to witness an approximately 15 per cent year-on-year revenue growth by the end of 2017.
An inventory of 245 rooms and suites, the largest in Udaipur, is also one of the USPs of the property, believes Poonam Nair, Director of Sales, Radisson Blu Udaipur Hotel, Palace and Resort. “Though the list of our USPs is huge, a few of them are our grand palatial structure, location, largest inventory in the city and room size, various indoor and outdoor banqueting spaces and most importantly, our people,” she says.
Nair informs that in 2017, the hotel hosted 65 destination weddings and many MICE events which allowed the property to achieve newer heights of ARRs and occupancy. She explains, “We recorded an overall occupancy of about 75 per cent at the property out of which 40 per cent was contributed by the weddings segment and approximately 15 per cent by the inbound guests. The major contributors for inbound travellers have been the UK, Italy and the Far East market among other markets. The other segment of guests at the hotel includes MICE, leisure and FIT and corporate FITs.”
She believes that MICE has been a big contributor and the demand is only increasing especially from markets like Gujarat, Mumbai, etc. The fight connectivity to Mumbai and Delhi has also been a blessing, opening more doors for business for the hotel. Nair adds, “We offer a ballroom, meeting rooms and open spaces for the MICE segment. We can accommodate 600 pax in the closed spaces while 1000 pax can be accommodated in the open spaces for various MICE activities. We also offer the city’s only all-day dining facility which can accommodate 200 pax.”
The hotel plans to focus more on developing its prime segment of destination weddings as apart from contributing 40 per cent to the occupancy and revenue of the hotel, it also serves as a marketing platform to cater to the hotel’s largest target group. Besides this, participation in various trade fairs, weddings shows and exhibitions keeps the management abreast of market trends. The hotel works hand in glove with its travel partners and has joined hands with a few big online partners to cope with the changing trends of travel shifting from offline to online. Nair further adds, “We offer a good commission to our offline and online travel partners based on the value generated for the hotel.”