Indian Hospitality Industry 15

 

Over the years as an hotelier I have harbored a belief that our biggest strength lies in our ability to transform basic raw material into delicious and unique Indian food, both in terms of appearances, taste and keeping all the nutritional values preserved. The wizardry of our chefs of yester years has been of unmatched levels; the food they made can safely be termed as ‘Ambrosia’, coming even near to which the best of the chefs can only dream today.

Those were the days when flavors were influenced by the location, spices. What they produced both veg/non veg, changed every 100 miles. Our cooks were influenced by the temple food, appeasement food for the kings and Nawabs and even poverty became a good reason for creativity and improvisation. But unfortunately, since last 10 or 15 years our chefs have stopped evolving.

 Back in sixties the first breed of Indian chefs started emerging with the growth of Indian restaurants in major cities. New breed of chefs may not have been excellent, but the quality of food they produced in those times was truly authentic, delicious and standardized.

Those amazing chefs with no degrees or diplomas gave us Gushtaba / Rishta, a soufflé of meat from Kashmir, Tandoori Chicken, Butter Chicken from Delhi, Kakori &  Galouti Kababs from Avadh, Temple food from Orissa, amazing selection of sweet from Bengal, Gujrati Farsans, Maharashtrian spicy cuisine to relish, South Indian wonder food of Idly and Dosa, Appam and Avial, plus a huge variety  of Veg and Non Veg dishes from traditional Chettinad cuisine of Tamil Naidu, Malabar Parantha with Kerala Beef curry and best of Hyderabadi Biryanis to die for, in the process, this pursuit of excellence established our food identity.

Then we saw the emergence of a new era of professionally qualified chefs during 1970/80, and then what happened?

I distinctly recall the entry of chefs qualified from catering college joining the Industry. Hungry for knowledge, they worked hard to learn, but very few concentrated on Indian cuisine. Eighties and Nineties saw this new breed of chefs establishing themselves                                      as continental chefs. But very few tried to venture into Indian food. We were still dependent on traditional chefs who were in short supply, as most of the good ones were going out of the country. All of a sudden there was extreme shortage, and so all hotel chains took a decision to increase the salaries of chefs and cooks practicing Indian cuisine by nearly 60/70% to charm them to stay back in India. Although this didn’t stop the migration but to full fill the demand a large number of hotel graduates started joining Indian kitchen. We the senior managers were very happy with the changing trends. We felt that finally the good quality Indian food is about to make a comeback. What really happened was simply unbelievable.

On the 1^st of January 1990 I was transferred back to Delhi from Centaur Srinagar as Area GM for Centaur in Delhi. Centaur Delhi was the real hotspot of trouble with unions dictating the management. It took couple months of hard work and man management to brings the affaires under control. Business started booming, restaurants took off. We had this Indian restaurant called Rasoi, which was under Sous Chef Rattan Singh Mehta and Chef Munir. The Rasoi was an outstanding concept and was considered only second to famous the Bukhara. Rasoi was selected by Air India to present the Rasoi Food on all important international flights. Team of chefs were sent to Mumbai ChefAir for preparation of Indian Food. Air India also wanted educated senior chef to travel as Ambassador of this famous Restaurant and explain to VIP passengers on board, about the food. Due to work load we couldn’t send Sr. chefs from Delhi, I requested my MD to send some one from Centaur Juhu and he deputed one young chef with some knowledge of Indian Food as he was good in presenting and talking. This ability of his made ideal choice for one passenger, TV Producer traveling on one of the flight and chef was selected to first cooking TV show, rest was the history. Today he is one of the richest Chef and Restaurateur, and a famous TV celebrity but rather a mediocre chef.

