In Indian socio-cultural wisdom since ancient times, guests have always been revered as gods. And Indians’ love for their gods has been traditionally time-tested and universally acknowledged. And while treating their guests as gods and loving their gods unequivocally, Indians believe in their traditional adage of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam – World is a Family.’
Hyatt Ahmedabad’s concept and the theme of restaurants in the hotel are derived from the Human Centric Design study and research programme and have indeed won some great awards and recognition too. Speaking about this finest luxury hotel located in the heart of Gujarat’s Business Capital and next to the city’s biggest and busiest mall, its Director of Sales and Marketing, Palash Swarup, says, “Our purpose, vision, mission, and values are brought to life by our colleagues, whom we refer to as the Hyatt family. We believe our colleagues embody our purpose of caring for people, including each other, our guests, and ultimately our owners.”
Welcome to the Heart of Gujarat
This commitment to genuine service and care differentiates Hyatt Ahmedabad and drives guest preference. Palash informs that the management teams lead by example at each of their managed properties. They provide them with the appropriate autonomy to make operational decisions in the hotel’s and brand’s best interest. He adds, “We believe the managers of our franchised properties are experienced operators. They have high standards. They have demonstrated commitment to our values and approach to caring for guests to enhance guest satisfaction.” High levels of guest satisfaction lead to increased preference for the brands, which Palash believes results in a strengthened revenue base over the long term.
He also believes that engaged colleagues will enhance the efficient operation of their properties, resulting in improved financial results for their owners. Sustained adherence to these principles is a basis for their brand reputation and is one of the principal factors behind the decisions of their diverse group of owners and developers to invest in the Hyatt portfolio of properties worldwide. “We work with existing and prospective owners and developers to increase our presence around the world, which we expect will lead to guest satisfaction, brand preference, and new channels for professional growth for our colleagues,” says Palash.
He has over 16 years of experience in hotels and aviation, primarily in the field of the commercial department. He has been handling overall Sales & Marketing for Hyatt Ahmedabad and has worked in six different commercial cities driving individual unit performance from a sales point of view. He has been attached to key organizations such as Taj, Hilton and Hyatt, having worked in the capacity of both Global and Unit Sales formats.
Sharing his inspiration behind venturing into the hospitality industry, Palash says that understanding people and creating solutions is every second job in hotels. The idea of marrying guests’ needs, expanding products and creating customized solutions with excellent retention was my key to entering hospitality. Not just that, hotels are by far one of the rare industries which helps you understand other industries and their area of expertise in detail. The immense opportunities and learning, along with a highly energetic and dynamic environment, is a very rare equation to be found.
By the People
Further stating the USPs that make Hyatt Ahmedabad stand out as a leading hospitality firm, Palash says that Hyatt’s fundamental of taking care of people so they can be their best befits the most amazing idea of creating the best results because hotels are by the people for the people. Hyatt Ahmedabad is considered the best-located hotel in the city, with a very high reputation in food and beverage, world-class hospitality services and a mature team to handle every situation.
Sharing current services provided to their clients, he says they have their Suites and Club rooms fitted with tech support such as smart TVs, Music entertainment system and their members can completely rely on the World of Hyatt app for connecting with Hyatt globally. They also have the best-in-class Club lounge extending club facilities and in-house entertainment options.
According to him, taking care of the team, ensuring product updates, reaching out to the larger market and most importantly, taking utmost care of their guests is what any leading hospitality firm requires. He says they have metrics set against each parameter, stringent training to ensure 360-degree coverage, active leadership involvement and a pre-emptive approach for guest delight supported with technology to ensure they must carry on the past of being the best.
For the People
Telling about initial challenges, Palash says that initially, the challenges were limited markets and limited brands. Still, with growing demand and multiple brands’ presence, the challenge is getting more productive to keep developing their product further and be extremely dynamic and open in approach to understand customer requirements followed by innovative ways to fulfil them.
Being an experienced leader, he shares his opinion on how technology is transforming the hospitality industry and what advancements can be expected in the future. Technology is getting the universe of their customers together. In the last ten years, multiple platforms have made it extremely easy for customers to search, decide and book hotels + restaurants. The feedback system has made it easy for hotels to evaluate performance and work on the gaps. In-house facilities have also been tagged with technology to create one application for all kinds of designs for check-in, keycard fewer doors, controlling room functions from your mobile, smart TVs to customized entertainment options and even in-house restaurant booking channels.
Tech-Exceptional Experience
In the future, while hotels can create a lot of data and use it for analyzing guest behaviour, it will help hotel companies make a highly customized experience for the guests across all facilities. Technology also allows back-of-the-house functions such as supply chain management for better cost-effectiveness, training of employees to ensure their teams are best in performance, creating feedback systems to ensure employee satisfaction levels and so forth.
In his advice to the aspirants willing to venture into the hospitality field, he says it is a growing field and expanding across all sectors. With multiple sub-brands – cities and places never expected brands to invest are also experiencing brand presence. Opportunities to learn and grow are immense, and one should invest a good part of their career in hotels.
On envisioning the future of Hyatt Ahmedabad into the new normal, Palash says they look at themselves as market leaders in their segment with strong guest retention, further market coverage and introducing new services with updates on rooms.
