You are being Served

Airport pick-ups, express check-ins and checkouts, wireless internet connectivity, interactive televisions, smart meeting and conference facilities – hotels are dishing it out when it comes to luring business travellers. Ashish K Tiwari finds out what's on the menu

I remember the time when business travellers who were expecting a phone call couldn't venture out of the room for fear of missing the call. We, at Orchid-An Ecotel Hotel decided to set up a system which involved having companion phones for room phones. This was before the advent of mobile phones. If a guest received a call and he wasn't in the room, it would be transferred to the companion phone which he/she could carry within the property. Unfortunately, we couldn't put the system into operation due to a number of reasons, government permissions being one of them," recounted Param Kannampilly, technical director, Orchid-An Ecotel Hotel and director of Concept Hospitality Ltd. As things stand today, The Orchid has a number of those imported phones lying unused in its premises. But it has hardly been a case of once bitten, twice shy when it came to them introducing new services. Lately, The Orchid became the first property in Mumbai to introduce interactive television in rooms. Guests at The Orchid can therefore avail some of the hotel's services at the touch of a remote control.

The Orchid's case is not the only instance of hoteliers getting serious about innovative business facilities and services to attract corporate business. Most properties ensure that they have something unique to offer; for example, Hotel Leelaventure Limited has designed a unique concept for its Mumbai and Bangalore properties and has packaged it as 'complete butler service'.

"We are the first and the only Indian hotel chain to have come out with a complete butler service package. Our personnel have been trained under Stephen Hurst, the butler from the Royal Palace of United Kingdom. In addition, the package comprises a host of other facilities and services (approximately worth Rs 11,000) of which some are absolutely free and a few others available at a discount or nominal charge," says Sanjoy Pasricha, corporate head-sales and marketing, Hotel Leelaventure Ltd.

Such pampering of the business traveller is being done for a good reason.

The last one-and-a-half decade has seen a major shift in the profile of hotel users in India from leisure to business travellers. In most leading hotel chains in the country, over 85 per cent of usage is from business travellers. Some hotel chains are totally dependent on this segment. The boom in industries like telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, Information Technology, banking and finance, automobiles amongst others have also propelled a growth in business hotels in key Indian metropolises. A host of new properties have branded themselves 'business hotels', prompting even established names to reposition themselves as corporate venues.

"To cater to the corporate segment, hotels have brought about a massive change in their service design. Services provided, benefits offered and technology used are very different from the yesteryears. From 24-hour check-in and checkout facilities to broadband and wireless Internet connectivity in rooms, hotels have kept pace with those on a 'time-is-money' schedule. Conference halls are today equipped with cutting-edge technology, and business centres in hotels offer facilities on par with any upscale corporate office," says K B Kachru, senior vice-president, Carlson Hospitality India Inc.

Reservations

The red carpet treatment starts at the first level of services, viz. booking the venue. Reservation facilities have been taken to a completely new high by increasing the distribution network and opening offices with real time reservation facilities in various source markets across the country. Hyatt International Hotels & Resorts has gone a step ahead and set up a 'Shared Services Centre' in Mumbai. It is a one-point stop to get information and do reservations/bookings for all Hyatt properties in India and Nepal. The number, incidentally, is toll free.

Says David Jarvis, the company's marketing director for South Asia, "The Shared Services Centre is targeted at providing any information about our hotels across the length and breadth of India. It has been much appreciated by the corporate segment."

In addition, toll free numbers, online bookings through a Global Distribution System and putting up the best available rates for the day on the company website, have been some effective marketing tools by hotels.

"To book a room in any of the Taj properties a business traveller can log on to our website and find out the best available rate for the day. On an average these rates offer a 20 per cent discount on published rates," says Jyoti Narang, chief operating officer - business hotels, The Indian Hotels Co Ltd.

Car transfers

Once the reservations are done, the hotel takes care of you right from the airport itself. Most hotel chains are now offering airport pickups as a value add-on, particularly those hotels which are near the airport. Though some offer this facility only on request and at a cost, there are quite a few who do it free and it forms part of the package deal.

John Webb, the newly appointed general manager of JW Marriott Hotel Mumbai, Juhu, says, "When I came here, I was surprised to find that complimentary airport pickup and drop facility is a norm with every hotel in this part of the city."

Business executives are usually picked up from the airport in luxury cars like Mercedes, BMW, Chevrolet, Limousines -- the choice varies as per the guest's profile in the hotel. Apart from that, things like receiving the guest at the airport with a wet towel, a cold pack, mineral water and soft drinks, mobile phone, their choice of reading material/newspaper, specific information which the guest might have desired on arrival etc. form part of the value add-ons.

