Firstly, congratulations on taking on your new role as multi-property vice-president, luxury, India, Marriott International. As Mr Luxury, what does your job description entail?
The focus in Marriott International is to excel operationally and work on key parameters to ensure that our luxury hotels are amongst the top three in their respective markets. This would not just be in terms of market share and market penetration but also in the perception and mind share of the customer. The aim is to see all our hotels in the top five in the respective markets on TripAdvisor and work towards positioning the hotels in the top three if not in the top two on the competitive market index, which is the RevPAR index. We expect our hotels to be the best in bespoke addresses for all key high-profile events, international and state delegations and important city activities looking for the best destinations, the most aspirational destinations offering eclectic and exciting F&B offerings, becoming the market leaders in the landscape.
With three luxury properties under your belt – W in Goa, The Ritz-Carlton in Bangalore and The St Regis in Mumbai – how do you maintain the best of service standards for each brand while maintaining their individual identity as well as brand promise and distinction?
In the Marriott world, we always put people first, hiring talent for potential and not necessarily based on their past experience. We are fortunate and privileged that in all our hotels we have been able to attract the best of talent and focused on their learning, development and training. We work towards polishing and sharpening the skills of our associates and focus on the attitudes and profile rather than just experience, orienting them to focus their energies on delivering the best in our luxury brands. Today, the guest expectation from luxury brands are higher than what they would expect in upper-upscale hotels or select services and rightfully so. At the price points at which we position ourselves it is only fair that all our associates render the kind of bespoke or distinctive service with amazing service experiences expected by our guest. We surprise, delight and create ‘WOW’ experiences at all touch points by coming up with innovations, personalisation and focusing on anticipating needs. Our objective is to ensure that we understand and identify the needs of our guest without being articulated by them and this is the crux of the training we impart. So for me the single answer would be to rigorously train our associates to understand our guests’ needs in today’s competitive landscape to remain at the top of the game. Of course, all our brands have unique service essentials which differentiate them from each other. The St. Regis Hotels & Resorts is all about ritualised services and butler services with brand programmes as part of the promise with service rituals that define the guest experience. W Worldwide is defined as ‘disruptors’, creating edgy, whacky, whatever, whenever, insider experiences that are spontaneous and memorable and at The Ritz-Carlton, it’s ‘Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen’. So whilst our service rituals and service differentiators may be presented differently, the underlying emotion is the spirit to serve. The common cord is the willingness and spirit to serve all our guests 24X7 with the very best.
You face stiff competition from strong Indian brands like The Oberoi, Leela and ITC Hotels, all of which have made a mark for themselves in the world of luxury. As an international brand, do you face any unique challenges when you bring new luxury offerings to the market? If so, how do you deal with it?
All our Indian and international guests are used to domestic brands which have made a great mark in the global market and they have produced a great pipeline of talent. First of all, when we hire, we look out for people with the right aptitude, profiles and attitude who may have some relevant experience of luxury from the Indian brands. We are very grateful and thankful that over the years, they have trained and created a great pool of associates for us to pick and choose from. Having said that, Marriott International is considered one of the best employers in the world by all international surveys making it easier for us to attract and retain talent today. So I think the war in the luxury mind space will be the war on talent. The organisation that will be able to attract, train and retain talent and ensure that they are kept motivated enough to be delivering the best of service all the time is going to be the brand that will surge ahead. They are also well aware of the international global brands and are extremely excited to work with these brands. Secondly, our guests have changed today; we are dealing with the millennials. Hence, it is extremely important in this age of great change that we remain relevant as the service provider to our next generation customers. Take a look at W Goa; the average age of the guest and the average age of the associates are almost the same. Today, we have millennials serving millennials. We also have a unique advantage wherein our
brands can create a differentiation vis-à-vis the Indian competitors. Our biggest advantage is technology, our back-end system where technology transforms itself or is better utilised to bring in personalisation. All our systems and processes are there to ensure we capture the guest profile, needs and unique preferences ensuring that every experience is translated into a service for them.
What is the strategy to compete with Indian luxury brands and woo high-networth domestic Indian travellers since around 70 percent of Marriott’s occupancy comes from domestic visitors?
Personalised service is the most important focus. Also very important is being tech-savvy and ensuring that we anticipate guest needs at every touch point while constantly ensuring that we come up with surprise elements and delightful, memorable experiences.
Post the Marriott-Starwood merger, how are you focusing on bringing the best of the two renowned brands together?
