TravTalk India Online Magazine
Le Birch Hotels & Resorts, a start-up hotel management company, promises to customise its offerings for each of its travel agent partners. Its first property is a 38-key boutique hotel in Mumbai close to the airport, and while current occupancies may not be the most encouraging, demand is certainly increasing gradually.
Hazel Jain
Ahotel management company formed with a purpose to provide a platform to independent hotels, Le Birch Hotels & Resorts has recently signed up its first hotel in Mumbai in Andheri East. Speaking about the business model, Shantanu Jha, Founder & CEO, Le Birch Hotels & Resorts, says, “We want the independent hotels to be able to compete with the organised and branded chains. We have just signed up our first hotel, Le Birch House in Andheri East, Mumbai, close to both domestic and international airports. It is a 38-key boutique hotel designed to offer exceptional services at value for money. We have four more properties in pipeline and will announce them soon. The response has been very encouraging.”
Le Birch Hotels & Resorts is a part of Applewood Hospitality and was formed three months ago. It will provide independent hotels end-to-end solutions right from operational SOPs to sales and marketing support on a pan-India basis, design and technical assistance to Revenue Management expertise.
Distribution strategy
Explaining the company’s distribution strategy, Jha adds, “We will be working across the spectrum with corporates, travel agents, M!CE specialists and OTAs. Each of these segments will be contributing towards a balanced customer base. However, our offers to each segment will be customised and we are happy to customise our offering for each of our travel agent partners as well. The hotel is available online. However, the travel agent partners can also book with us directly.”
Hotel onboarding
Once the terms are finalised, the on-boarding process starts with re-branding or co-branding exercise, moving the existing extranets on its platform, including the hotel details on all its marketing collaterals, brand training for the hotel team, etc. Jha reveals, “We started this organisation just three months ago completely boot-strapped and we have been fortunate to have on-boarded our first hotel in such a short span. However, we are actively looking at seed funding to scale our business at a rapid pace.” The company’s endeavour is to have presence in Tier-I, II, and III cities and all major tourist destinations by end of 2023. He adds that while the pandemic has been the biggest disruptor, the silver lining is that leisure destinations have started picking up through an increase in demand for drivable destinations. “The current occupancies may not be the most encouraging but the demand is certainly increasing gradually. Work-related travel has already begun across various industries, and so is the case with weddings and exhibitions,” he adds.
Le Birch Hotels & Resorts brands
- Le Birch Leaf: Full service mid-scale and upper mid-scale hotels in commercial and tourist destinations.
- Le Birch House: Boutique, value driven, no-frill economy hotels.
- Le Birch Cove: In beach towns, jungle resorts and hill stations.
