How many Justa Hotels are there in operation at the moment?
We started our 5 hotels last month. Four of our Resorts in Rajasthan are fully operational and one of our Gurgaon hotel reopened about two weeks back. We are in process of reopening two of our Delhi hotels early October.
What makes Justa Hotels stand apart from its competition?
We started as a small luxury hotel company way back in 2005 and with self-reliance and vision as hoteliers first then business enterprise made us stronger and helped us to stand apart from our competitors in the similar segment.
How much occupancy have you experienced since the re-opening?
We are in the process of re-opening all hotels and are confidant by October all hotels will be open to welcome our guests. We have seen traction at Resort locations as of now. Though weekends are more in demand as compared to weekdays as of now. Occupancies are erratic as of now and are varying from 20-50% in Rajasthan. Metro cities are under tremendous pressure due to lean occupancy levels.
What kind of concerns are you facing from the customers who are engaging with you for bookings?
Sentiments are varying from city to city and some people are more concerned about how many people are staying in the hotel when they are likely to be at the hotel, some are interested if the hotel will allow them the usage of swimming pool, on the other hand some are enquiring if they will be allowed to move around in the city without any restrictions.
Has your Hotel (Individual or Chain) come out with a special package to attract more traffic?
We have been running our promotional offer as #Staysafe #staycation at our Resorts in Rajasthan to boost occupancy levels from drivable distance cities and these are value for money.
When do you see the Hotel industry in India going back to normalcy? How much time, in your opinion, will things take to settle down?
As individuals we work on sentiments and will be more willing to travel if we get confidence of some improvement as far as new cases are going to be under control. Though occupancy level in metro cities are still at least six months away before they come to consistent levels. In-bound travel may not start before end of 2021. To reach pre-Covid levels it may take about 18 months from now.
Are you also seeing some movement in the meetings / events / weddings market?
Unfortunately there are no signs of recovery in meetings and events segment at any of our locations. Though there are decent number of queries for small weddings for Rajasthan and Delhi hotels coming up. Going forward this would be a saving grace to some extent though the ticket size has shrunk.
How are the F&B outlets performing at the property?
Keeping hygiene factor in mind people are more comfortable eating at the hotel and specifically at Resorts guests are opting for inclusive meal packages.
Is there any more information that you would like to share with us?
We are confident that sooner or later situation will get better and keeping this fact in mind, we are bullish to look for opportunities to sign up new hotels on Management or Revenue Share model in tier two and tier three cities. We have just launched our first hotel during pandemic in Mukteshwar, Uttarakhand on October 1, 2020 and are hopeful that we may be looking at launching another hotel before the end of this year in Rajasthan too.
