How has the PANDEMIC affected the HOTEL/TOURISM industry? | Sandeep Walia | TBCY
Welcome to another episode of The Brand Called You. A vodcast and podcast show that brings you leadership lessons, knowledge, experience and wisdom from hundreds of successful individuals from around the world. I am your host Ashutosh Garg and today I am delighted to welcome a very very senior hotelier from the middle east and a fellow YPO, Sandeep Walia. Sandeep, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me over. Sandeep is the Chief Operating Officer
of the middle east for Marriott International. He has worked in multiple countries and as I just mentioned, he's a fellow member of the YPO. So Sandeep, let's talk about Marriott and tourism and the top-of-the-line question for everybody is how has the pandemic impacted hotel and tourism? It's a but obvious question and I think somewhere this whole covid has speeded up a lot of things. So, I think the first and foremost is hygiene and cleanliness. We have done a survey, I think about six years back in the luxury space to ask our guests, what's the most important or the top three things you see in a luxury hotel? And to a surprise what came out as number one was cleanliness, as basic as that and I think, this whole covid has just brought that in the forefront that hygiene and cleanliness is the most important. I think, what's become a bit different is today, people like to see
it a bit more measurable, people like to see a bit more visual and I'll just share an example of the fact that, if you're checking into a hotel even if it's a luxury hotel. Today, people like to see the fact that there are pens lying on a tray which are clean and you sign on the reg card and you're leaving it on another tray which says used pens. Now, in the old times, you would say this looks cheesy but in today's times it conveys a sense of hygiene and cleanliness. You find stickers to maintain social distancing even in the best of hotels and that's a prime example of that people want to see the hygiene and cleanliness. So, I think that's kind of been the one. The second I would say is communication that's become even more important, it always was.
But I think, people want reassurance. So, there's a lot of focus we have had at Marriott on pre-arrival communication but also at the check-in as to what's open, what they can do, what they can't do? Setting communication has become a very important part and the last I would say is technology is kind of I mean, here we are talking on zoom and hopefully, we would have been meeting in person. But I mean, today half the things are getting down on zoom or teams but on the same front and technology, I think what we found a guest kind of appreciating is a contactless approach to business. So, for example, if you're a Marriott Bonvoy member,
you can download the app check in on your iPhone itself as you would do in an airport. Setting technologies kind of getting integrated into the industry faster. So I would say these are the kind of things which come. Fascinating and I am a Marriott Bonvoy member and I have tried checking in and it works. So, tell me Sandeep in your current role as the Chief Operating Officer. I've
often wondered Marriott is the biggest chain in the world and you have so many different brands. While on the one side biggest chain gives you the largest market share but so many brands also results in lots of challenges. So my question is how do you manage so many different brands? Yes, a good question but I see brands as strength. So, we have 7,600 hotels across the world and it's about 30 brands that we have.