The reason why I mentioned this story, is  to put on record how and why the deterioration of Indian food started. After the success of this below average show, every chef wanted to be a celebrity TV chef, for they felt if he can succeed regardless of intricate knowledge and delicate accents of Indian food so can we or anybody. Next few years we saw over two dozen chefs becoming TV chefs, and most of them bastardizing the ‘Good Indian food’ in the  name of fusion/new era food – simply because of the absence of their inadequate knowledge of authentic Indian recipes’

Thanks to social media platforms, that has grabbed the attention of one and all alike, and has trivialized humans and their professional skills to divert the focus on the glitz and glamour of the medium. The chefs have succumbed to the lures of instant fame and loads of money that comes with it. Their avarice has altered their mind and priorities, the professional excellence have been compromised. Amidst this paradigm shift the connoisseurs have been deprived of good quality Indian food. We have over fifty Moti Mahals’ but except for one or two, they can’t produce the same food which made them famous. Earlier nearly all Hotels maintained a second restaurant as pure Indian Restaurant. Now all that is changing because Indian cuisine is not doing well any more. In Delhi we can count good Indian Restaurants in Hotel on our fingertips - Bukhara, DumPukht in ITC, Varq in Taj Mansingh and Dhaba in Claridge’s in over 70 Hotels in NCR. Similarly, the number of good free standing restaurants has also come down substantially - Like Indian Accent, Chor Bizarre, Lazeez Affaire, Gulati and only one Moti Mahal at Greater Kailash. The sprinklings of the other restaurants here and there are not worth a mention in terms of quality, authenticity and presentation. Most of the new restaurants are serving Indian food that is heavily compromised in terms of skill, ingredients and processes but are very high on spices, chilies and excessive oil. All this has resulted in the fact that a large number of guest end up with food poisoning primarily due to stale curries.

Today world renowned dishes have been meddled, fiddled and tinkered to a point that the authentic versions lie buried in the pages of history forever. Few examples are ‘Ma ki dal’ a staple that has lost its original flavor and taste- what you get to taste is more of cream, butter and tomatoes to enhance the taste – whereas for ‘Authentic Ma Ki Dal, you will have travel to Amritsar’s famous Kaiser Da Dhaba. Butter Chicken is prepared with onions and spices, whereas authentic recipe had only tomatoes, butter, cream and white pepper and the flavors of cooked marinate married to the flavors of tandoori chicken made this dish what it was, but today there no difference between Butter Chicken and Chicken Tikka Masala in most of the restaurants. One of the famous chefs and a renowned food critic used to make Chicken Tikka Masala with tomato soup. Same distortion I have seen in case of Dosa, an Omelet and all curries regardless of ingredients look greasy/oily. It’s a fact, that today more and more people get sick eating Indian curries than any other cuisine. Delhi Belly is a direct result of this new age cooking phenomenon that establishes the fact, that inadequate knowledge is dangerous thing. Indian restaurants are slowly contributing to their own decline and one of the reasons is the deteriorating standards of commercialized demonstration / teaching of various foods via dedicated programs on media channels. On other hand where the HALWAI shops use to do pittance of food business till late eighties are major grossers today, each outlet is serving over 800 to 2000 guests and are providing very basic food that is fresh like e.g. Thalli, Chana Bhatura, Dosa/Uthappam in their authentic form & no fusion and they are ruling the ‘Restaurant Industry’ to become the most profitable food business chains in the country.

There are many reasons for the decline of Indian food served in the restaurant Industry. Some of them I like to highlight;

·      Since I remember even in fifties we served and presented the food we eat is the same way, as we do today. Same table cloth or placemat with silver style service and food brought to table in big bowls, today, sadly enough, only contents in the bowl has changed. In last fifty years food recipes, style of services has changed all over the world. No other food in restaurants is prepared in advance and served later, apart from Indian. If you are ordering Chinese, Continental, Mexican or even fast food is not precooked anywhere in the world. Food is prepared when the order is placed and served fresh, which is not the case of  Indian food - we refuse to grow with time. On the contrary in India even McDonald and Burger King are compromising their food standards and sell nearly 60% of their food which has a life span of 10 minutes, precooked and stored in their heated bins.

·      Fusion gone wrong. World wide fusion in food was introduced to enhance the food flavors, taste and appearance. Unfortunately, we never understood the depth of flavors of original recipes and started looking for instant flavors and taste and started using chemicals like Monosodium glutamate, Tomato Ketchup etc., to improve flavors and thus started the decline. I will be the last person to condemn fusion, but it has to be undertaken by people who fully understand and respect the importance of our heritage cuisine.

