Brigade Hospitality, a leading hospitality company is today actively involved in the setting up and management of Hotels, Serviced Apartments, Clubs and Convention Centres in mainly south India besides handling Corporate Catering and Event Management. Vineet Verma, CEO & Executive Director at Brigade Hospitality Services Limited, shares all that brand is currently pursuing, along with the challenges and successes they meet along the way.
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Please tell us something about your present association with Brigade Hospitality. How long have you been involved with the company and how many hotel does the brand manage / operate at the moment?
I was invited to join Brigade Hospitality in July 2006 and it has been a roller-coaster ride from thereon. Presently, we have 6 operating star classified hotels across South India and several more under construction. In addition, we own and manage 5 lifestyle clubs and 2 convention centres in Bangalore. We have also diversified into Institutional catering and produce around 15000 meals per day for some of our leading International clients.
In your opinion, how challenging in the present hospitality scenario to be working in? What kind of challenges do you face?
The biggest challenge we face today is quality manpower. There has been extreme shortage of talent in this industry and the gap is only widening. Result is high attrition rate that has a direct impact on quality of service. Graduates from Hotel management schools have found greener pastures in non-hospitality sectors that offer a 5 day week, higher wages and a better work-life balance. It is critical that our industry gets together with the Government Authorities to come up with a sustainable plan to make our sector as exciting for our young generation to choose it as their preferred career option. There are other challenges as well that one has to face on a daily basis. Growing competition resulting in under-cutting of rates, time consuming processes to get Licenses & permissions and their subsequent renewals are some of them.
What, according to you, is the USP of Brigade Hospitality? What special does it bring to the hotel it manages / operates?
Our hotels are generally built to exacting standards higher than comparable hotels, generally a notch above even similarly branded hotels elsewhere. This means that our guests get to enjoy better facilities and conveniences at our properties and therefore better value for money.
Where do you see the brand 5 years from now?
We continue to believe in this industry, have aggressive growth plans and see our inventory growing multi-fold over the next 5 years.
Please share details of your expansion plans with us?
With 6 hotels already in operation, we have an active 6 more hospitality projects in the pipeline coming up in the next 2 to 3 years. Our first hotel outside South India, is scheduled to open by end 2019, in GIFT City, Gujarat.