But I have to say that I think, one side it brings a lot of strength to us because whether there's a luxury brand or a premium brand or a sedec brand. I think every brand has its own niche and its own guests or customers and we are able to capture a wider audience. But to your question, what is the challenge? I would say, I would equate it to a bit like a swimming pool, its different swim lanes and our challenge is that we need to remain if each channel in this swimming pool is one brand, we need to make sure that we remain within that swim lane for each brand. Now, when you go deep
into the water, the water might be getting mixed because end of the day the IT processes or the finance processes are similar between the brands because it's one at Marriott International but on the top the service standards are what the brand stands for whether it's a Ritz Carlton or a Saint Regis, we need to stay true to that and I think, our challenge is that when we travel across the globe and I'm looking at your map behind you right now. We need to remain true to each brand. A courtyard in U.S. should be the same as a courtyard in Asia and so forth. So I think, remaining true to each brand is very important. Very well said and as you look at the past 18 months from your courtyard in the U.S. to your St. Regis and all the other top names that you have. One of the things that people often talk about
is that because of technology which you just spoke about zoom, business travel is going to be taking much more time to pick up. I don't know what your prognosis is? It's a very fair point and I think it's one that one can't shy off but i would say that one has started. It's a bit of a staggered answer or broken up because it really depends on which part of the world you are in. One, I think travel is top become a bit more dependent on vaccinations, number of covid cases which eventually leads to corridors being open or not today. But what's really encouraging is the fact that there is a huge amount of pent up time and we've seen it every time two corridors open to travel. You can see the occupancy is just shooting up and we kind of seeing new markets. So when we look at today, in Dubai we look at UAE,
the highest today demand is actually the domestic market which is the staycation itself and we have 66 hotels in UAE. In fact, in the month of June, we crossed the occupancies of 2019, the ADR was actually higher but it is all led by leisure. So your question is very valid, it's led by leisure but we love to use different words it's called leisure but it's a bit of a blend of business and leisure coming together and it had started actually. It had
started pre-covid where when people travel for business, they would still look at a spa option or F&B options to get some me time and downtime and when they went for leisure, they still looked at the speed of WiFi because they needed to check email. So it had started but it only got accelerated with covid. So people are taking vacations which is kind of spending time with the family, online school happening in one room but then you're doing business as well. So if you're seeing a bit of growth on that piece, the leisure has really exceeded. So it's kind of compensated somewhere on the business piece. And you're right Zoom and Teams are here to stay
but I strongly believe that a few years later, it will not be zoom and teams. We will be back meeting each other. There is no substitute to human connection. Social interaction and actual face-to-face meetings are the only answer to doing business. Absolutely, my glasses are full.
Well said and you said very very correctly about staycations. I find, even here in say in India, the Delhi hotels which have been affected because of no business travel are suddenly seeing people from Agra or people from Jaipur saying, let's go and spend three days in Delhi and stay in all these high-end hotels, so you're absolutely right. But moving on, given your vast experience and traveling all over the world, the more I see and where we are very very ardent travelers but I find now travelers are seeking more experiences rather than a great hotel. I mean, they want a great hotel but they want far more experiences. How are your properties and your brands adapting to this fresh demand? I would say, it is again a demand or a shift from product to experiences. Even when we talk about people you're celebrating your anniversary and instead of buying a gift or a show or a bag for your wife, you might be taking her for a vacation or an experience.
I mean, it's different that when you reach there she might still ask for the bag but let's keep that aside. But I think, somewhere we have moved to experiences and it's only got speeded up. Now, look at us as Marriott, we have 30 brands. We don't own hotels, we own brands. End of the day what's brand? It is our people. So today, if you had to go to a Ritz Carlton somewhere have a great experience, you would say you know, what Ritz Carlton was brilliant and if you come across a person who's had a bad day, an associate or a lady or gentleman and they give you bad service, you're going to say you know somehow Ritz Carlton is not what it used to be. So I think people make the brand and so for us the biggest focus is about training the people we hire and they buying into the story that we need to create experiences or stories for our guests. So when they leave, they're leaving with a story which they're
gonna talk about. So we're finding different ways that how we train them but we also then empower them and I would say further to say, we celebrate them as and when they create stories. So I think that would be one but a lot of this happens at the GM level. So it's the hotel level and you might look at me and say, so what do you do as a COO to create experiences or how does your role translate into this and here I think, it's the focus I feel we need to drive and that's of a balanced scorecard. It's about a focus on our people because they are
the brand, they are our business. A focus on guest satisfaction which today is very measurable. People are very vocal today about whether it's on social media or on the surveys, people want to give feedback. So they're vocal and therefore you can quantify that. So I think, it's the guest experiences and how do we quantify that and of course, one can't forget that you're in here for making money for the owners. So there needs to be a balance between these three and the guests coming at the center of it. I think that is somewhere if I can drive the focus with as I travel to hotels, I feel it's a job well done. So I think that would be the second part but