·      In seventies and eighties when we tried to develop management trainees’ fresh from catering college as ‘Kitchen Chefs’ after training, this fresh breed of chefs with limited experience of two years were suddenly exposed to the glory, glamour and opportunities in the international food branches such as; Continental, Chinese, Thai or Italian. While working they got a chance to enhance their knowledge and experience with years of dedication and hard work. Whereas on other hand, these young chefs of the Indian food branch became fully qualified just after two years of training and became celebrities in just a few years. All this resulted in a great shortage of experienced chefs. The sad part is that even the best and most successful of them cannot produce delectable food when compared to those unqualified but experienced good cooks.

·      It is not that we only have those fly by night TV chefs who cook for special effects. There
are some great Chefs as well, with tremendous experience and productions skills. Such as Vikas Khanna, Ranveer Singh Brar, Manjit Singh Gill, Manish Malhotra, Veenit Bhatia and upcoming Kunal Kapoor. I bow before them and if you ask them, most probably they still say that they are student of Indian cuisine and are still learning. I really hope that people like them will influence the future of Indian food and not TV’s bubblegum super chefs.

Lastly, I must narrate an interesting story of Indian food decline. One of the finest chef India produced is Imtiaz Qureshi, father of Mughlai and Awadhi cuisine. While working with ITC he must have seen dozens of mediocre qualified chefs getting elevated with limited experience and knowledge. Realizing the opportunity he started promoting his family member as Indian Mughlai Chef. Story is that nearly every member his family irrespective of his earlier profession(butcher/painter/tailor) is today working as Indian chef in various Restaurants’ and Hotels  and funnily producing better food then qualified chefs, all over the world.

What we can do to stop the decline in the standards of Indian food?

We all would love to see more Indian restaurants servicing authentic Indian food. If you feel like eating delicious basic Chicken Curry or Mutter Paneer or even basic yellow Tarka Dal- can you name two to three good Indian restaurants near you? No. Indian food is our food, we grew up on this, and unfortunately today we have to struggle to get this food for us or our family.

I think time has come to change with time, try to produce fresh food for each guest similar to Chinese, Italian or Continental cuisines. I am sure we need to research and modify our methodology of cooking without compromising the quality, taste and flavor – And Believe me it’s not rocket science! Best Wishes.

My salute to these ‘Amazing Chefs’, as I bow to their commitment and skills with gratitude, needless to mention that I will remain a humble witness to their contribution and devotion in keeping the traditions of  Indian Culinary Art alive and singing.

All these chefs are celebrities in their own right. Out of these, two chefs need a special mention Late. Pradeep Arora and Atul Mathur. Although I have worked with lots and lots of Chefs but these two were always my inspiration and I must mention that if the fate had been kind to them they had potential to be among the finest chefs in India.

 Written by Anil Chak and Virat Varma

 

 

 

Indian Hospitality Industry 14

ALL WHAT I WROTE IN MY EARLIER BLOGS WAS ALMOST NEARLY PROPHETIC! 

Today we are going through an unprecedented boom in the hotel and restaurant industry and surprisingly enough without the contribution of international corporate business or In-bound tourism. Hotels are posting peak level performance and business is all time high. All Hotels within the city limits are doing exceptionally well because of high revenue from food and beverage business, high occupancy rate and especially residential weddings. Apparently they are out to make up for the three years of low business in next six months and most probably they will. 

I like to contradict those reputed ‘Financial Pundits’ who were busy forecasting the ‘Financial Doom’ for our country in next few months or maybe even worse than the present disaster  of Sri Lanka or Pakistan. I guess the Indian economy is back on track of recovery. Today our outbound tourism in India might be one of the highest in the world travel despite the obnoxious prices. 

As a part of the new post COVID TREND majority of business is being generated by Grand Banquets Business which is the most lucrative segment for hotels today, and for next one year this business slot will not only decide food rates, but room rates as well. On an average, in North India before COVID, the Hotels were selling rooms for banquets at Rs.4000-6000 are today they are demanding anywhere from Rs. 8000 to 17000 and are being booked at this price. Similarly the banquet rates which were Rs. 2000 plus/per head, are now charging anywhere between Rs. 3500 to Rs 4500 per person, thereby posting 100% growth in selling price. 

At this rate, do we start wondering that? 

·       What will happen to our Hotel industry when International inbound traffic starts with same volume as I t was during the Pre COVID 19 era?

·       Will Hotels consider improvement of their deteriorating food and service issues?

