PERSONALITIES
BULLISH ON RECOVERY
However , despite the loss and despair , IHCL instead looked at the situation as a way to minimize losses .
“ If there ’ s one positive thing that has resulted from COVID , it has taught us to fight and come back stronger . We managed to secure operating profit between October 2020 to February 2021 across our portfolio ,” Chhatwal says . “ In India , we saw five good months of business . During this period , although revenue fell 60 %, costs also came down by 45 %. We successfully reduced our fixed cost by 28 % without letting any of our staff go . In fact , we were able to redeploy some of the corporate staff , which helped adjust the staff to room ratio .”
Chhatwal , now leading IHCL since November 2017 , is confident the company is inching closer to the pre-COVID levels of performance . He hopes to outdo last year ’ s performance and achieve 60 % to 75 % of the pre-COVID revenue , provided there ’ s no devastating third wave . However , even if the imminent third wave does sweep across India , he still aims at reaching 40 % of IHCL ’ s pre-COVID figures .
Even before India was hit with the second wave , Chhatwal says IHCL ’ s performance in some markets in India bounced back remarkably well .
“ There were some islands of excellence because recovery was led by leisure , which did exceedingly well in the pre-COVID period . From November to March , our properties in Goa performed better than pre-COVID levels . We gained extraordinary market share because of people ’ s trust in the Taj brand . Our properties in Rishikesh , Shimla
THERE WERE SOME ISLANDS OF EXCELLENCE BECAUSE RECOVERY WAS LED BY LEISURE , WHICH DID EXCEEDINGLY WELL IN THE PRE- COVID PERIOD . FROM NOVEMBER TO MARCH , OUR PROPERTIES IN GOA PERFORMED BETTER THAN PRE-COVID LEVELS . WE GAINED EXTRAORDINARY MARKET SHARE BECAUSE OF PEOPLE ’ S TRUST IN THE TAJ BRAND .
PUNEET CHHATWAL
86 hotelsmag . com September / October 2021