An Industry professional with over 20 years of experience including six years of experience as General Manager with pre-opening hotel stint and running complex hotels in one of the most competitive hyper location in the world, Ashwani Kumar Goela, General Manager, Radisson Blu Plaza Delhi Airport, is a thorough optimist, who believes in learning from every challenge life throws his was. Here is a detailed interview with him in our BOTT GM Series.
Priyanka Saxena Ray
What was your first job and how did you climb up the ladder? How many hotels have you worked with and in what capacities?
I started my career as a Management Trainee with IHG and the erstwhile InterContinental Barakhamba Road, which is now renamed as The LaLiT. I have worked with only 03 brands in last 02 decades. InterContinental Hotel group (IHG), Radisson Hotel Group (RHG) and The Imperial. I believe in stability and be with one company as long as I feel challenged professionally. I have been able to climb the ladder of success due to the mentorship of leaders, I found across my journey who assisted me to better my craft.
How long have you been attached with Radisson Blu Plaza Delhi Airport? How has your experience with the property been?
It’s been 25 months since I joined Radisson Blu Plaza Delhi Airport. I must say it has been an astounding journey to have worked with the world’s top hotel chain. When I stepped into the shoes of a General Manager of the hotel, I knew for sure that I have to work with all my heart and soul to maintain the long legacy of the hotel while implementing contemporary ideas. Like any other general manager, I have had my own share of challenges and achievements during this tenure. Some major challenges faced by us as a hotel was that of declining revenue, declining guest feedback, high attrition rate and low profitability. I was able to overcome these challenges by finding the root cause of every issue and was able to bring the best out of the team to perform better. With the support of an exemplary efficient sales team, I conducted detailed research of the market to make sure that we tap each and every account in the market. This resulted in a 10.1% increase in occupancy, a 17% increase in total revenue and a 12% increase in RevPAR. Despite the presence of a lot of hotel brands in Aerocity, we were able to turn around the hotel by ensuring that our feedback scores continuously go up. This was only possible by meeting more number of guests, using technology and aggressiveness of the team members. Today I can say that I am proud to be a General Manager at Radisson Blu Plaza Delhi Airport.
What special changes would you now be implementing in light of the pandemic? How severely has your business been affected?
Radisson Blu Plaza Delhi Airport is waiting with bated breath to serve our guests once again with the same zeal and fervour. We will be introducing a special safety plan – WE CARE for all our patrons and employees where we will be taking essential steps to protect ourselves from COVID-19 by adopting the safety and health guidelines laid down by the government.
At Radisson Blu Plaza Delhi Airport, we have taken all the steps to ensure the entire eco system of our hotel is well sanitised, clean and safe. We have left no stone unturned in ensuring the safety of the guests. The hotel leadership team has brainstormed extensively to create constructive strategies to combat the effect of COVID-19 on our business. From the time the guest will land at the airport and sit in our car till he is dropped back to the airport, we have ensured that all touch points of a guest are 100 % safe, secure and sanitised. We have visual depictions in place giving the much needed confidence to any guest while choosing to book with us or for our teams to be working with us.
The following steps will be undertaken as mandatory steps to ensure the safety and health of our patrons:
- All trolley bags and handling linen is thoroughly washed daily.
- The laundry floor, walls and the equipment in the area are sanitized twice a day.
- Sanitizers installed everywhere.
- HEPA filters in the air condition system.
- Disinfectant sprays provided in the gym.
- Sanitisation of machinery and yoga mats.
- Thorough cleaning of the swimming pool and sterilisation.
- All staff wear a mask.
- Disinfection sprays in the washroom.
- Alarms to remind staff to wash hands.
- All kitchen utensils and equipment sanitised twice a day.
- Table set up to be done 2 ft apart and only to seat two.
Do you have any new plans or policies or initiatives in the pipeline that you would be introducing in the near future?
While the entire world is in shambles to fight the pandemic crises of Covid-19, we need to stay calm and positive. Everybody is coping in their possible way to fight these difficult times. Like every other industry, the hospitality industry has also borne the brunt of coronavirus and seen a downward push in the progress graph.
We at Radisson Blu Plaza Delhi Airport are doing our best to get over these tough times. We are building pragmatic and successful strategies to come back stronger in our second innings while keeping a close watch on the dynamic business policies and customer behaviour worldwide. In the interim we have launched some additional revenue streams that may not be too big in terms of revenue, but keeps our cash registers ringing. We may never be able to recover the lost revenue but we can ensure we are prepared for the future.
Some of the initiatives are food delivery, take away menu, laundry service to our guests at their home and also facility and sanitisation management for office.
How is your Hotel handling the lockdown? Any special steps you took to handle the situation?
The pandemic has left the world standstill. The team of Radisson Blu Plaza Delhi Airport is fighting this battle with more power and courage. Our guest’s safety and security have always been our immediate concern and highest priority.
During these challenging times, we have ensured we live one of the beliefs of RHG which is “We believe in open and direct interactions to build trust” and continue to remain transparent and involved with the team in every decision that the hotel is taking which could impact them either directly or indirectly. We have done mass survey on what should the hotel be doing in term s of mitigating costs, and improving revenue and I must say I have been able to benefit a lot by getting some out of the box suggestions from the team. We have been doing e town hall, virtual department communication meetings, virtual trainings and personal calls to each and every team member to ensure that we are One Team. I am thankful and grateful to my ownership who have supported us in this time of need.
What will restaurants look like after COVID-19?
Radisson Blu Plaza Delhi Airport is an ISO 22000:2005 certified hotel and we house award winning restaurants and outlets like NYC, The Great Kabab Factory and Neung Roi, apart from our colonial styled Savannah Bar. We have 22 years of legacy of running such iconic outlets.
We have started home delivery and take away for our loyal and regular patrons. Our joyfully hygienically packed meals are of highest quality nutrients from carefully selected produces and are nutritionally designed but I feel that this is only a stop gap arrangement for our guests to satisfy their hunger cravings. Once the things will be normal, we will have our walk in diners come back to us to dine in the safe and secure environment and do business the way they used to do it earlier. Your dine-out experience is set to undergo a vast change after lockdown as hotels and restaurants have geared up to roll out social distancing norms to minimise the coronavirus risks. Diners are set to be greeted by waiters wearing gloves and masks, sanitisation bottles at the entrance and far fewer tables in restaurants.
