TravTalk India Online Magazine
Sarova Hotels & Resorts is poised to expand its presence in the Indian market, shifting focus beyond leisure travel to tap into the growing demand for MICE and destination weddings. The group has made significant investments in cutting-edge technology.
Hazel Jain
Mita Vohra, Board Director, Sarova Hotels & Resorts, met travel partners at the group’s recent roadshow in Mumbai and expressed gratitude for their support. “We want to thank the city that brought us to India, and now we can see a lot of other cities excited about Kenya and Africa in general. It’s been super exciting to grow our business here. We have taken our focus on India to another level, and we have grown substantively every year,” she said.
Sarova Hotels participated in the OTOAI convention that took place in Kenya a few years ago, which had an incredible domino effect in popularising their properties in India. “Our higher category rooms such as our club tents have gotten very busy. We are really seeing an escalation in volume, in people knowing that now they have to pre-book their hotel before visiting Kenya, and not just 10 days in advance; it has become a very popular destination among Indians. We are also seeing guests visit two or three times in a year, repeating their stays with us,” Vohra revealed.
She said that Kenyans are intrinsically warm and hospitable, and they now understand the needs of the Indian market. While leisure is big from India, Vohra wants to expand into the MICE and the wedding space from India.
Making inroads into MICE
Among other hotels, the group has the Sarova Mara Game Camp, the Sarova Lion Hill Game Lodge, the Sarova Shaba Game Lodge in the north, Sarova Whitesands Beach Resort & Spa Mombasa, and Sarova Maiyan in Nanyuki Town, which largely cater to the leisure segment. “We also have properties that are great for MICE in Nairobi City, we have the Sarova Stanley Nairobi heritage property, which is the oldest hotel in Kenya. The Queen stayed there, and several celebrities from India have stayed there. We are now looking to extend into MICE. That segment is very important for us because we have a large property and huge inventory with five swimming pools, beautiful spa, white sand beaches, and beautiful beach bay experiences,” Vohra added.
Perfect for Indian weddings
Sarova Hotels & Resorts, which has Aviareps as its sales and PR representative in India, also wants to focus on destination weddings from India. “Kenya is so beautiful, and we have strong banqueting facilities. So, we are really looking to grow that market. We have invested in technology, where we can showcase the event planners exactly what the décor will look like. It just takes things to a whole other level of how you present to the client. We are starting to do a lot of content about the wedding set-ups that we can offer, and the gala dinners so that people can see our offerings,” Vohra explained.
New at Sarova
This year the group has added Sarovar Maiyan in Mount Kenya – a beautiful property that offers a lot of experiences, including horse riding and mountain climbing.