As far as luxury offerings go, Marriott International with The Ritz-Carlton and Legacy Starwood with The St. Regis Hotels & Resorts and W Hotels Worldwide, the merger has brought together the best luxury brands of two global giants. We have a global footprint with properties all over the world and that global experience and expertise comes to our play and works to our advantage. We can bring in chefs from other countries, from other continents or send our associates for exposure to other continents, which is again a unique advantage that we have over our Indian competitive set in luxury. This gives us an advantage in terms of promoting and developing our talent; giving them better exposure. Our guests can also enjoy the advantages of the merger with our rewards programme, which is now one of the largest globally with over 85 million members. The programme has brought under one umbrella SPG, Marriott Rewards and The Ritz-Carlton Rewards, allowing properties to gain higher visibility and providing guest with wider reach in terms of destinations and brands.
Marriott has overtaken Taj to become India’s largest hotel chain. To further consolidate its leadership position, what are the luxury hotels in the pipeline?
We will be opening The Ritz-Carlton in Pune and Mumbai shortly, and the W Hotel will be coming up in South Mumbai.
From a hotel owner’s perspective, do you see any particular brand preference when it comes to the luxury sector? In other words, is there a preferred brand from your luxury offering and, if so, why?
An owner’s point of view is always based on the location and the market; for the brand these are the two main drivers. The brand has to fit within the specific location and the specific market keeping in view business drivers and revenue in that particular market taking into consideration the other brands operating in the specific domain. For example, there could already be a W Hotel or The Ritz-Carlton Hotel in the region where we could be studying the potential of launching a St. Regis brand. We would also have to take into account the presence of other international and domestic luxury brands in the same market. We have to be very mindful and conscious while collaborating with the owners, giving them a perspective and our guidance on what brand would fit a market. Often, some brands are a perfect fit for a particular segment, like W is a perfect fit for Goa, especially as it attracts the kind of customer who have, what I would term, ‘a Goa frame of mind’ fitting in well with W, with its philosophy of edginess, quirkiness, and with the ‘Whatever, Whenever’ service. The Ritz-Carlton is a great fit for the Bengaluru city and The St. Regis in South Mumbai has already been a game changer. Hence, we work closely with our owners to find out which is perfect brand for a particular market.
Since the driving philosophy behind the Starwood acquisition was growth, what kind of growth do you foresee this year in the luxury sector? Is the market saturated or is there still room at the top?
There is a lot room at the top. We are going to convert a lot of customers to come and stay with us; we are forecasting double-digit growth not just in room sales but overall in our RevPAR, average rate and occupancies. We also forecast a double-digit growth in F&B, since it remains a great enhancer and a revenue driver. Our catering services with events and weddings has really been well received helping our properties become a favoured destination. Within 60 days of its launch, the W Hotel in Goa saw high occupancy in the range of 70 percent to 75 percent bracket; this with a market leading average rate. The St. Regis Mumbai has grown 37 percent on RevPAR year-on-year and we are forecasting a high growth next year as well. The Ritz-Carlton, Bangalore is well established in the market. So, we definitely believe the pace of growth will be maintained in 2017.
In which part of the country do you see the most potential to grow in the days to come?
North is the market I see that has great potential for growth.
How does Marriott compare with luxury offerings from other international brands operating in India both from a price point and otherwise?
Our biggest advantage over others is that our luxury brands have a clear differentiators in terms of design, technology, style, fit, décor and also service rituals and enhancements, all of which a guest can really feel. The philosophies are different and I don’t think there are too many international brands that can claim to have such differentiation and yet provide personalisation in every service.
What, according to you, is Marriott’s biggest differentiator?
First and foremost, care and concern for people and next would be accountability with empowerment. The balance score card in Marriott is a fantastic tool, where everyone’s performance matrix is measured month on month. I think it is a great initiative making the system extremely transparent and objective and ensuring the entire culture is performance-oriented and executiondriven. Another big differentiator is our genuine care and concern for associates across all levels with a focus on training and development and exposure, mapping a career plan for almost every level of associates. The huge plethora of brands on offer allows Marriott International to stand apart.
From a guest experience point of view, what can we expect in the future? Any new offerings or innovations in the F&B segment since the sector now accounts for nearly 50 percent of a hotel’s revenue?
Guests can expect and look forward to exciting innovations and offerings. We have seen that in every major city in India, F&B has to be exciting. Hotelbased F&B venues have to now compete with some extremely eclectic, fun and inspiring standalone F&B venues. What I really believe and what I am going to focus on is to start making F&B teams and chefs start thinking like CEOs, like business owners, making them more profit-centric, wherein they are more agile and creative, and yet monetise their creativity. It has to be commercially sensible, there has to be speed in decision making, and marketing has to be quick to reach the end user in real time. This is what we have seen; and it will be the biggest differentiation between us and a standalone restaurant. A successful standalone restaurant does things five times faster than hotel-based restaurants. Our hotelbased restaurants have to realise that we are occupying prime real estate. It is very important that we convert the 4,500 sq-ft, which is 6,000 sq-ft, including
the kitchen to get monetised. Hence, I would really want that our F&B managers and chefs to start thinking like businesses owners.
