A story of many firsts
The concept of being a mixed-use project and being adjacent to the mall has been a brilliant business strategy for Leela Kempinski Gurgaon Hotel.
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of the upscale, mixeduse development in New Delhi satellite business and shopping district, The Leela Kempinski Gurgaon Hotel and Residences is looking forward to the next five years. Talking about the successful stint in the Gurgaon hospitality landscape, Michel Koopman, General Manager, Leela Kempinski Gurgaon says, “The hotel opened its doors five years ago. The journey till date has been a story of many ‘ firsts’. A highly successful hotel in terms of performance, the hotel did an average occupancy of 75-83 per cent every year. This year we are targeting an average occupancy of around 80 per cent.”
The concept of being a mixed-use project and being adjacent to the mall has been a brilliant business strategy. “This hotel almost pioneered the concept in India. For business travellers, time is luxury. We have a lot of longstay travellers as well.
So what gives us an edge is the fact that shopping, dining, bowling and other entertainment zones can happen just next door,” he elaborates.
Positioning itself as a hardcore luxury MICE hotel has its own advantages. Feels Koopman, “As we look for new avenues, the corporate segment and MICE would be the two main growth drivers. Around 20 per cent of our business currently generates 80 per cent of our revenues. We get a huge chunk of crew segment that generates around 45 room nights as well. However, the country lacks a proper conferencing and exhibition centre. We fail to attract major conferences, which go to Shanghai and Abu Dhabi. Hence, for us, selling Destination India is equally important.”
The hotel also targets leisure but the trend is shifting towards local leisure. “We receive a lot of clients from Gurgaon and Delhi. In the last few years, the idea of a weekend getaway within the city itself is evolving now and we are targetting this in a big way,” he adds. The property currently does an ARR of around 10,000.