‘We are witnessing hospitality 2.0’

Vikram Cotah, CEO, GRT Hotels & Resorts, shares the journey of the brand, as it completes 25 years. ‘We have been the pioneers in the domestic home-grown brands catering to tier II & III markets, which is today being sought after by international brands in equal measure,’ says Cotah, adding that this is the beginning of a new chapter in hospitality.

Nisha Verma

GRT Hotels & Resorts is going international with their first property in Maldives, as they celebrate 25th year of inception of their first hotel this year, says Vikram Cotah, Chief Executive Officer, GRT Hotels & Resorts. “We are proud that we are part of the growth story of India. We started in 1998 with our flagship hotel in Chennai. It was the dream child of our Chairman, and the hotel was the first to have a 100 ft atrium and indoor pool in 1998. It was a big hit in those days because our philosophy was that we should give 5-star facilities at 3-star prices and that went well with the Indian population. Form then, the story began and then we acquired the Radisson hotel, which was the second Radisson hotel in the country and that too in Chennai. We kept it as a Radisson and co-brandded as GRT and now we have renovated and relaunched it post-COVID and it is getting fabulous reviews. We then bought the Temple Bay hotel from ITDC. It is a 45-acre property in Mahabalipuram now named as Radisson Blu Temple Bay Beach Resort. Since then, our growth story has started,” shares Cotah.

Growth story

With more than 20 hotels in their kitty, GRT owns 80 per cent of their hotels. “We are asset owners, and we are only starting to manage hotels for others. We know that the asset light model will also grow, so that our expansion is also there. As of now, we are concentrated in the south, but we want to be a national brand. We have got our first property in the Maldives and have entered international waters. We are looking at Sri Lanka now. The next 10 years will be India story and we want to be part of it,” he claims.

Informing that their focus is to expand fast during 2024-26, he said, “We see that the demand drivers are immense. While the entire world economy is slowing down, Indian numbers are unbelievable. The growth taking place today is the pay-off for the hard work done in the past many years. India is being positioned as a destination for the world, which is going to take us a long way. The government is also pushing for tourism, and that is making a major difference. There are a lot of smart city programmes and push for tier II cities. There is huge interest in places like Ayodhya and Lakshadweep today.”

Growth in tier II & tier III cities

Talking about new hotels, he shared, “In 2024, we are going to open three hotels in the first quarter and all these are in tier II and III cities. The first one is in Madurai with 125 rooms, and the second is a 100-room boutique hotel in the centre of Vijayawada. We will also have our second hotel in Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh.”

Optimising hotel rates

One of the major trends post-COVID is the hotel rates skyrocketing across India. In response to the same, he shared, “This is a sensitive topic. I keep saying to my fellow hoteliers that we should not burst the bubble. The demand is high and supply is less. Hotels always go through a cycle every five years, which goes at a peak and then comes down. I think we are at a peak now, and because there is no new supply, the demand is high and the entire economy is buoyant. Hence, the existing hotels are charging more. We must be sensitive to this because last November-December we saw some of the guests moving away from Goa and other traditional destinations in India to places like Thailand, Vietnam and Bali, which have become our competition. Even Sri Lanka is much cheaper. These countries are also giving visa-free entry to Indians, which makes it easy to visit. We need to take cognisance of these factors. I am not asking to reduce rates, but I think we need to be sensitive to what we charge.”

Competing with global brands

Cotah agreed that international brands coming in is an obvious threat as they see a huge demand in India. “They know what is the potential of not only the nine metros, but also tier II and III cities. In fact, at a recent hotel investment conference the CEO of Marriott came to India for the first time and was excited to bring their Moxy brand, which is their lifestyle brand, to India,” he underlined.