Always synonymous with luxury

Anuraag Bhatnagar, COO, The Leela Palaces, Hotels & Resorts, shares how they utilised the COVID-19-induced lockdowns to open new properties and plan for future growth, while claiming that they plan to stay in the luxury space

Nisha Verma

The pandemic has not left anyone in the industry untouched, says Anuraag Bhatnagar. “It has affected the entire hospitality and travel trade equally. It was agnostic to the brands and hotels,” he adds. However, he claims that for Leela, it was a time for growth.

Time for opportunities

“For us at Leela, since we have been growing and adding hotels, we were slightly insulated. We created opportunities out of this adversity and opened three hotels — The Leela Gandhinagar, The Leela Palace Jaipur, and The Leela Bhartiya City in Bengaluru. Overall, we added 900 keys to our portfolio, and we used this time to also bring a lot of technology; hire some of the best talent in the industry; set up our systems and processes in the organisation; and bring in some cost synergies to bring in efficiencies,” adds Bhatnagar.

Survival strategies

Detailing the survival strategies they employed during the lockdowns, he shares, “The first step was to get through the pandemic and survive.” Hence, we made our fixed cost structures as variable as possible. Secondly, we used this time to deploy our people because Leela is one of the very few organisations where we ensured that jobs and roles were not impacted.”

They also rolled out technology so that they could offer high-tech and high-touch without taking the personalisation away. “Although the world was moving away from contact and social distancing, we brought in the technology that will enable our services to be delivered more efficiently. We rolled out the Leela Palace Butler Services Program; Ceremonial Rituals as a representation of true Indian luxury; the Pride Pins that we wear; and the ‘I am Leela’ campaign. We used technology to make our HR, accounting, and finance processes more efficient,” he shares.

Most importantly, claims Bhatnagar, “We used this time to acquire hotels and expand our portfolio. All our hotels are doing exceptionally well. The Leela Palace Jaipur, which we opened during the pandemic, is now topping the Jaipur market as the preferred destination for FITs and weddings. Leela Gandhinagar hosted the IATPO’s 36th Annual Convention. We have a lineup of international and domestic events at this hotel, along with Mahatma Mandir. The Leela Bhartiya City, spread over 130 acres, as a whole, has amazing food and beverage restaurants. Hence, we have worked on all these strategies to make sure that when the new normal returns, we come out leaner, more efficient, and far more agile to own this upswing.”

IATO convention

Bhatnagar was a panellist at one of the sessions at the recent IATO Convention. “The best part about attending the convention was meeting all these people after a long time. Kudos to IATO President Rajiv Mehra and his Executive Committee for bringing everybody who matters into the grand ballroom at the Leela Gandhinagar. The second thing was to understand from them how the business is panning out, the challenges and how they are coping with this pandemic. We need to see how, as a travel trade and industry, we can work with each other to sail through this together. It is the spirit of collaboration and their feedback that is important because, as hoteliers, we completely recognise the role that IATO partners play — they are our B2C. They make sure that there are end users and how we can improve our working relationship. We had meaningful talks, which will set the tone for the future,” he claims.

Only luxury

When asked if they would enter the budget space, he denies it, saying, “I think Leela is synonymous with true Indian luxury and that’s where we have carved a niche. We are clear that we want to grow in this space. We believe there is a lot more opportunity for strategic growth.  Our resort hotels, especially during the pandemic, have been doing 120 to 140 per cent of the revenue that they were achieving in 2019.”

New ventures

After opening three hotels during the pandemic, there is no stopping for new ventures. “We are working on some interesting and exciting openings,” Bhatnagar claims.