Try, try and try again until you succeed” is the latest tried and tested mantra of most of the leaders in the hospitality sector. The year 2021 was a challenging year, where the sector was trying to swim against the tide of uncertainties. There were many ups & downs for the Hospitality Industry which had impacted the overall business of revenue generation & the mere survival became a challenge.

But, the sales team at the Lords Hotels & Resorts, under the able guidance of Mr Ashutosh Vaidya, General Manager, Sales had simple but aggressive plans to bypass this hurdle. With some best practices and basics put into play in order to keep winning group business and business in general.

As the demand was going on lower side it was important to maintain the presence of Lords Hotels and Resorts presence alive in the market. Mr. Vaidya tried to maximize the property’s visibility by keeping an updated information about the various units across India and Nepal; via the corporate website and the social media platforms by aggressively posting interesting and informative creatives for hotels, which started generating queries that had possible business prospects.

In consideration with the Lords Hotels & Resorts Management, the Lords team took the Revpar way which helped to get secure group business – project / film shoot crew as well, this strategy also worked with developing FIT bookings on daily basis. Lords Hotels & Resort Management also helped to close business by matching the website BAR rates which at times were discounted to a level of 10%. As the corporate travel movement was on restriction path, Lords Hotels and Resorts got in to the leisure & pilgrim sectors & had a deep dive in travel trade market, offering them the desired rates which helped the team to close the business for the respective hotels. As the desired rates were offered, we were in a position to demand the advance payments before the check-ins, reducing the vessel of outstanding payments.

Fighting the odds, Mr Vaidya also proposed on sales Blitz activity, where his team travelled to different states and met the local vendors, encouraging and assisting the Unit hotels to generate bookings from the local market. With these focused efforts of sales team & the support offered by Lords Hotels & Resorts management Lords Hotels and Resorts are now close to the room nights achieved in 2019-2020.

Mr Ashutosh Vaidya, General Manager, Sales described his progressive efforts as “I believe, to serve a vision, we need to select the right people to fulfil the dream of success. Offer them the required strength, let them spread their wings & then the sky will not be the limit.”

Now with the scenario looking favourable for business, the team is in the process of strengthening its Mumbai, Delhi & Ahmedabad Sales Office; & open sales offices in Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai and Saurashtra which will help the team to generate incremental business from these states to Lords Hotels & Resorts. The vision remains alive of 100 hotel chain in next few years.

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