·       Airports both domestic and International in all major cities are already having problems managing the daily traffic  and are almost chocked, what lies  in store for country's arrival/ departure which is already has low reputation, will the Government do something to improve the service remains to be seen.

·       How long it will last? Is there possibility of a new COVID-19 revival? Or a new Pandemic? 

With little experience I have about the hotel Industry, the boom will escalate in days to come. But taking into account the deteriorating service standards, poor quality of food due to shortage of good chefs and higher charges, even in top hotels, it is just a matter of time when few smart Hotel Chains and independent banquet halls including free standing restaurants are likely to steal  the opportunity and take away the lion’s share of this boom. To prove my point, I will site few examples/ experiences; 

1.         Top International Hotelier stayed in a Leela Chanakyapuri upmarket Hotel property in Delhi had horrific experience in this very expensive Hotel and when he tried to contact GM and Director to his shock they attitude was take it or leave it.

2.        We along with six friends went to The Oberoi Hotel, Delhi for coffee and bakery in their famous Pastry Shop. They refuse to accommodate six people together on one table and we had to go to 360 for Tea/Coffee. Although staff though scanty was polite but very poor service and too many apologies by the manager, to me this was a shocking experience in one of the most prestige’s restaurant in Delhi.

3.        In 5 Star Hotel chains, use of disposable cutlery on regular basis for Rs. 750/- coffee cup or Buffet Lunch priced at Rs.2000 ++, was a disgraceful sight.

4.        Most of the Hotels are short of trained staff and that shows in every Coffee shop, room service, housekeeping service. There is total lack of coordination which you notice from F&B outlets, room related Services, check in- check out and so on. The problem has been noticing in nearly all Hotels and sad part is no one is doing anything about it.

5.        Went for meeting at Max Hospital. They ordered sandwiches and beverages from canteen, the sandwiches served were soft moist and very tasty, Fresh lime soda very refreshing. Then they took us out for buffet lunch to ITC Sheraton Saket and that was an eye opener, poor buffet menu, substandard quality of very limited food on the buffet table rather rude kitchen staff, when we asked for something to make fresh, they firmly said not possible. ITC’s Sheraton Hotel’s overpriced buffet spread  was substandard in quality, taste, presentation and service. 

6.        I am sure all of you must be having similar stories of worsening food and service standards in over priced Hotels-post COVID 19   

 I can say without any hesitation, that as an hotelier or even as a person regularly frequenting quality Hotels and Restaurants, I have been experiencing the worsening standards of hotel industry services. Isn’t this a uniquely discordant situation? That on one side, after a long time we are about to witness one of the most unprecedented boom in Indian Hospitality Industry and  on the other we have gone complacent and are not enthusiastic enough or are ready to receive it in a manner it should be welcomed – what a mentality. Although, I am happy for the Industry, but with kind of infrastructure and services we are providing! The question is, will we be able to sustain the boom time and make profit, when it finally descends on the Indian market? And that’s the question I want my hotelier friends to answer.

In my opinion, first we need to appreciate the fact that there are issues and problems, and the business will be generated, not because of what you will provide,  but because of the fact that the dormant market demand  is about to be unleashed after Corona-19 despite  the high cost of domestic and international travel. This new found market condition will require much more than just available resource with the hotels, care-a-damn attitude towards the guest will neither yield long term results nor add to the credibility.

I feel that the ownership and the hotel chains must learn from the present situation and I can bet, whoever corrects the situation fast will become the new leader in their segment.

My recommendations are: 

·        Get honest feedback about shortcomings of your Hotel through internal/ external sources or mystery customer program. 

·           Hire best trainers to prepare a strong training schedule and follow them strictly. 

·           Review your service standards as per your Rates and implement them without fail 24x7xc365 

·           Hire more trained staff and train them again, and again them to suit your requirement and then only put them in operation under supervision. 

·           Quality of food needs a thorough a major overhaul. Menus planning needs revamping. 

·           Need to bring genuine quality in food and service to justify high charges. 

·           Bring back a sense of belonging among staff – Remember that the most important tool with any management is, ‘The Manpower’.  

WRITTEN BY ANIL CHAK & VIRAT VARMA

Indian Hospitality Industry 13

During the onslaught of COVID 19 the Hospitality staff was  at the mercy of avaricious owners who were the likes of ‘Shylock’ in famous Shakespeare’s play 'The Merchant of Venice' , for a long span of 18 months the service industry primary asset was subjected to hardships beyond comprehension.

