TravTalk India Online Magazine
Chandan Pandey, Co-Founder & COO, WB Hotels & Resorts, hopes that hotels will start doing well with at least 50% to 60% of occupancy by the beginning of October 2021 with the vaccination drive in full momentum. He adds that their plan for 10K keys by December 2022 is on track, and they have already expanded their team to other locations.
Hazel Jain
Within a year, you have managed to add on more than 100 hotels on your platform.
Yes, we launched our hotel brand WB Hotels & Resorts in October 2020 and we signed our first hotel in November 2020. As of today we have 100+ hotels under our brand in 17+ states and 35+ locations, with more than 2,100 rooms and growing. Technically we have added 100+ hotels from November to March – within five months only – as April and May 2021 was a complete wipe out.
How did you manage that?
Our vision is very clear. Since I come with more than 21 years of leadership experience in hospitality, it helped me make all the right decisions at the right time. We have aligned our team accordingly and distributed responsibility to team leaders to reach our numbers. We are a people’s company and people always come first for us. The team is always important to achieve a company’s dreams. Inspite of so many challenges, we added more than 14 employees in our company. We believe in ourselves, our product and our team which is the key to our growth.
What are some of the lessons you have learnt as a businessman over the last one year of the pandemic?
We have understood that only a technology company can grow very fast. We will remain technology-centric and human resources company for standalone hotels on a global level. In parallel, we are bringing India its first tech-based hotel brand which will work with four employees only.
Have you received good response from the travel trade?
We are in the final stages of developing the unique technology for the travel agents so that they can access our real-time rates for all the hotels which will be cheaper than the OTA rates. We are already having more than 3,500 active travel agent database. All travel agents will be requested to join our platform to access our hotel on pan-India level.
What is your perspective on the hotel industry landscape for 2021-22 in India?
Looking at the current scenario and now every Indian is looking to get vaccinated, we are hoping that by beginning of October 2021 hotels start doing well with at least 50% to 60% of occupancy. By April 2022, the hotel Industry will bounce back with 80- 90% occupancy with better ARRs. We estimate that about 12% to 13% hotels closed down and hotels on lease model also got affected due to the pandemic. When the industry is back with real occupancy levels, with fewer hotels in the market, it will boost the ADRs, ARRs and RevPAR.
Is your plan for 10K keys by Dec 2022 still in place?
Yes we are very much on track. In fact, we have increased our Business Development team to other locations and in the coming month we will add more people to expedite these numbers.
Your advice to travel and hospitality companies.
We have to adapt the latest technology available. At the same time, we must also invest in people and nurture them. Cloning of leadership is very important. We have to remain positive and optimistic about hospitality, which will play a very important role for the development of our society at large.
About WB Hotels & Resorts
Launched in September 2020, WB Hotels & Resorts offers services to hotels, resorts, BNB, service apartments and townships. It offers co-branding services on an online platform, complete revenue management, centralised reservations, and account reconciliation. It offers software in a bundled package to asset owners, channel managers and cloud-based front offices. Technically, it runs hotels remotely and does not charge any upfront payment – it works on commissions only.