end of the day, we need to take one hotel at a time, one guest at a time and move forward. So I think, that's the way forward to kind of focus on those experiences. Very well said and I've often had a question in my mind having lived in hotels. There are some outstanding hotels, there are some not so outstanding hotels and I've often been told that this is because of the leader. So, my question to you is what are some of the qualities a good hotel GM should have? For me, I think the most important because you said most important because it's like a long list here but I would say a GM should be an entrepreneur. He needs to or she needs to be
an owner of that hotel. If he or she has the hat of an owner and is ready to do that, I think then you have a good GM for that one time because the end of the day GM is the key to the success of the hotel. Yes, product is important, location is important but the person who drives, the swim lane we spoke about for the brand, the GM drive is a brand. We spoke about service, we said people drive service he or she is a leader who instills that culture so to speak but if GM is treating that hotel or that business as his or her own, he or she would do everything possible to make every guest happy to the extent. The hotels end of the day started long back as INN's and the owner of the house used to welcome you as if you're coming to his or home, cook and so what he or she made. Yes, at the end of this day there was a bill. So if you had to go back from a hotel to in
keeping, I would say to be an entrepreneur would be the most important. Fascinating, so Sandeep for someone who's really worked right up to the top now and running such a large region, what would you say is your leadership style? I would say, it's situational. You can't just have one style fits all kind of an approach. So there are times when you need to be hands-on as a leader, especially if there's a crisis or there's a situation like covid where I needed to get a bit more hands-on and get to it at the beginning and of course, then the different teams take on from there. There are times when you need to be a strategic leader and here I think, it's about the balance. The balance between kind of watching the dance floor so to speak. If your hotels are dance floors and then getting on to the dance floor
and being with the people to my previous point about being hands-on but then again zoning out and looking at the larger pictures I think, this balance is certainly required but I also see that as you grow into the organization and you have larger number of hotels. Somewhere a coaching side of leadership works very well for me because the end of the day you're working through people. Whether you're working through the Vice Presidents or the GM's, end of the day that relationship of trust and transparency and being able to coach the particular leader at a particular time is one of the ways I feel, it's most conducive to the particular situation. But I think the biggest one or the base would also be, we need to get the word right in terms of being a servant leader in sense of being people leader. End of the day, the most important in this business is our associates, our people. I cannot
even think or imagine that I would be meeting all our guests to make a difference to our guest satisfaction. It's our people who touch the different guests, so it's about looking after those people, it's about at a larger scale but also at looking at seeing different leaders or high potential how they are growing and supporting them. It's almost like somebody sent me the elevator to grow or to come up or showed me the staircase. So, sometimes it was fast and sometimes slow but I feel I need to do the same now to send the elevator down to bring more people up or ensure that enough staircases coming up. Setting people or servant leadership is another one which should be the base leadership style. So very situational. Fabulous. So one more question for you before I move to the next segment.
This is the age of the Millennials and the Gen Z's and they're inheriting the world and they're going to take it forward. What has been the impact that the Millennials and Gen Z's are having on the tourism industry as customers? Good question. I would actually say the Millennials and Gen Z by age and by heart because I think, there are enough of us including you and me Ashutosh who by heart are Gen Z. I think there are two pieces to this. One is, the fact that they are even more into experiences than, I was about to say we were but I need to be careful when I say that. But they are even more into looking at experiences versus products. So they were already on the journey well
before covid which ties up with our industry end of the day, so I think it's a good news. I think the second is, a big component is the digital part of it. They're very digital savvy. Everything is on our iPhone which is for all of us but for them I think, it's even more some of us still like to go and give a call to the hotel, give a call to the travel agent or go get on a laptop and kind of get a feel of the hotel and then do it. Whereas, they're more into technology and booking through the iPhone. So that's a big piece and I was
talking about Marriott Bonvoy and today, we have about 153 million members including you who are able to kind of get onto the app. You can book a room, you can see where you're going next, you can put your preferences, you can send a message to the hotel, you could check in, you could use the iPhone as a key to the hotel room. So I think, the technology piece is certainly, a component which is there and something linked to that would be social media which is kind of changing how things work. They're very active on it. They would like to go to the trip advisors or different social media sites to see what the feedback has been from other guests. So I think it's become very active and very live. So technology has been a big change which we are seeing and therefore, our marketing strategies are more obviously online versus more how it used to be or print media how it used to be. So that's changed a lot. Fascinating. So I'm now going to move to the last segment with some questions for you personally. Our
viewers and listeners love to get to know our guests a little more when they hear the conversation. So my first question to you is that someone who spent so much time in the hotel business and who's now at such high levels and I'm sure there's far more coming up for you. What would you say are three key milestones in your life for your career so far? In my career, I would say the first would be joining of hotels itself.
