Bangalore Remains a Very Corporate City: Kunal Chauhan, GM, Leela Bengaluru

The Leela has been able to retain its ADR (Average Daily Rate) leadership in the city--clearly about Rs 2000 to Rs 3000 ahead of our next competition, and has an average occupancy level of 72 at par with the rest of the market in Bengaluru.

KUNAL CHAUHAN, the dapper General Manager of the Leela
Palace Bangalore doesn’t believe that the DNA of the city has changed much.


Chauhan said as much while speaking to BW Hotelier during an
exclusive interview recently.


“Bangalore remains a very corporate city. The days of forced
sell are over. However, there is no other segment except corporate clients,” he
told us.


The Leela was not a cookie cutter hotel, Chauhan stated,
though over time they have got great branding with over 85 percent of their
clients coming in through referrals of friends of colleagues, which is huge for
any market.


“What has changed now is that we have to provide for luxury
while retaining the basic essence of the international traveller. Service has
become crisper, more efficient. People want the luxury environment but they
don't want to waste time on elaborate service rituals,” Chauhan explained while
discussing the market trend for business clients in the city.


Though technology is another important part of the experience,
Chauhan is not a huge tech geek. “I don't want it to get too complicated. In
all fairness, yesterday we were geared to handle two devices per customer,
today we have to be geared to handle four to five devices per customer. If you
understand that, you’re pretty much sorted,” he said.


"The Leela has been able to retain its ADR (Average Daily
Rate) leadership in the city. We are clearly about Rs 2000 to Rs 3000 ahead of
our next competition, which for me is a great testament to my customer who is
willing to pay that much more for my rooms,” Chauhan said.


This is a great position to be in, something no amount of
marketing can achieve, he added. Occupancy, with 357 rooms on offer, has held
steady at around 72 percent. In fact that is the case across the city, he said.
Occupancy can’t go up because the hotels are sold out from Monday to Thursday,
while Friday to Sunday, no corporate clients really travel to the city.


“If you are a businessman travelling to Bangalore on work,
my hotel being on sale will not make you get up and fly here. All people do
wrong is try and discount to get traction where there is no need,” he said. On
the three days, the hotel does nothing out of the ordinary and this is a trend
the rest of the market is following, he added. Other than a Rs 1000 dip in
rates during the weekend, all things stay steady.


F&B is another area that the Leela Palace, Bangalore
really hits its mark according to Chauhan, starting with Jamavar which is a hub
of corporate entertainment doing between Rs 3.5 to 4 lakh a day for dinner
only.


“If you are in the city, one meal will happen at Jamavar.
That adds to our appeal, because even if you are staying elsewhere, your
colleagues will bring you here. You will see the hotel and you will wonder why
am I somewhere else?” he said.


In fact F&B wise the hotel has a nice balance with all
its different outlets. While Jamavar is corporate entertainment heavy, Zen is
much more local, Bangaloreans who have been coming to the hotel since it opened
in 2001. Citrus is more easy going for the new set, the lunch crowd and for
meetings over tea of coffee, Chauhan told us.


“We have all done our bit of experimentation, but to be
honest, we have all realised it's all about basic hoteliering. Stand in the
lobby, meet the person, if you know him, he will come back to you because
everybody values personalisation more than anything else,” Chauhan concluded,
while explaining why the hotel was still such a successful property. 


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