TravTalk India Online Magazine
Not everyone got bogged down by the havoc that COVID-19 created in the hospitality industry and instead of calling it doomsday, Tree of Life Resorts & Hotels took it in their stride and managed to sail through. Himmat Anand, Founder, Tree of Life Resorts & Hotels, talks about the need to stay positive and focused.
Nisha Verma
Himmat Anand believes that “The industry is at fault to have created a negative scenario for themselves by discussing about how the industry will close, hotels will be doomed and travel will be unsafe. This way we doubled our troubles.” But, in the face of adversity, Tree of Life Resorts & Hotels took a positive approach to business. Anand says, “We accepted that everything was lost and decided to build ourselves back from zero. We were positive and proactive on social media and took out new programmes. The idea was that we wanted to have a continuity of our presence and of our business. We were the first in the country to announce the opening of our property; in mid-May, we announced that on June 19, we will open.”
Tree of Life Resort & Spa was the first property they opened. “We were conscious of the fact that we will only open properties which are within four to five hours of driving distance from the source market, hence, Jaipur was the best bet. We started with an occupancy of 28-30 per cent in June, and slashed June prices. I believe that pricing is only determined by demand. To activate the market again, we went for a deep 50 per cent discount in June. In July we brought it to 40 per cent and in August we had around 25-30 per cent discounting. By October it would come to around 10-15 per cent of discounting. This means that out of eight properties, at least in four things will be stable. Jaipur did unbelievably well in July and took us by surprise; we did better this July than that of 2019. Our occupancy in July was about 68 per cent with an ARR of Rs10,700. Interestingly, our luxury pool villas are the ones to sell out first and they sell between Rs14,000-16,000 per night only with breakfast plus GST,” shares Anand. A key learning he has had from this experience is that it isn’t that the domestic market doesn’t pay, it will pay if the product is right.
Small weddings do the trick
For the hotel group, small weddings also got in some business. “Before COVID happened, we launched a brand called ‘Intimate Moments by Tree of Life’. The idea was that people wanted to get away from huge numbers and host small wedding celebrations, anniversaries, birthdays, baby showers and bachelorette parties. Through ‘Intimate Moments’ we are focusing only at small functions at our properties that have 10-18 rooms and can accommodate 35-50 people. This is an exciting space for us as things like social distancing, being away from city centres, having lesser keys, no buffets – things that people talk about these days – are the mottos on which Tree of Life started 10 years ago. All of this has been second nature to us. Hence, we don’t need to go gung-ho about it,” Anand shares.
It’s hospitality, not hospital, business
Commenting on the way different hospitality brands have been promoting their safety and hygiene SOPs, Anand says that people should understand that we are in the hospitality, and not hospital, business. “Brands have gone a little overboard in order to project their hygiene and safety message. We, on the other hand, have been very cautious and very contained in our pronouncements as far as hygiene and safety are concerned. For us, as much as hygiene and safety are important, it is important to make sure that this factor doesn’t supersede why a guest is there with us,” he adds.
Status check
Tree of Life Resorts & Hotels has opened both its Jaipur and Udaipur properties, and will open Ranthambore soon. Their three properties in Uttarakhand are ready to open, but due to the possibility of issues at the border for guests driving to Uttarakhand, the opening has been delayed. The Banaras property will open in September-October.