A lot of times you're at an age when you're not sure what you want to do and you're trying in your mind to put the different thoughts that cross your different things that excite you and you hope that all that would come together and you join an industry which you would enjoy for the rest of your life. Today, if you're to ask me, if I had to go back in time and choose what I had to do? I would do this journey all over again. Amazing. So I think somewhere that was my first milestone when I joined this industry and interestingly it's the month of August and it was exactly 25 years back in the month of August that I joined hotels in butler's back in the Oberoi Mumbai. So yes, it's been 25 years, so that that would be one. The second I would say is, when I first became a General Manager.
I was the GM at the Ritz Carlton in Moscow. We were opening the hotel. Going back to my example of being an innkeeper I felt that was my home, that hotel was mine and everybody who walked into the door was coming to my home and had to leave happy. All the people working with me in that hotel were my family and I think, somewhere it was my first baby so to speak. So that's that's one experience or one milestone I can never forget. But I think getting to today, I'm most excited about my current role I've taken over as the Chief Operating Officer from Middle East, Egypt and Turkey. We have 170 hotels in this market and what's exciting is the growth. It's about 100 hotels in the pipeline which if I had to round
off my maps a little bit, it's 60 to our existing portfolio and it's markets that are really doing well whether it's the UAE, it's Qatar, it's Saudi Arabia, it's Egypt or Turkey, all are on a path of growth. So when I look back, the fact that the worst is behind us with covid I look ahead I look at the glass getting more than half full now and the growth coming in. I think, I find this point a very exciting part of my career as well. Amazing. So, we've
got time for one more question but I thought in your silver anniversary month in the hotel business, my question is what would your advice be to a young individual starting off on her or his career in the travel and tourism business? Good question. I would say, it would be about consistency and passion. There is a lot of hard work in this industry, it's long hours and it's very easy to kind of stay at the top and ensure that you're doing whether you're in the kitchen or service or housekeeping to start with but a lot of times it can get tiring and the consistency can come down or your energy levels or your enthusiasm or your love for the industry to keep everything very consistent of your values is very important and the second is to stay very passionate about what you're doing and I'll try to because it's a very broad term this being passion and we often use it saying, be passionate about this or stay passionate. I kind of give this example of a train. So when you take a hot water, you boil it at 99 degrees. It's hot water, I mean if you put your hands into it you're going to burn your hands. You heat for one more degree, it's going to become 100 degrees and then it's steam and I think, at least when both of us had more black hair, trains were run on steam. So that's the power of steam and all it took was at one
degree more and I think that's passion but I think the youngsters need to keep finding their passion as to what is that one thing they're gonna do every day, every week, every month. What is it one thing that they're going to do at work which can make a difference. One guest more they're going to look after, the one book more they're going to read. If we can
all continue to do that one degree in everything we do I think, that's passion and that can truly if consistently kept to my first point for sure is a story to success. Fabulous. Sandeep, thank you so much. It's been such a pleasure and privilege speaking to you. Thank you for taking me down this journey of the travel business. I mean, I've just loved the examples you've given of branding through a swimming pool, for example. I mean, these are things that I'll probably remember for a long-long time. Thank you again and good luck. Thank you so much.
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2021-09-04 23:44
