Souvagya Mohapatra
Hotel companies are keener on the asset-light model now, but management contracts remain the most preferred arrangement for operational control
A quarter of a century is a long time in any professional’s career; especially when all these years are devoted to a single organisation. Soon after completing his hotel management course from Bhubaneshwar’s Institute of Hotel Management Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition, and MBA in Marketing from North Odisha University, Souvagya Mohapatra kickstarted his vocation in the hospitality domain at The Oberoi Group, before moving to Mayfair Hotels & Resorts in 1994.
Starting off as Manager-Operations of Mayfair Puri and Mayfair Rourkela, he gradually rose up the ranks to the office of Executive Director in 2012, a position he held till 2020. During this two-decade long period, he witnessed Mayfair Group’s growth from just two hotels to 12 properties.
A FRESH START
After moving on from Mayfair in December 2020, Mohapatra took charge of Atmosphere Hotels and Resorts’ operations in India, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka as Managing Director this April. And he has already started leveraging his industry expertise to give the boutique resort brand a push up in the region.
As part of the executive council of industry associations like Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Association of India, Confederation of Indian Industry and Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry, he knows most key stakeholders, including hotel owners who would be happy be a part of Atmosphere’s growth story.
“Management contract is our strongest business model and most of our upcoming properties will follow this template,” Mohapatra explained. “Hotel companies are keener on the asset-light model now, but management contracts remain the most preferred arrangement for operational control.”
While this practice remains the company’s preference, it is open to accommodating the concerns of hotel owners for a beneficial association. However, it shall focus on having its own properties at certain locations, provided it gets good support from state governments.
“We already have two active projects in Sri Lanka and our immediate priority is to complete them. Our development team is already identifying properties in potential destinations like Goa, Kerala, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Guwahati, Bangalore, Ahmedabad etc. where we hope to debut our Ozen brand,” Mohpatra added.
His mantra for scaling up Atmosphere’s prospects is to evaluate the right investment opportunity in every region. “I will identify what the destination can offer to a prospective tourist, assess how it stands out from other places and gauge its connectivity with major cities. Lastly, I will check if a favourable business ecosystem is backed by a supportive policy framework,” Mohapatra explained. If all these boxes are checked, he believed the place is ripe for investment.
