A new born stands on its own ...

As a new year dawns, we set the path for our people in this open letter which is being shared as an article so it may help many other start ups in the industry should they see value in the thoughts and suggested actions.

“Karmanye Vadhikaraste

Maa Phaleshu Kadachana,

Maa Karma Phala Hetur Bhur

Maa Te Sangostva Akarmani”

From the  Bhagavad Gita – Chapter 2, Sloka 47

Meaning: 

You have the right to perform your actions, but you are not entitled to the fruits of the actions.

Do not let the fruit be the purpose of your actions, and therefore you won’t be attached to not doing your duty.

This sloka has to be divided into four quarters.

1. Karmanye vadhikaraste: you have a right to work only

2. Maa phaleshu kadachana: no right for the fruits thereof.

3. Maa karma phala hetur bhur: let not the fruits be your motive.

4. Maa te sangostva akarmani: let not be attached to inaction.

Dear IntelliZens,

As the curtains draw closed on a challenging 2017, I wish to reach out to you and align our thoughts and actions for the year to come.

2017 has been a year of Maturity. Like a young adult leaving home for the first time, we have had to fend for ourselves. No more pocket money and equity funding to spoon-feed or spoil us. We are beginning to learn how to live within our means. We have to rationalize our spends, earn our salaries, and do the best we can for ourselves from the money we make. We take responsibility for our actions and their consequences and we have no one to call in a crisis.

Certainly, this transition period has its due difficulties where tempers flare and patience wear thin. We have to step back and see the big picture. While it hurts in the short term, the long-term benefits of such independent thinking have far reaching and advantageous outcomes, making us a lean mean operating machine in an industry where profits have traditionally been elusive due to excesses and illogical planning. I think we have crossed such major issues and are left only with small niggles. Kindly keep in mind that while we have 15 hotels operating today and another 10 set to open in the quarter to follow. We have a highly refined portfolio of excellent and sustainable, profitable hotels under three well defined brands. Going forward, the hotels will only get better.

 As we write a new Annual Operating Plan in the coming quarter for FY18-19, I request each one of you to take responsibility for your part of the plan. We are only as strong as each link and if any link gives out, the chain breaks. We will increasingly filter what we sign, growing within each current state to create several 5 -7 hotel clusters in each state each, managed by a responsible and effective Zonal Manager.

 While we propagate our own brands, several global majors have recognized our lean operating model and invited us to offer our 'Operations as a Service' to their franchisees, making us a true service delivery platform for the industry as a whole in India, collaborating with our Peers without conflict. We already offer projects and F&B services to several of our Peers and this is set to grow in the years to come. We have been engaged to master plan and execute a 200 villa project with a central resort over the next 5 years. We will continue to do one major development job a year to give our design and development team a chance to earn their budgets. As a services company, we will put our capacity at the call of like-minded organizations who see value, and are prepared to reward us for our efforts.

 If you see the occupancies for the year, except the new openings and some seasonal/off beat resorts where we package with high rates, we hardly have rooms available to sell. Going forward, our growth will come not only from new hotels but also from non-room revenue of existing hotels and from creating more value in these hotels to justify the growth in ARR. This means that our Design, Branding and Training teams need to work on refining our service and products. Our Marketing teams need to spread awareness of our curation, our Zonal Managers and Hotel managers need to look at untapped sources of revenue such as events, restaurants, ODCs, neighbourhood family engagements, tours and transfers, spas and wellness. Most importantly, our customer facing associates have to create a sense of comfort at our hotels by offering intuitive services with a smile, so that our guests constantly feel attended to. Our guests need to miss us when they stay elsewhere. Let them get so much more value than they pay for, which would be the reason for our existence. Our sales, operations and accounts teams need to focus on recovering our outstanding on time so we can meet our own commitments. There is no one else to do all this. A reality of doing business in India is the ability to chase your own money.

With some minor investments planned this quarter, we should be proud to start April 2018 as a profitable, efficient established management company whose work speaks for itself and whose employees steer the ship with confidence and skill. We have been blessed with investors who have now given us a mandate to do what has never happened before in India and from where I sit, I see some ripples but no storms on our voyage to get there. But even if the weather turns suddenly stormy, I trust this ship and its sailors to navigate rough waters.

 All hands on Deck!

 We were born in perhaps the worst period of Hospitality in India, and as the government and private sectors work on the painful job of making India more travel friendly, we will see the demand outgrow the supply for many years to come in the country. If the last 100 years were powered by North America and Europe, the next 100 years would be powered by India and China and a lot of that is domestic travel. We have a rapidly rising customer demographic available that is unprecedented in history and is ours for the taking. Most of this growth will show in Tier II/III locations in Mid-market/ economy categories and leisure upscale resorts. With I-Stay Hotels, Mango Hotels and Apodis Collection, our brands are perfectly aligned to ride that surge to our objective of being the most admired organization in the Hospitality business in India.

 In Network and revenue, we are already one of the top 3 asset light Hotel companies from India, and based on our repeat business and ratings, we are emerging as a consumer favourite.

 Lastly, please convey my heartfelt thanks to your families, wives, husbands, kids for inadvertently signing up for our tough jobs and low quality time with them during holidays seasons and festivals. I beg them to keep supporting us with the promise that, at some point, we will figure out how to make it up to them all. We have to figure this part out soon.

I will say this that whenever I attend any hospitality summits on behalf of the company, people I have never met walk up to me and compliment our work. I have to believe that we are doing something right. You should all be proud of what you have done but realize that it has only begun. Have a great new year and god bless you all. I'm proud to serve with each and every one of our loyal people and I look forward to finishing the financial year on a High and to making FY 18-19 the year of IntelliStay.