I joined Indian Hospitality Industry in Mid 1974, as a management trainee, since then I have worked or have been associated with about 50 Hotels , including 60/70 catering and food outlets, not taking into account my earlier experience in Lebanon, Cypress, Sweden and United Kingdom. I have worked with thousands of Hospitality workers, managers and have interacted with large number of owners in India. One thing which I will always remember as a Hospitality Manager that, the most important person for me and the owner is not the ‘Guest’, but the staff who serves those Guests , it’s the staff which brings tall the facets of the hospitality to life as they are responsible to provide various  services and  including  food. But surprisingly enough the owners have conveniently ignored their basics when Covid-19 crisis stuck the world. They also forgot that these are the same people who worked hard and earned for them their millions, and unique position in the society.

I dedicate this blog those millions of Indian Hospitality workers, who had suffered during last 18 months of catastrophe of mind-boggling proportions. Although - seemingly we are at the fag-end of the pandemic, but the damage and agony it has caused, will take long time to heal and restore the confidence in the owner/staff relationship – for those who are not familiar with  what happened to the staff of Hotels and restaurants, let me try and recreate their plight;

·         The Hotel Industry started experiencing the Impact of COVID 19 during mid-February 2020, which was the peak of season and Hotels, restaurants were booming with clients and business - just two months short of the ‘off season’.

·         Everyone thought this crisis will be over before end of summer and we will be back in business with bang September /October. But majority of owner found great ‘opportunity in calamity ‘and in addition the 26^th March lockdown came as a boon, as though ‘shylocks’ / owners were waiting for this, majority of the staff was not paid salary till August/ September, when they started opening  the Hotels for domestic / Government business even then staff was not paid full salary. Some Hotels paid 50% of salary and some paid one third. In some cases senior staff including GMs’ were either paid pittance or were offered ‘handshakes’ of the sorts.

·      Management became mean and selfish to a level where the staff was not paid even their ESI, PF and other dues. Consequently the greed of the top management brought about mild to intense exodus of approximately 32 million wage earners involved with the Hospitality Industry, as they helplessly decided to migrate to their villages /small towns for survival and a square meal.

·         I have been in the Indian hospitality industry for over five decades; I have never seen such a cruel joke played by our Industry of which we were so proud. All our lives as young manager, we were told by management pundits that most valuable asset we have is the manpower. They are the real earners; they are responsible for our success and failure and so on. We forgot all about the billions/billions of Rupees we made in last few years was the result of their hard work. We forgot as Hoteliers that  once upon a time we devised many systems of staff welfare e.g. PF health Insurance, welfare funds and so on, but when these poor people needed our support in the most critical times we turn a Nelson’s Eye towards their plight and backed out. Even majority of Management companies chose to keep their eyes closed and let the ownership go ahead and do what they want with the staff. Sadly more International chains were part this ruthless design.

·         I had an opportunity to talk to over a dozen of prominent HR Directors and they all confirmed of this dreadful act. They also confirmed that all the suggestions for these actions were brain child of senior managers’ - who wanted to save their job. Alas! Interestingly enough nearly all of them had to bear the brunt of their own design, as many lost their jobs or their feathers were clipped and those who survived were asked to work on 35% of the wages as a condition.

·         Important question is where was the Tourism Ministry? Labor Officers? Well they were there but totally ineffective and were a liability to the business. What about the so called welfare associations? Unfortunately, in India all association, government bodies are more for their own welfare - not the Industry. Even today the high handedness of individual owners continues, with no relief to those hard working employees. I fear millions of Rupees belonging to hundreds and thousands of employees are not only forgotten by owners but also those welfare agencies as well, whose job is to make sure that the Hotels are taking care of all the aspects of Industry and employees in good faith and due-diligence Being part of glamorous industry we all had to pay the price for total neglect.

·         Most important part of this episode is that ‘what impact will be there on our future’ - if any? Or whether this action will help our Hotels/Restaurants to recover sooner than later.

