Catering to the luxury traveller

This is the age of the ‘money-rich, time-poor’ holiday-makers, and the luxury market is quickly catching up to this segment and tailoring their products to fit the profile. One such company is The Zanzibar Collection that has three luxury properties on th

The trouble with having a property in an exotic island such as Zanzibar is that it has no standard classification system. As a result, hoteliers are allowed to market themselves as anything.

Amidst all this chaos is The Zanzibar Collection of three properties located along the pristine Bwejuu-Paje beach in Zanzibar. Renuka Natu, the India representative for The Zanzibar Collection, admits that the numbers at the moment are negligible. “But we are making efforts to increase it. There is good demand for luxury accommodation in India, except that the Indian consumer has become very selective about brands,” she says.

She reveals, “The uniqueness of boutique properties which offer barefoot luxury has caught their fancy. Rich Indians prefer discreet attention, as opposed to being overtly fussed over and the staff at The Zanzibar Collection has been specially trained to give guests that kind of space.”

Natu talks Indian luxury holiday-makers, saying “They are becoming increasingly money-rich and time-poor. They prefer to visit only one place, be it a beach or a mountain resort. They can spare around 7-8 days as a break and love to stay at one place and explore.”

Promoting through agents

The three-property hotel chain works solely through agents and partners with travel agents and tour operators for brochures. It also does regular presentations and trainings for the sales teams of tour operators. “Apart from this, we also conduct fam trips and study tours for the trade,” Natu adds.

Natu says that Zanzibar is a great beach product for India with a total flying time of seven hours.

The Zanzibar Collection is a privately-owned and run collection of hotels: Breezes Beach Club, The Palms and Baraza Resort & Spa.