Vijay Thacker
Conversions related advisory is an area of professional services that continued to remain healthy. Stress management advisory, including matters arising between owners and operators, required us to bring into effect all the years of our experience
Vijay Thacker, MD, Horwath HTL, has been involved in hospitality and tourism consulting for over 35 years. However, the pandemic was amongst the worst industry disruptors he has seen in close to four decades.
Since last year, majority of ongoing and scheduled hospitality development suddenly came to a grinding halt. Hence, in the initial few months of 2020, Horwath HTL found few takers for its development related advisory services. Thankfully, this vertical has gained slight momentum as a semblance of impact understanding gradually returned in the sector over the past few months.
Talking about navigating these challenges, Thacker said, “As consultants, we had to support our clients in strategy plans, impact assessment and guidance, cash flow projections, ongoing project restructuring and other business matters. Our organisation did this in a collaborative manner last year.”
OPPORTUNITIES BECKON
In the pre-COVID years, when India’s hospitality landscape was seeing respectable growth, most consultants were busy offering services that included due diligence investigations, fiscal and tax structuring, drawing up joint venture agreements, reviewing partnership documentation, as well as negotiating transactions. Since March 2020, these opportunities significantly dried up.
However, Thacker opined that transaction related valuations, due diligence work and ancillary valuation projects gained traction. Moreover, clients were keen to restructure their financial plans after their properties were closed during the lockdown, and costs kept mounting. Horwatch HTL was well placed to extend its expertise in this area.
“Conversions related advisory was another area of professional services that continued to remain healthy,” Thacker noted. “Stress management advisory, including matters arising between owners and operators, required us to bring into effect all the years of our experience.”
He also considered it necessary to provide inputs related to knowledge, balance and outlook to ongoing debates on industry actions and foreseeable actions in the future. Moreover, he made his opinions heard, and count, for support features that needed to be sought in the industry and practical responses when this support was not forthcoming.
As part of Horwath’s larger advisory services, digital security, data privacy, third party risk, and remote based internal audit services provided potential for growth and continued client services. The company gained from material investments made in these areas. It also reaped the benefits of the technology investments it had made in 2019, centered on paperless audit, remote access and data management.
After going a thorough systems check to ensure Horwath HTL is primed for the road ahead, Thacker getting down to brass tacks once more, by seeking further opportunities amidst the uncertainties that continue to haunt the industry.