·         No and not really. If you had read my earlier Blogs on Covid-19, you must have noticed that, I predicted a massive boom in our industry – at that point in time this inference was empirical and today that is happening even when country has not opened  up to  international traffic. Today Hotels are doing well in domestic tourism a reality will hit hotels after 15 November when International travel opens up. At present with only domestic travel open, the hotels are nearly full and F&B is booming. But each Hotel and even restaurants are suffering due to shortage of trained/ skilled manpower. These days – not surprisingly the hotel chains like The Oberoi /Hyatt/ ITC / Taj Mahal / Marriott’s who never entertained walk-in candidates are accepting them willingly with open arms. All brands of Hotels are advertising on LinkedIn, and this is just start of boom time. Just imagine what will happen when Hospitality industry blooms once again and economy prospers.

·         With Industry needing more Hotels, F&B outlets, we all will feel the heat of the dearth of qualified staff. The greed of individual ownership has already created insecurity and unfaithfulness among the staff. In addition this is likely to result in the rise wage  bills and establishment cost under various heads, not ignoring the labor troubles as a domino effect of the strategic ‘faux pas’ by high & mighty.

 

Written By Virat Varma & Anil Chak

Indian Hospitality Industry 12

 I returned to India on the 5th of February 2021, after being stuck  in America for eleven long months due to COVID 19 pandemic, but was sort of relieved with somewhat promising situation here in India. The airport was well organized with equally disciplined atmosphere. Coming to India was also quite motivating because, seemingly, the situation was in control. The excitement of coming home, meeting my sisters and their families, including friends; the whole affair was quite eventful. At that time the COVID-19 numbers were fewer and we saw that Malls were fully functional and were buzzing with activity. The restaurants were doing reasonably good business and I was informed that NCR Hotels were doing nearly 55-60% occupancy. Super Markets were doing good business; even retail stores were picking up the business steadily. I was happy that all was going on as I had expected and that thing we’re really looking up.

Then, as time passed, bit by bit I started noticing carelessness everywhere, both among people and in business premises. Here are some examples of insensitivity and lack of awareness of the dormant COVID 19.

1.      The Super Markets were operating with almost full staff.  When customers pointed out to the managers at the big stores like Big Bazaar, Spencer etc., they were told that these (floor helps) men were provided by suppliers at no cost to them. On closer inquiry it was revealed that they were untrained and unqualified raw young boys who not only knew nothing of COVID 19 protection but were also very casual and nonchalant in their attitude. All these stores had dismal staff as they were trying save some money by hiring cheap representatives to manage the floor. What a mentality

2.      Now let’s talk about our Industry. The Restaurants, especially fast food outlets were boasting of COVID protocol and declared that they were going by the book. Whereas, international chains like McDonald/Burger King/Pizza King outlets had very congested seating arrangement, the outlet in the mall on MG road one could see 45/50 people were seated in an area of not more then 160-70 sq. ft. Indian fast food joints like Haldiram/Bikaner were also squeeze in guests like never before and were running full strength with little or no precautions by their staff or their guests. The situation was quite the same almost everywhere.

3.      Hotels were bursting in their seams. Although they started cautiously, but later on to attract domestic business, they floated cheap Hotel stay packages, which was a good move to increase revenue. Then came the wedding season with full force, and they started flouting all rules with no holds barred. Earlier on, the hotels which used to provide accommodation to International traveler, were now perceived as the safest option by COVID- 19 positive guests looking for hotels and by February/March 2020 as the tourist traffic increased, their new found enthusiasm and confidence made them compromise the COVID 19 safety guidelines.

Thus hotels became one of the biggest catalysts in accelerating the covid-19 virus, additionally the marriage season made it free for all. All hotels in Delhi and NCR were jam packed, their dining halls were over booked for breakfast and dinner which led to crowding and what followed is anybody’s guess.

 We can certainly blame the government policy, but we were the educated lot and were all part of the star class hotels - where was our wisdom.  During this period, the resort hotels were doing well, and so even the city Hotels started modifying their properties to offer resort-like services e.g. Swimming Pools, Health Club and Spa and all were fully packed, even in the lobbies of most of the hotels one could witness large crowds moving freely in their swimming pool attire.

