Ajay Bakaya

When the pandemic was at its peak, Sarovar Hotels and Resorts converted its Golden Tulip hotel at Gurgaon’s Sector 29 into a COVID-19 care center for senior citizens. This required close collaboration with, ‘I Am Gurgaon’, Fortis Hospital, EMOHA Eldercare Services and the municipal corporation. But over and above, it needed the whole-hearted support of its staff.

That’s when Ajay Bakaya, MD, Sarovar Hotels and Resorts decided to lead by example. “If I expect my staff to put themselves at risk by being on site, how could I work remotely?” he questioned. “While no one was forced to report to work, I was at the hotel lobby or back of the house, meeting associates and thanking them for their service.”

This level-headed approach allayed employee fears, and inspired them. more effectively than any official memo could ever have. “An instinctive leadership can help one survive the challenges posed by any calamity, irrespective how long it lasts. You have to communicate your gut feeling to the team, assuring them while there’s a problem, we will overcome it. This positive affirmation can work wonders,” Bakaya opined.

ROLLING WITH THE PUNCHES
When the lockdown reduced guest inflow to a trickle, Bakaya realised it was critical to infuse flexibility in strategies immediately. By April 2020, Sarovar came up with various policies, including full refund on cancellation. “Many people wanted to wait for a couple of quarters before taking these decisions.

However, our hotels were bleeding and we couldn’t ask our owners to wait. So, we trimmed our costs dramatically wherever possible while making our policies even more guest-friendly,” he explained. Manpower was deployed on a rotational basis to avoid largescale layoffs. While work from home for office staff was permitted, salaries were not deducted if employees did not show up to work. Instead, webinars and online sessions were organised to keep associates positive during these trying times.

Bakaya also called several hotel owners and general managers regularly to check on them and their family. This empathy helped Sarovar retain majority of its owners and key associates, and keep its 96 operating hotels with 7500 keys in India and Africa across 65 destinations functional.

Moreover, at a time when most companies were hunkering down to weather the pandemic, Sarovar forayed into Nepal. It currently has a pipeline of four properties under management contracts in the Himalayan nation – Sarovar Portico Birgunj, Sarovar Premiere Manakamna, Sarovar Premiere Janakpur and Tulip Inn Itahari.

FISCAL PRUDENCE
Sarovar, too, faced fiscal challenges during the past 18 months like its peers. Fortunately, it had minimal debt and could utilise the cash reserves it had steadily built over the last few years. “When the chips are down and one has debt, sleepless nights are a given,” Bakaya candidly said.

“We were, thankfully, not in that situation and our business is already seeing green shoots of recovery. Our gross revenues in July 2021 were around 65% of that in July 2019.” While things are looking up, he is unwilling to throw caution to the winds, especially with the impending third wave. “Though we can’t wish it away, another downturn will be tougher than the first and second wave. The industry has undergone prolonged hardship, but we are better prepared today than we were a few months ago,” he summed up.