'It's About Creating Awareness that Mysore has Much More to Offer'

Sachin Malhotra, the General Manager of the newly opened Grand Mercure in the city, spoke to BW Hotelier on the challenges ahead and how he plans to run his property.

A seasoned
hotelier with over 15 years of experience, Sachin Malhotra, the General Manager
of the newly opened Grand Mercure, Mysuru, has worked across a broad spectrum
of hospitality functions including sales and marketing, relationship and
management contract, finance and human resources. He joined AccorHotels in 2009
and has held leadership positions across various locations, the most recent
being the role of Hotel Manager at Mercure Lavasa and Lavasa International
Convention Centre.


Prior to
joining AccorHotels, Malhotra was the head of catering sales and conference
services at The Leela Palaces and Resorts, Bangalore.


Malhotra holds
a diploma in Business Administration and Marketing from the Symbiosis Institute
of Management Studies, Pune and has also been certified by the India Leadership
Development Program by AccorHotels.


Malhotra
spoke to BW Hotelier at the launch of the Grand Mercure, Mysuru.


What are the challenges that you are
likely to face in the first year?


The biggest
challenge that I personally feel we will face is to get the relevant crowd to
understand the difference. Most of us when we go out to an international destination
do a lot of research on what to see and do. But when it comes to an Indian
destination we feel we already know about the place. We don’t need to do any
research. For instance, when you come to Mysore you know of three things that
you want to see and you plan your itinerary accordingly. But when you come down
here and we tell you that actually there are 21 things to see and do, you don’t
have time.


Creating
awareness that Mysore has much more to offer; creating awareness that there is
a hotel that is working hard to provide you all those offerings on a platter;
and reaching the target audience is probably the biggest challenge that we are
going to face.


Mysore is
the second most visited destination in India for tourists after Agra, as per
official records. They come visit the palace, see the lighting and move on.
However, the real content of Mysore, the real artwork of Mysore is somewhere
down the line not being exposed. So our biggest challenge is to bring that
visibility to Mysore and to bring that acceptance that there is a brand in
Mysore that is looking at all this and creating a difference.


With a lot
of online travel agents coming into the picture the rate has become a parameter
for selecting a hotel but we want our brand to be the parameter for selecting
the hotel rather than the rate.


What is the rate going to be?


Our
inaugural offer starts at Rs 7250 inclusive of one main meal for our standard
room. Thereafter we have 5 categories of rooms with a differential of Rs 2000
depending upon what category of room you are looking at. Our highest category
is the deluxe suite which comes with a bedroom, a living room and a balcony.
That will be priced at Rs 14,500 inclusive of breakfast and one major meal.


Who is your target customer?


We will look
at MICE but primarily an experiential visit rather than a huge banquet with a
DJ night.


Mysore
attracts a lot of French, British and German tourists and now new markets are
opening up in China and Australia. We also get a lot of domestic tourists from
metros over the weekend. Business is also expanding in Mysore so we will target
business travellers as well.


What are your staff requirements?
Have you hired local talent?


We are
looking at a staff of around 190-200. In the first phase we have employed
around 130 in the ratio of 60:40 with 60 being local people from Mysore. We
have not poached staff from our competitor hotels. We prefer fresh talent whom
we can train in the Accor way of hospitality.


What numbers are you targeting in the
first year?


We are
opening right in the beginning of the holiday season. Then we will have
monsoons, then Dashhera and after that the international tourist season so we
are quite confident that with our efforts we should hit about 40-45 per cent
occupancy in the first year itself.  


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