It is important for me to site few definite examples for record;

·          A friend of mine from Hong Kong who moved to USA when the pandemic started, stayed with his family for over eight months in New York, Minneapolis and San Francisco in Hotels, and then moved to Dubai for few months on business. He visited Delhi early March 21, for a meeting and I booked him in Westin, Gurugram. We met for a meeting at 11 am. Sitting in their very large lobby having discussions wearing our double masks, soon I started noticing large crowd, some of them in their swimming costume and towels but no mask. Then we saw some crowd, all properly dressed up gathering in the well of lobby close to us, and majority of them were not wearing masks. As the numbers increased, we got worried and started complaining, and requested the staff to urge them to at least follow the basic  COVID-19 protection guidelines, like mask and social distancing of minimum six feet from each other, but no one listened, which goes to prove that we are educated and obstinate fools. Then I asked for the senior manager, who refused to meet us. One of the lobby mangers finally informed that they will not say anything that may annoy the guests. We were left with no option but to walk out on our own. Even my friend staying there for at least a week checked out immediately and went to a secluded Hotel in Delhi. This was the situation every day, which was later confirmed by one of their staffers.

·    It was clear that for those two/ three months one could not visit any of the Hotels either on weekends or on holidays, because their Restaurants were sold out and all the advisory of social distancing etc. were tossed out of the window. As a regular in few of the Hotels, the staff who knew us well clearly told us that this was as per the instructions of the management. It is difficult to figure out, who is to blame - the brand or the ownership or maybe both.

·       All the hotel restaurants started with Ala Carte menu, but as the numbers increased, they switched to Buffet service for all meals. It is common knowledge that Buffet is considered a major spreader, but in order to control the labor and non-availability of fully trained staff - which could result in complaints - the hotel chains opted for an easy way out and Buffet, was certainly an easy way out. This move could be a secondary factor that that might have contributed to the surge in COVID-19 cases in various cities.

4.     Biggest of all fears - which became reality- was the wedding season or the  ‘Saya Dates’. These dates were total 50 in number. According to the Industry estimates tens of thousands of marriages took place in Delhi & NCR with majority of them in various Hotels and Banquet Hall. Each wedding had over 200 Pax in each function, and all these functions were mostly without mask, leave alone social distancing. Simple arithmetic will confirm that over Fifty to Sixty lakh people only in NCR attended these marriage parties and were exposed to the possibility of catching or spreading the COVID-19 virus and then we blame the pandemic for second wave! Unfortunately quite the same was happening in all major cities across the country.

5.    Above picture gives us a clear view of negligence and nonchalant attitude towards all aspects of the functioning of Hospitality Industry. Even today- when the industry is in trouble - there is no visible introspection for course correction. Let’s consider one aspect i.e. The Man Power;

·        Research tells us that on an average 50 to 60 % of manpower at hotels and food outlets were down with covid-19 at one point in time or another.

·           Our biggest wealth of any hotel is the trained staff that runs the operations. During the first lockdown we got rid of the trained staff, in other word, the staffs with high salaries were eased out and when the market started opening up, we didn’t bring them back but hired untrained and inexperienced low cost staff. When business started picking, they became a liability and a cause of mismanagement. Another thing to note is that almost all hotels, not only dumped the high salaried staff, but also slashed the salaries of remaining staff by half

·    All the hotels participating in COVID-19 quarantine program were trained to take all precaution to protect their guests and themselves from possible infection. They did this job well. But they forgot all the training and COVID-19 precautions when the Hotels started opening for direct business. Important and very basic instructions like social distancing and removal of mask only for eating were not followed plus the banqueting was free for all.

·       We also need to ask ourselves, ‘what efforts have we made to work in new ‘COVID-19’ environment?’ the answer is NONE – period. Businesses worldwide which did not adopt the new COVID-19 centric conduct and/or environment have had to face their doom and that is the reality. It is also true that business houses that made adjustment, changed strategies and aligned themselves to COVID-19 protocol  have not only survived but are the new millionaires. Back home, due to our myopic vision we have neither made any efforts nor have invested our time and/or money to meet the new challenges.

·         Hotels in India have always scored on F&B. On an average every Hotel has minimum of two restaurants plus coffee lounge and a Bar. These outlets used to contribute minimum of 30% of the total revenue which at times went up to even 60%. But today all of these outlets are in serious trouble. Thousands & thousands of employees are out of job. The industry needs to evolve and innovate to make sure their clients get their favorite cuisines at home through, maybe a Drive-Inn or a home delivery system or any other way at a reasonable price. But just the opposite is happening all around.

