Encalm for 5-star care at airports
Encalm Hospitality, which started with the opening of Encalm Lounge at T1 domestic airport in Delhi in early 2022, plans to operate another lounge for business class passenger flying out of T3 International Airport in the capital, with an aim to bring five-star hospitality to the airports that travellers get in a luxury hotel.
Encalm Hospitality, started on 1 October 2021, with a vision to be the most admired hospitality organisation of the world, says Vikas Sharma, CEO, Encalm Hospitality.
“Our tagline says ‘Creating delightful experiences’ and this is our primary aim. We have started our business from airport and are already operating a lounge called Encalm Lounge at the T1 domestic airport at Delhi. We have also started our welcome and assist services at New Delhi airport called Atithya, which includes airport assistance at departure till the time a passenger boards the flight and on arrival till the passenger boards the designated conveyance. These services include buggy service, porter, etc.,” he adds.
Moving forward
Encalm Hospitality has also won contract for a business class unified lounge for T3 International airport in New Delhi. “Earlier, there used to be business class lounges by every airline. Now, we will operate one common lounge for every business class passenger flying out of T3 International Airport in Delhi. It would be our signature lounge, which we will start from scratch, right from designing to implementing operations and serving guests. The difference is to get hospitality into airports,” he claims.
“Our dependency is completely on airlines. We would be partnering with international airlines to provide our exclusive services to their guests, who prefer experiential hospitality as well as with Indian airlines that fly international from T3 terminal,” he adds.
The company plans to diversify into hotels in future. “We have already sent a proposal for a transit hotel in one of the airports. If we get that contract, we would start designing that project too. Eventually, we would like to get into any aspect of food & beverage, and hospitality across airports and beyond that,” he shares.
Current projects
The company has more than 300 employees at present. “We aim to make it 1,000 plus by the end of financial year 2022-23. Apart from meet & greet services and lounges, we are looking at operating around 30 different outlets by the end of financial year 202223. The total number of lounges would be around 11 in Delhi; five in Hyderabad and three in Goa,” he says.
Signature lounge
The company plans to open the signature lounge in T3 international airport in October. “It will have facilities unseen in many of the lounges before. There will be an open kitchen and live counter. It will be similar to a five-star multicuisine coffee shop, along with a spa. We want to have an exercise room where people can go and perform yoga, recreation room with a virtual golfing session. It will be a very special launch for us,” he adds.
Atithya
While lounges get their own captivated customers, Sharma says, “Where we are making real impact is Atithya, which is our meet & greet service that we launched on 26 January
(this year) in Delhi, and we have seen some great response for the same. We have involved a professional agency. Currently our Atithya services are available at Delhi airport and Hyderabad.” Encalm Hospitality has also tied up with a few individual programmes. Very soon, we will be available on online travel booking portals as well,” he says.
We will operate a common lounge for business class passengers at T3 in Delhi
Well prepared
Sharma says that they are waiting for travel to come back to its old glory. “We are eagerly waiting to see that. The good thing is by the time it comes back to its old glory, we shall be ready," he says.