HERALD: How has your journey been in Goa?
VICTOR CHEN: This hotel is going to have its second anniversary on August 5 and we are very happy that we have been well accepted by the Goan community and it made us feel that we are a part of the Goan family now. We are going to start a celebration for our second anniversary so that we can pay a tribute back to Goa. We have planned out a series of activities throughout the month so that we can celebrate the spirit of Goa.
HERALD: How is Le Meridien different from other hotels in the State?
VC: All the five star hotels in Goa have the best of linen, best of rooms, cutlery, crockery etc. I feel our USP is our team members and their experience. That makes a huge difference for any guest to enjoy our hospitality. Our team members are very capable to create those memorable experiences for our guests. Our founder Bill Marriott has taught all of us that core value of the hotel should be take care of the people first. We take care of our associates and Marriott said that if you take care of associates, they will take care of your business. We also listen to our associates. And of course we do have our robust online trainings, classroom trainings but the key is to keep them engaged with new developments and style of work. That is precisely the reason why Marriott and Le Meridien are one of the strongest brands in hospitality industry, globally.
HERALD: What is the reason behind declining international tourist footfalls in Goa? Has it affected you?
VC: Yes we have been reading newspaper, hospitality industry, government reports etc and in the last three to four years we see that there is a dip of international tourist arrivals in Goa. Most of the hotels have witnessed a dip in their occupancy rate. However, the tariffs of the hotels are stable. Fortunately we are growing well and in the second year alone our growth in around 15 per cent.
HERALD: You entered Goa soon after Goods and Services Taxes (GST) regime came into force. Did it affect you?
VC: It did affect us because it made the hotel more expensive for the guests as the tax rate was at 28 per cent. However, to give benefits to the customers we at times have also looked into the parameters of offering them a tariff rate below Rs 7500 per night in which the tax rate is 18 per cent. During the season time it is a bit difficult to do that. But yes, GST has certainly impacted the hospitality industry. We are discussing with the tourism office and also appealing before the Central authorities to re-look into the GST for five-star hotels. The discussion is on now and hopefully the government will help us in that.
HERALD: What special measures are you taking in your hotel to attract guests?
VC: We are located beautifully, next to the Calangute beach which hosts all the major activities in North Goa. We have 146 beautifully appointed and specious rooms. It is also a resort for families and our USP is basically a ‘kids club’ where there is host of interesting activities for the kids so that the parents can have their own me time by the pool side or restaurants. Our guests are in fact surprised in our culinary expertise in local Goan food. We went out to get local Goan Chefs who are now cooking Goan food for our guests. So one gets the same taste what one would get outside this hotel but here there will be a much more comfortable and hygienic environment.
HERALD: What are the events planned for your second anniversary?
VC: We thank Goa for enabling our success. Hence, we would like to pay a tribute to the local community. We are going to promote our local Goan Thali and we have kept a price point which is competitive to any Goan Thali in Goa. Apart from that we will be offering some special discounts to our local guests which may range between 10-50 per cent. We will be having offer on some drinks in which the second drink will be on us as it will be our second anniversary. We will also be having room offers for our guests. We are tying up with a local NGO called the ‘Woman of Fatorda’ which supports the local ladies to display their talent which could be culinary skills, spice mixing, etc. In fact they are making nine different kinds of spices and selling it. What we will do is to give them a platform and support them to leverage their skills to five star hotels.