In-room facilities

Coming to accommodation, most hotels have specific floors -- positioned as 'a hotel within a hotel' -- allocated for business travellers. Apart from offering exclusivity, these floors feature enhanced facilities and services specifically designed to enable the business traveller to conduct his/her business in the best possible manner.

Specific to the executive floors are things like state-of-the-art and personalised in-room facilities, viz. butler service, tea and coffee makers, interactive televisions, worktables, dedicated communication facilities (with two lines, direct dialling, personalised voice-mail and in some cases fax, copier, printer and scanner etc) multi-utility data ports. Safes with laptop chargers are the in-thing now while meeting rooms, lounges etc. are more or less a standard feature.

With the advent of superior technology, fax machines, copiers and printers are slowly making their way out of guestrooms (except suites) and are expected to eventually be a business centre facility.

Some facilties are being introduced even though they have few takers at present. For example, interactive televisions a few properties have installed interactive televisions but its usage by business travellers is still a big question mark. This is owing to two reasons: the majority of business travellers in India are not accustomed to it and find it too tedious hunting for the desired information; the second reason is that one of the uniqueness of Indian hospitality lies in personalised services and the corporate segment is habituated to it. "The percentage of guests using interactive television in India is minuscule. In fact, they find dialling room service or the reception and confirming the details over the phone easier and time saving," says Kannampilly.

The first reason mentioned above holds true with the butler service as well. Comments Deepa Dey, corporate communications director for The Park Hotels, "Guests accustomed to it swear by the service but there are a few who do not like someone intruding their privacy. Thus, apart from a few things, viz. laundry, packing, polishing etc. which are left to the butler, most business travellers prefer handling their affairs in the room themselves."

Julian R Groom, general manager of Le Royal Meridien and regional coordinator, West Asia, for the group, provides a perspective on the facilities for business travellers in their properties across the country. He says, "We have six properties in India of which two belong to the prestigious Le Royal Meridien category. All the hotels provide exclusive facilities for the business traveller in the name and style of Le Royal Club floor. It's a dedicated floor, exclusively made for business and corporate travellers to meet their exclusive requirements. They prefer rooms on this floor. Other than personalised services on offer, the Club also has a dedicated business lounge, plug and play high speed Internet, fax, cell phone and laptop computer on rentals, photocopy facility, etc."

The ITC hotel chain offers a range of such facilities across its different brands targeting different levels of corporate/business travellers. Its hotels in the five-star super deluxe range feature three sections, viz. ITC One - for the top-level business traveller, Sheraton Towers - for the middle-level management and the Executive Club for lower middle-level management personnel. Then there are WelcomeHotels in the five-star category located in metros and tourist destinations and Fortune Park Hotels, their budget hotel brand located across the country. Facilities and services vary in every category and level of property depending on the needs and requirements of their target market of business travellers.

The cost of using the executive floors is usually slightly higher (on an average 20 per cent) than normal rooms but for those out on serious business, it's definitely worth the spend. "The frequency of its usage is higher than our Deluxe category of rooms. Corporate travellers prefer to occupy the Royal Clubrooms. All facilities attached to the Le Royal Clubrooms come at a difference of paying USD 25 over the Deluxe category of rooms," confirmed Suresh Badlaney, general manager, Le Meridien Hotel, Bangalore.

An interesting trend has been the emergence of the female executive traveller. Quite a few hotels have created specific floors having rooms with additional facilities and services designed exclusively for female executive travellers. Ironically, a large percentage of them are not very keen on this facility.

Narrating an incident at the Hyatt Regency Mumbai, Jarvis says, "Recently we received a group of five female travellers from Germany. And when given the option, they said that 'they were independent travellers and would like to be treated on par as their male counterparts. And that they were comfortable being housed on the usual floors and were not really keen on accommodating on the floors specifically for the female travellers'."

Wired to wireless

One of the key new areas emerging in making business easier for their guests, has been the revolutionary new broadband solution called 'Wireless Fidelity' (WiFi).

Most national and international chains (with hotels in the five-star and five-star deluxe category) are offering this.

Said Ajoy K Misra, senior vice-president - sales and marketing, The Indian Hotels Co Ltd, "WiFi allows guests to access high-speed Internet from their laptop in any part of the hotel. Be it at the coffee shop, the poolside or the room, this new system allows the guest the convenience of moving from room to room without losing the Internet connection."

As per a survey conducted by an international hospitality website (www.hotelresources.com) over 80 per cent of the respondents said that wireless Internet connectivity was a factor which dominated their choice of a hotel. Though a common feature in hotels abroad, the Indian hospitality industry woke up to the concept slightly late (considering the speed by which technology changes). Still, better late than never.

