From setting an aggressive business target of INR 300 crore in 2019 and achieving them to introducing out-of-box initiatives, Nitesh Gandhi, Cluster GM – Rajasthan, Marriott and GM, JW Marriott New Delhi Aerocity, has pulled out all stops to turn around the property. Even during the pandemic, when occupancy levels dwindled, he left no stones unturned to get the business on track.
He opened up new business avenues such as spa and fitness centre memberships, Diwali hampers, food delivery, among others, which proved to be significant additions to its recovery. And now, after taking charge as the Cluster General Manager for Rajasthan at Marriott Hotels, he is confident that his winning business formula will help him ace the new market. He speaks about the challenges, learnings, new business strategies, handling different markets, ambitious targets, sustainability initiatives, and more.
What have been your learnings and challenges so far working in the Rajasthan market?
Rajasthan is an important market for Marriott, and it is the only brand with a strong presence in the state catering to all guest segments. Each hotel, be it Westin Pushkar Resort & Spa, Marriott Jaisalmer Resort & Spa, Le Meridien Jaipur, Marriott Jaipur and Fairfield by Marriott Jodhpur, brings the state’s ethos alive for its guests.
The substantial business recovery in the region has largely been ADR-driven due to domestic leisure travel. Destination weddings in Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Jaipur and Pushkar have led to an increase in the total revenue.
The most significant learning has been that leisure, especially, domestic travel is here to stay. We can leverage this demand through our unparalleled distribution and Marriott.com, where guests can book any Marriott hotel to get the best available rate.
Additionally, unique experiences offered by each hotel and destination adds to our benefit.
What are your strategies to further revenue generation in JW Marriott New Delhi Aerocity specifically, and the other Marriott hotels in Rajasthan?
As a major source market for Rajasthan, Delhi is driving traffic across the various segments of the state. Our prime focus is on growing ADR across all our hotels by offering exceptional services, excellent food and unique experiences. Besides, we are extensively
renovating spaces across our hotels to drive revenues and create memorable guest experiences.
Our distribution channels, marketing and digital tools, too, are driving footfalls across all our hotels. The key is to work with the right brands to drive visibility and elevate the brand image; a strategy that we had employed at JW Marriott New Delhi Aerocity.
Some of the key launches and partnerships that proved crucial to JW Marriott New Delhi’s success were with key brands such as Mercedes, BMW, Toyota and Samsung, etc.
With leisure and corporate travel returning to normalcy, how is the business shaping for JW Marriott New Delhi Aerocity?
The business looks promising for us, as all our segments such as leisure, corporate, groups, weddings and MICE are responding well. International senior business travellers, too, are returning. Our F&B department surpassed 2019 revenue numbers in the 4th quarter of 2021.
One notable trend that we are noticing is of high-end retail stores returning to luxury hotels. At JW Marriott New Delhi, we have a store of renowned fashion designers, JJ Vallaya, luxury salon Parfaire by Kavita Singh, and an upcoming high-end couture
brand, Diva’ni.
What key revenue streams at the hotel are aiding in business recovery?
Diwali hampers were a great addition, as we clocked in the highest sales ever and sold over 8,000 hampers. Also, spa and fitness centre memberships are increasing again in numbers. Long stay apartments, as well as, office spaces were also significant additions for recovery.
Our food delivery under ‘Marriott Bonvoy on Wheels’ proved to be a revolution for us. We will soon launch the Izakaya Japanese restaurant at the hotel with a two Michelin star awarded chef at the helm.
The booking trend is gradually shifting from leisure to the resurgence of corporates and business travel. The average booking window is four days out or less. We are witnessing same day pick up and around 8 to 10% on an average of the total room nights per day.
What kind of demand do you draw from the MICE segment in 2021?
The demand for MICE in 2020 veered more towards virtual events due to the pandemic. Hence, we shifted our focus towards virtual conferences and virtual Chef Events for employee engagement activities of various corporates. The prime focus and need for 2020 were to be as tenacious and flexible to meet our guest needs and look at creative ways of generating more revenue streams.
In 2021, we saw a good comeback of corporate events and MICE overall. We have been able to host 200+ events, including social functions at the hotel, out of which 70 were corporate events.
By due diligence of our leadership and sales team, we are sold out on all Saya dates until mid of 2022. With the majority of the population now vaccinated in the country, especially
in metro cities, we will see a positive trend for the industry in terms of events and weddings.
You recently introduced an AI-enabled water treatment and purification plant at JW Marriott New Delhi. What inspired you to take this step?
As an avid biker, usually, I do the regular Sunday rides, at times on the Gurgaon-Faridabad road. So while riding on this route, there is a popular place called Khusboo Chowk. I was
astounded to see the transformation of this space, which was earlier a landfill area, stretching almost 2 KMs.
It draws its new name (earlier Kachra Chowk) from the fact that locals of this area came together to plant fragrant shrubs on the route to prevent the foul smell dispersed from this littered place.
This instance had a major impact on me as sustainability. The fact that a large hotel like ours can play a crucial role in drastically reducing the landfills as Khusboo Chowk; motivated us to set up our own in-house glass water bottling and treatment plant. So far, we have eliminated more than 50 lacs of single-use plastic water bottles from the hotel in a short span of three years.
