Your last assignment was leisure property Park Hyatt, Goa...
Park Hyatt was a very busy property. We had like 248-odd rooms and it used to do around 80-85 per cent occupancy year-round. Being a leisure property, guests paid for their stays themselves and this can be very demanding. Plus, it was Goa! The average rates during season would go up to Rs 20,000 and off-season, we would be probably around Rs 7,000, though there’s no off-season in Goa anymore. It was a difficult property and a big learning. The experience has made me much more confident.
What made you say yes to Swissotel and Calcutta?
A friend used to be the executive chef so I stayed here when the hotel opened. I loved the hotel because of its freshness. It was not the typical ‘five-star, five-star’ hotel. You could be sitting here in the coffee shop and it could be someone’s living room. There are small nooks that make you feel comfortable.
So when this opportunity came to me, I had mixed feelings. When you return to the city you’re from, it can be a little daunting. Your relatives and old friends are here and on a personal level, I may have thought, ‘Calcutta was never on my mind!’ But then I thought again, ‘This has to be my playing ground. I know the city, I know how it works’. Plus, I am the first Indian general manager of Swissotel so it’s a great opportunity for me to grow the brand properly. If you know the market, it probably gives you an upper hand.
There has been only one Swissotel in India in the last six years...
It’s better to be cautious and grow a brand at a steady pace. Swissotel opened a hotel in Goa but they deflagged it. That says a lot because many international brands just look at footprints. I think that when a brand deflags, the company believes in the brand and a certain positioning.
I think the Swissotel tie-up with Ambuja in India is a great tie-up because Ambuja, again, stands for a lot of values, whether it’s driven by Mr (Harsh) Neotia or the entire group. And I think Marco (Saxer, ex-GM) and his team have done a wonderful job building the brand entity. It’s not easy for a brand that has one hotel in the last six years to have a brand presence.
How do you plan to take the room rates up at Swissotel? The rates had dropped a lot in between...
There is a big difference in the city’s room inventory when we opened compared to now. For example, there was no Novotel present or no Westin coming in. All hotels go through troughs and crests and that panic-selling and dropping-rates phase. Another star hotel launched a seasonal flash which offered rates at 50 per cent off. Yes, guests are going to take advantage of increased supply; we can’t help it. But at the same time, there are guests who are going to pay for the quality and experience.
More than rate management, we are working on yield management, where we try and sell the right room at the right price. If it’s a Jacuzzi room, it has to be sold at the right price. And people have to be sold the idea of a Jacuzzi. We have to be bullish about our rates. We have to stand for the value that we have created.
Are you acquainted with the other star hotel GMs in town?
There is a well-knit GM WhatsApp group so I have connected with all of them. Samrat Datta (Taj Bengal) was my third-year senior and he ragged me, I remember vividly (laughs)! I also remember Ranju Alex (JW Marriott) vividly because her husband is also from the city and I don’t know how many times I had proposed to Ranju in the ragging days for some reason! And then I would get kicked by her boyfriend who is now the husband. I also know Britta Leick-Milde from the Hyatt connect.
SWOT IT
Strength: Personalisation, quality of service and employees, loyal guest base (especially long-stay guests), and a mature ownership that understands the business.
Weakness: We are still a little bit of the boondocks in Calcutta. Rajarhat is growing as a satellite city but it is not a Gurgaon. People still don’t prefer to travel. Also, our F&B needs to create some buzz because room revenue is one thing but the game changer is F&B.
Opportunity: More inventory coming into this part of town shows that there is buoyancy here. The convention centre is a big beacon for us and we are hopeful it will drive business into the city.
Threat: This is a global issue — security and safety concerns.
Age: 43
Graduated from: IHM, Taratala
Family: Punjabi wife Manmeet and daughter Keara, 10.
You read... everything and anything. I want to gift Bong Mom’s Cookbook to my wife because we keep having these tussles about how her mom is and how my mom is. So we want to read that book together. I have started reading Jesus Was In India. I keep going back to Steve Jobs. Non Stop India by Mark Tully, I find extremely easy to read.
Movies are... my obsession. I feel right at home because INOX (City Centre 2) is next door!
Last movie I saw was Kung Fu Panda 3 with my daughter. Because I’m a hotelier I have The Grand Budapest Hotel on my iPad and I’ve watched it at least 10 times.
Last memorable getaway... I drove to Coorg from Hyderabad. I like to drive to places.
In the kitchen... I cook breakfast and lunch every Sunday! Keara decides what she wants and I make it. The last few weeks have been pancakes.
Your dream lunch is... sushi.
Last app you downloaded was... Vivino. You scan the label of the wine bottle and it tells you everything.
Always wanted to be… an architect. I had only one college in mind — School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi, inspired by the movie In Which Annie Gives it Those Ones. I almost got selected too. Then one of my mentors suggested hotel school and I loved it.
In Calcutta, you will eat out at... Nizam’s for Khiri-Kati roll, The Oberoi Grand for nostalgia and I’ve heard a lot about
6 Ballygunge Place.
Karo Christine Kumar
Picture: B. Halder