Most leading national and international chains, viz. Taj, Oberoi, Hyatt, ITC, Carlson Hospitality India Inc, Leela, Concept Hospitality's Lotus Suites, GRT Grand in Chennai etc., with properties in the five-star and above category, are offering wireless Internet connectivity in their key properties, particularly those in metro cities and satellite towns.

A new entrant, Anil Madhok, managing director of Sarovar Park Plaza Hotels & Resorts Pvt Ltd (SPPHRPL), has finalised plans to have WiFi in the group's key properties in the country. "We have tied up with a Malaysian company to install this facility in our properties. There is no cost involved since the tie-up is on a profit sharing basis," he said. SPPHRPL currently has over 25 business hotels in India.

Are the Internet connection speeds available in Indian hotel chains good enough for business travellers? Yes, if you go by the experience of IHCL's Ajoy Mishra. He recounts an experience with IHCL's newly appointed managing director Raymond Bickson, "Our new MD was amazed with the Internet speed available at the Taj Luxury and Business hotels. He said that most of the leading hotels in the US were unable to offer such services in their properties."

The cost to the users of Internet connectivity varies and there are different rates for different slabs, for two hours, four hours, half day and a 24-hour rate. On an average the charges would start anywhere from Rs 250-350 for an hour and go up to Rs 600-800 for 24 hours.

Another facility yet to pick up with most Indian hotel chains is real time downloading of international newspapers in its original format. As of date, from the list of hotel chains we approached for this feature, only two hotel companies viz. the Taj Hotels Resorts & Palaces and The Park Hotels offer this facility but at a cost. Most chains are likely to introduce this feature sooner or later.

Business centre facilities

The advent of broadband and wireless Internet has brought about a drastic change in the role of a business centre in a hotel. Secretarial services, photocopying and faxing of official documents etc. are on their way out and business centres are being used mainly for meetings, conferences and conventions.

Venues for meetings and conferences in the hotels are consequently getting trendier and hi-tech. The latest in this area is 'smart meeting rooms' with state-of-the-art technology, viz. video conferencing, phone conferencing, webcasting to name a few. In fact, webcasting is slated for big growth. It entails broadcasting an event, for instance a product launch, being held in one of the properties of the chain to its other properties. Which in effect means a national launch of that particular product or service.

Hotels have to be on their toes and can't afford to be lax when it comes to offering business facilities, according to Amitabh Mishra, regional director - sales and marketing, The Oberoi.

He says, "All business facilities that a senior executive requires, starting from meeting rooms, secretarial services, ISDN lines, wireless Internet connectivity, broadband, video conferencing, audio conferencing etc., have to be rolled out for them."

The latest from the West is being incorporated even though the demand is not too huge. As a result some of the hi-tech facilities and equipment in the business centre are outsourced. To cite an example, the demand for video conferencing is not too high and having it in-house means cost and maintenance for hotels. Hiring it seems to be a much more feasible option.

But the story is quite different with recently launched hotels. Majority of them have in-built infrastructure to meet these requirements. Not only that, the promoters have planned the hotels in such a way that they are compatible with any technology that may be introduced in the years to come. For instance, webcasting is expected to be in demand in the near future and most of the hotels have installed the infrastructure to facilitate this service when requests come from the corporate world, mainly software companies.

Says Jayanth Rangan, resident manager, The Leela Palace Bangalore, "Being one of the newer hotels in the country, we have incorporated several modern features in our business facilities. From motor operated drop screens in our meeting rooms to electronically dimmed lighting and motor operated concealed large flat screen televisions and digital projectors, we have blended technology with the stately interiors of our business facilities. Video conferencing and simultaneous broadcasting of events is possible between function rooms and has been used extensively by corporations which hold large events with us."

Conclusion

All said and done, the Indian hospitality industry is in tandem with the latest international trends in business facilities, be it reservations, in-room facilities or use of technology to meet the corporate segment's needs. There are a few areas that need to be addressed, viz. huge convention facilities, but the newer hotels are bridging this gap too. As David Jarvis, director of marketing - South Asia for Hyatt International Hotels & Resorts, says, "Considering the developments taking place in hotels in terms of use of technology for the corporate/business travel segment, I feel India is very technology savvy and the hotel industry here is quite on par when it comes to offering business facilities and in some cases even ahead of its counterparts in the international market."

(With inputs from Jyoti Koul in New Delhi, Joy Roy Choudhury in Kolkata, Vyas Sivanand in Bangalore and Susan George in Chennai)