Priyanka Saxena Ray
How long has been your association with the Ananta Hotels & Resorts? When did you join the company and what were you doing prior to that?
I have been a hotelier for close to three decades now. I came to Jaipur in 2018 to head S&M at ITC Rajputana, Jaipur – a luxury collection hotel. The potential of the Jaipur city prompted me to stay back and explore it further. Ananta Hotels has been in business for over 10 years and is a fast-growing brand with resorts coming up across the country. My association with the company started two years ago, when I took up the position to lead the S&M function for the organisation.
How has the brand portfolio evolved and grown under your able guidance?
Ananta Hotels & Resorts was a localised brand with resorts in Rajasthan. Since I have joined, we have ventured into Gujrat (Gir) and Goa. The brand now has 12 running resorts and has grown to offer 1000 keys per day across the portfolio. We work on three formats – owned, managed and franchised models. Our resorts have seen fabulous growth in revenue, ADR and RevPar.
Since it’s a resort we work on Total RevPar, which means the total revenue that we can generate from our in-house guests.
All this is thanks to an India-wide sales distribution, strong marketing campaigns, yield management and a centralised reservation centre at our corporate office located in Jaipur.
Ananta Hotels is now aspiring to be a hotel company which will cross 250 Cr in the next two years.
In your opinion, how is your brand unique / better than its competitors?
All our Hotels & Resorts are close to nature and offer personalisation through local talent, which is what keeps us unique. Sustainability (nature conservation, afforestation, reducing carbon footprint and jobs to locals) is not just a term but a huge focus area for us, which gives us the edge. Our design and architecture is also one of its kind.
Could you share with us the growth strategy of the brand? And your target audience?
As I mentioned we are on a positive growth trajectory across the country. Currently, there are two large projects Ananta in Ajabgarh (145 keys) and Jaisalmer (180 keys) which will open in the coming two years. While our target market is primarily domestic, we also lay a lot of focus on the NRI segment, especially from the Middle East and UK markets.
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