<div>“Here’s the irony — a company that we worked for all our lives took 112 years to get to 100 hotels in India. And we want to do the same number in just ten years,” says Partha Chatterjee, Executive Director at Keys Hotels. "Of course, times are different and growth is faster now", he adds hurriedly. <br /><br />Chatterjee is talking about the venerable Taj Hotels, where he and his managing director Sanjay Sethi spent two decades working, before they left to start up Keys for Beggruen Hotels. <br /> <br />For a hotel company that started off in September 2007, Keys has already got a good number of properties signed up to get to the coveted 100 mark – 33 to be precise of which 12 are operational with an inventory of over 1,200 rooms. Funded by Berggruen Holdings, Keys Hotel was seeded to fill the gap that existed in the mid market space. “Bergrgruen wanted to build a hospitality company in the mid-market segment because there was a dearth of quality in mid market,” says Chatterjee, who oversees marketing and business development for the company. Since he was part of the team that had set up Ginger for the Taj group, he was a natural choice.<br /><br /> </div><table width="350" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" border="1" align="right"><tbody><tr><td><img width="350" height="224" src="/image/image_gallery?uuid=02a99617-304d-4eb5-a87b-33d43d08b58b&groupId=36166&t=1373721687811" alt="" /></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Alex Joshi, Partha Chatterjee, Pradeep V - Senior management, Keys Hotels</strong></td></tr></tbody></table><div>But before it started building hotels, Keys did a smart thing – it hired Research International to find out what exactly the modern traveller wanted. “Our biggest USP is that we let you relax in our hotels, because we have built it exactly like you wanted us to build it,” says Chatterjee. It got in brand consultancy Chlorophyll to set the brand strategy and branding standards.<br /><br />“Through our research, we found that customers wanted business centres to be open 24/7 so we made a provision whereby they could open it with their key card. “<br /><br />“We found that business travellers chose a hotel not because it was comfortable to stay there, but it was comfortable to work there. So we made it convenient for them to work by placing ergonomic chairs and tables and providing wi-fi free anywhere in the hotel,” points out Chatterjee.<br /><br />The learnings and insights from the research were plenty. And each time a new need would be thrown up, Chatterjee says they would go back to their architects and give them the list of requirements that people wanted and said use it as a brief to build the hotel.<br /><br />“There are many simple things you will find based on customer insights. Very often guests forget to pack shaving creams and other items. But it’s a nuisance going to shop for those. So we created a dispensing machine which has everything. You use your room key, you swipe it. And whatever you have picked up will be charged to your hotel bill. The convenience of this is what the guest wanted,” says Chatterjee.<br /><br />But didn’t they end up opening Keys during the toughest period – the slowdown years ?<br /><br /> </div><table width="200" cellpadding="1" border="1" align="left"><tbody><tr><td><img width="200" height="265" src="/image/image_gallery?uuid=691e3740-3101-4d99-9e29-5739967755e7&groupId=36166&t=1373722522022" alt="" /></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Vending machine</strong></td></tr></tbody></table><div>Chatterjee admits that the occupancy has been lower than anticipated due to the slowdown and the breakeven target has been pushed back to eight years. But he says they were efficient in building. “See, the biggest thing we did was that the price at which we build our hotels, even at a low occupancy we can break even. Normally, we manage to build our hotels at Rs 30 lakh per key, which is very efficient, considering that we use international standards. “<br /><br />But not only did Keys run into the slowdown period, it also faced intense competition – with many other players entering the mid market fray. So how is it coping with the supply glut?<br /><br />“We are having low occupancy, but I see it going up,” says Chatterjee. And to back his optimism he lays out some figures. “Last year, the government announced that 450 million Indians were travelling. Travelling does not mean staying at hotels necessarily. But this data capture is getting more and more accurate. Earlier, the government could capture only train and air data. But now because of toll roads, you are getting road data too – and the projections are that 600 million Indians would be travelling a year.”<br /><br />Other mid-market chains in India have promised us affordable rooms but lost no time in opportunistically upping the rates whenever demand has risen. Will we see it happening at Keys too? “You won’t see us raising rates from Rs 3,000 to Rs 10,000 – at most we might go from Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000,” says Chatterjee.<br /><br />Chatterjee also points out that Keys for its part is trying to induce demand by promoting Staycations. A concept where people residing in a city check into a hotel in the same city to enjoy a break. “It is very early stages of the trend still. But we are pushing it with a good hub and spoke model. That means a place to stay within four to five hours driving distance from a city,” he says.<br /><br /><br />Chitra(dot)narayanan(at)abp(dot)in<br />chitra (dot) narayanan@gmail.com<br />(at)ndcnn <br /> </div>
_20240705193225_original_image_35.webp)
