Reflective of its name, Planet Hollywood Beach Resort Goa, is a glamourous place to not just rub shoulders with Stars but be a ‘Star’ yourself – for the team
By srinivasan
After changing many a hands of ownership, this property finally came to be owned by the JMJ Group, which gave it a glamourous face – hitherto not seen anywhere in our region. Planet Hollywood Beach Resort Goa has grown to become a hot destination for not just the holiday makers and revellers but many others as well.
Anand Chatterjee, general manager of the property, who has been with Planet Hollywood Beach Resort Goa right from the conception stages, looks back at the journey of the beach resort that has evolved its look on the concept of the brand’s Las Vegas property that gave it a contemporary style sheet to work upon. He recalls how the colour schemes and themes were decided after much brainstorming between the owner and the design team. The whole idea was to not walk the clichéd path but try to give the guests something new at every turn – right from the lobby through the public areas to the rooms.
“The idea was to create a casual bond between the different spaces and the guests and not cause any disruption to the serene, laid-back environment that people come to Goa for,” says Chatterjee. Recalling the conscious decision that the management took of being different, he says, “We are not a chain of hotels with many resources. Being a single property with so much to talk about, we had to think out of the box. Right from the recruitment of staff to the sales and marketing strategies, everything had to be different and on a shoe-string budget.” Elaborating on the staff, Chatterjee reveals that almost the entire team comprises of locals. “The general perception is that people from Goa are very lazy. But come to think of it, all over India, some 15-20 years ago, we had Goan cooks, Goans in restaurants and as musicians – service and entertainment is in their blood. So, I did not hold the perception to be true and decided to challenge it. In cruise liners, the largest number of recruits are Goans and they are all successful,” he shares. So they went to the nearby villages and approached the local churches and panchayats for recruits at the junior levels. “At the senior level, I got my best buddies as the heads of the departments and asked them to get their buddies as assistant managers and supervisors. This helped us in creating a nice cosy club, which essentially reflects in the mood of the property,” Chatterjee smiles.
On the marketing strategies, he reveals that the team spends a lot of time on Social media. “My reservations come in through WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, etc. because we maintain contact with our guests,” he reveals. Citing the example of a wedding they hosted which was being streamed live through an app by the guests. This gave them a lot of traction on the internet. Though he is not the kinds to post every action of his on Social media, Chatterjee is a very active user and keeps a tab on what’s happening and trending on the internet and how can that be used or adopted for Planet Hollywood.
With the extensive landscaping and the sheer sprawl of the property, there needs to be special emphasis on large number of staff for both gardening and security. “I have not compromised on these things as I believe that to get maximum output, there should be a sense of ownership which cannot come through contracting. I have not outsourced anything. You would notice a strong sense of ownership that everyone in the team has towards the property and it reflects in the personalised service that our guests receive right from the entrance porch,” he says. A believer of treating people right, Chatterjee is proud of the fact that their property has a very low attrition rate as compared to the state in particular and the industry in general. His experience shows that it is easier to train and retain youngsters as compared to old hands simply because they don’t come with any past baggage. Leading a young team, he feels that people look up to their leaders not because of their experience and age but because of their performance and attitude.
He also likes to include the families of the staff in various activities that they continually have at the property. This gives everyone a chance to get to know each other beyond the work environment as well. And is specially helpful in making the families of women associates comfortable, more so, since the property has a gender diversity of 30%.
With an occupancy of nearly 80%, the inference would be of a wide brand acceptance and, hence, the logical next step would be brand expansion. “At the brand level, we are the first Planet Hollywood in Asia and have the franchise rights for India and Southeast Asia. So sometime in the future the brand expansion is likely to happen. Globally, there are a couple of resorts opening in North America – in Canada and US,” he reveals.
For Chatterjee, the current task at hand is to maintain the happiness quotient of his team as that is the most important reflector of a property’s performance. “It was my dream to create a team like this because having worked with various GMs and great mentors, learning from everyone, I wanted to create a connected community with in the resort. People don’t perform in an atmosphere of fear and mistrust. I don’t give pep-talks to my team, but there is a connection and they all know that I’m there for them at all times. I have also shared this with the owners on more occasions than one that I consider myself to be an intrapreneur and not an entrepreneur. I like to build teams and in that respect, this has been a very special project for me,” he admits.
Being someone who loves to experiment and think out of the box, Chatterjee also encourages internships from all over the world, so don’t be surprised if you are served your coffee by a Colombian, a South African, Spanish, American or even an Egyptian at one of the restaurants.