·           Restaurants are in the worse situation. Some who are doing well they should thank Zomato and Swiggy for their survival. These two companies have done more then all our restaurant industry put together including international fast food chains. Surprisingly enough we do not have even one single Drive-Inn or a Curbside Restaurant. Once again our entrepreneurs missed the bus - quite typical of us. We happily let the likes of Zomato or Swiggy become millionaires as they write their own success story, while we continue to blame the Government or God. Just for our information, the fast food chains like Chic Fillet, McDonald or Burger King outlets in the USA have doubled their revenue during COVID-19 lockdown. They modified the pickup strategy, designed new restaurants and others followed; we saw long queues of cars in nearly all outlets. During COVID-19 even countries like USA saw more job opportunities in food industry. What has happened to us, why are we paralyzed? Why can’t we confront COVID-19 with all our intelligence?

      Furthermore, in the past - more often than not - the standard practice to tide over any business crisis and recover the losses has been to increase the charges. People’s misery has always been en-cashed because it presents an opportunity to rip off the guests, charge whatever at will.  Whereas, common sense tells us to cut down the rates to encourage sales and increase the volume of turnover - especially when the industry was struggling to save on the manpower cost  by reducing salaries, cut air-conditioning bills and so on. Despite all these measures, we still seem to be in trouble – I think the problem is in the mind – As a nation we are petty minded and cunning lot, looking for short term gains.

      Yes! I agree that the administration both local and /or central, our societies and associations also failed us miserably. They completely ignored the blatant flouting of COVID-19 protocol; alongside there was total misuse of authority by hotel and restaurant staff at all levels. Whereas on the contrary under the circumstances, constant monitoring of all sensitive services should have been built-in the daily schedule of events. All said and done there is no justification for all the damage that was done to our industry in the country be it  due to ignorance or attitude – at best it was ‘Hara-Kiri’.

 After what has happened, no one wants to take the blame on behalf of the hospitality industry or country’s fate. The fact remains that after setting the house on fire, we are trying to find a scapegoat. Now as the situation is limping back to normal and seems to be a little under control, we expect some sort of miracle to occur and expect that within few weeks, the businesses will start opening up. Like Navin Berry wrote in Destination India on 17^th May, 21;

   “ As we look ahead to open our industry again, we must be cautious in how we portray ourselves as an industry: we must be seen as caring, sensitive and emerge as the first line of defense against the virus. And, we should not go aggressive in raising tariffs that may look like profiteering!”

Now, as we prepare to open up once again there is a need to critically examine our mistakes in the past, incorporate the strategies which are formulated by the government agencies and various hotel associations to open up/restart the property or a F&B outlet. Furthermore, in order to make sure that we enter the market with redoubled confidence and are better equipped to ensure optimal protection and safety of our guests and staff.

       I am placing below some of my recommendations;

1.      Enhance Safety and protection for staff

a.      Create staff security bubble of protection, by providing in house accommodation.

b.      New staff joining must be subject clearance of COVID-19 test.

      2.      Enhance Safety & protection for Guests

a.      Follow UAE procedure, all guest must be subject to COVID-19 test before they are allowed to move around.

b.      Limit Housekeeping service by request only.

c.       Guest Room occupied by the same guest over multiple days, should not be cleaned daily, unless requested. 

d.      Provide Guest with Guest Safety Checklist for protection.

3.      Evolve a ‘Revenue Generation’ Policy

a.      Promote Sales & Marketing over platforms of digital  Apps’ with e.g. Douyin, WeChat, Taobao, Weibo etc.

b.      To increase conference business, promote Live Streaming of conferences to replace face to face meeting.

4.      Remodel all F&B outlets including Standalone Restaurants.

Plus exploit all other revenue generation areas

a.      Design innovative services, seating, take away system, delivery and pick up orders

b.      New concept, safe surety operation based on social distancing

5.      Incorporate latest COVID-19 Centric technologies

a.      For check-Ins’ and F&B access introduce Face Recognition devices

 with AI temperature displays.

b.      Implementation of new and advance touch less technologies. 

c.       Introduce and device interactive   Corona Protocol Displays.

Written By Virat Varma & Anil Chak