At BW HOTELIER’s latest webBlast series, The GM Show, on Missing the Big Fat Indian Wedding – Is small the new big and the revenue shortfall that needs to be picked and how?, hospitality industry experts talked about the relevance of bouncing back on opportunities created after the pandemic

One of the most missed events after the arrival of the pandemic in our lives perhaps was the joy of attending weddings, especially Indian weddings – an example of extravagance, entertainment and exuberance. Ever since the lockdown restrictions have been relaxed, weddings are back, gathering a pool of opportunities and possibilities for hotel businesses out there. The segment is a great boon for the industry in terms of gathering business and it is imperative to harness its potential effectively. 

In the latest webBlast series titled Missing the Big Fat Indian Wedding – Is small the new big and the revenue shortfall that needs to be picked and how?, BW HOTELIER brought together a group of panellists from the hospitality industry to discuss on the topic. The panel witnessed participation of Nitesh Gandhi, Cluster GM Rajasthan, Marriott and GM, JW Marriott Hotel New Delhi Aerocity; Norton Pereira, Area GM and GM, Crown Plaza Today Gurugram; Varun Chhibber, Complex GM, The Leela Ambience Gurugram Hotel & Residences and The Leela Ambience Convention Hotel, Delhi; Puneet Chaudhry, GM, Radisson Blu Hotel New Delhi Paschim Vihar; Rajesh Namby, VP & GM, The Lodhi, New Delhi; Joyjit Chakravorty, GM, Hilton Garden Inn New Delhi, Saket and Satyajeet Krishnan, Area Director – New Delhi & GM, Taj Mahal Hotel, New Delhi, who also acted as the moderator of the session. 

The panellists conversed on the necessity of making weddings an important player in the revenue generation process and then moved on to discuss other related subjects. “I think weddings are as important to the hotels as they are to the guests. In hospitality business, once you do a wedding perfectly, you get multiple referrals. So, one does not require much marketing. Wedding as a segment is here to stay and we make extremely profitable margins due to it,” said Nitesh Gandhi, Cluster GM, Marriott. Expanding on the same thought, Varun Chhibber, Complex GM, The Leela Ambience Gurugram, added, “I have seen occasions when people do a little intimate wedding at home and then keep a big celebration on any convenient date at a hotel. So this is a trend we need to watch out and utilise.” 

In agreement with Chhibber was Puneet Chaudhry, GM, Radisson Blu Hotel New Delhi, who said, “Many brides and grooms purposefully organised their weddings in these Covid-19 times as the pressure of inviting the entire social circle wasn’t there. They could formalise their wedding within their means and saved money.” He added that the demand for the packages was high during the peak of the pandemic. “Guests still preferred to visit five-star hotels as there was a 100 per cent surety that the hotel would look after their health and safety,” he shared. 

Talking about cross-industry tie-ups and offering suppliers a one-stop-shop to offer their services, Joyjit Chakravorty, GM, Hilton Garden Inn New Delhi, said, “Having launched Wedding Diaries by Hilton, we introduced a concierge service to do the RSVP on behalf of the guests. So, I would rather have a band, a baaja and a ghodi as going that extra mile than taking away the fun from the guests or rather bundle them altogether and sell.” 

Tuning in with Chakravorty, Satyajeet Krishnan, Area Director – New Delhi & GM, Taj Mahal Hotel, expressed, “We, at IHCL, have developed a wedding concierge of products and services. As you know, the Tata Group has ventured into certain lifestyle-oriented products. For jewellery, we have Tanishq; for cars, we have Tata Motors and Jaguars. We also have luxury gifting options at Tata Cliq. So, we have this opportunity of tying up and it helps. The concept has worked well for us.” 

Addressing the need of the hour, to come up with solutions by which food wastage at weddings can be stopped, Norton Pereira, Area GM and GM, Crown Plaza Today, Gurugram, said, “We try to educate guests and offer them a bespoke menu. They have begun to understand and we will soon witness a change.”

Talking about tying up with financial institutions and bringing up an EMI concept for weddings like it happens in the white goods and auto sectors, Rajesh Namby, VP & GM, The Lodhi, New Delhi, said, “I did some research and found out that more than 49 per cent weddings got postponed indefinitely, primarily due to the shortage of funds. If you look at it from a banking perspective, taking loans for weddings will probably end up in personal loans for which the interests are not going to be pocket-friendly.” 

The show culminated with Bhuvanesh Raj Khanna, CEO, BW Communities, thanking the esteemed panellists for sharing their thoughts and views on the subject and informing about the next GM Show at 5 pm November 25, 2021 on The Comeback of the MICE.