SARBENDRA SARKAR
Founder & MD, Cygnett Hotels & Resorts
2022 in RetRoSPeCt
This year has seen a strong revival of the hospitality market primarily driven by domestic tourism demand. Be it weekend travel, or longer breaks during the holiday season, the demand from domestic markets has been overwhelming. Going ahead, 2023 is going to be a landmark year for the hospitality market with demand surpassing even pre-COVID years. As a hospitality chain, we are expecting the occupancy level to be above 80 per cent. We expect Indian domestic travellers will be keen to explore lesser-known destinations like the North East in 2023. The wedding segment and other celebrations will be a huge demand generator for Indian hospitality players next year.
exPAnSion PlAnS
We have recently added new hotels in places such as Dehradun, Jaipur, Bhubaneswar, Tezpur, Vrindavan and Bikaner and going forward we are well placed to achieve our target of 100 hotels in the next five years. Besides 4 to 5 projects in the North East, we are looking to open new properties in markets such as South India, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Rajasthan, Odisha, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh to name a few. Our growth strategy will focus on smaller markets that
SARBENDRA SARKAR fresh perspectives. Our recent introductions of ‘ Buy now, Pay later’, Onefinerate a digital platform that enables distribution of WelcomHeritage Hotels room inventories and special rate plans directly to travel agents, Revinate, an online reputation management tool that enables us to collate reliable, actionable data on guest satisfaction and hotel performance to be able to apply our learnings better reflect these trends. WelcomHeritage is taking significant strides towards aligning with sustainable practices with initiatives such as increasing use of renewable energy through solar power, installing EV stations and smart-energy sensors for electricals among other measures. have a lack or no presence of branded hotels. We also will focus on meeting the demand gaps in the market. We have seen that there is a vacuum in the space of offering boutique resort experiences in a budget-friendly manner.
Founder & MD, Cygnett Hotels & Resorts
MAin foCUS
We have a target of adding more than 5,000 keys to our portfolio in the next five years, so, of course, rooms are a very important part of our future plans. It is our constant endeavour to maintain the high service standards that we already have in place in our existing hotels and replicate the same in our new additions. Also, adding new technology and upgrading the existing technology is a focus area.
Smaller markets will be our focus in 2023