During the peak of the pandemic, operations at ibis Chennai City Centre was split into two parts – one team worked remotely while the other operated on-site as usual. This precaution contained the disease’s spread at the property significantly. “Only seven team members were affected by COVID-19 between April 2020 and September 2021,” General Manager, Vineesh Kurup, explained. “These low numbers were possible due to the extensive care we took of our team members and their family.”
For instance, to reduce their employees’ dependent on public commute, the hotel arranged for their safe transportation. ibis Chennai City Centre was amongst the first hotels in the city to vaccinate its team by working closely with the health department and frontline medical staff – an association that it had built since the pandemic struck.
“Revenue generation was a massive challenge, especially when it came to meeting costs without taking drastic steps,” Kurup recalled. “We saw an opportunity in accommodating
frontline medical workers to generate some revenue and cover our costs.”. However, since this was the only business around, hotels from all segments pitched for it. Finding that
an economy brand was less enticing for these guests when compared to an upscale property. he countered the challenge by focusing on F&B offerings.
“An upscale segment hotel cannot afford to offer a higher cost meals along with their high maintenance rooms to frontline workers,” he elaborated. “This strategy worked and following word-of-mouth publicity, more medical staffers moved into ibis Chennai City Centre.”
Though he has managed the hotel for four years as General Manager, the past year was exceptionally challenging. Apart from the pandemic itself, accommodating frontline
medical workers posed an incessant safety threat to the staff unless extreme caution was exercised. Kurup banked on daily briefing sessions coupled with constant supervision to serve these guests well and keep the staff safe.
ibis Chennai City Centre continued to support the medical fraternity, albeit with fewer rooms, post-lockdown and the second wave when business bounced back. This garnered the hotel lots of goodwill along with longstanding customer loyalty amongst this new guest segment.
