While many businesses have fallen down like nine pins due to the onslaught of the pandemic, there are some rare breed of people who have adjusted their sails to the changing winds and reinvented their businesses. Instead of moaning and groaning over what has happened, they have tweaked their strategies to the new normal and have taken their companies to greater heights.  One such person is Satyen Jain, the CEO of Pride Group of Hotels.  Mr Satyen Jain joined the team at the young age of 29 years. At that time  Pride Group had only four hotels  and today there are  36 hotels under its wings  and it is still growing. Under his leadership, the Pride Group is adapting itself to the new life -altering changes under which the hospitality industry is reeling.

As a result, at a time when most of the hospitality industries in India are gasping for survival, the  Pride Group of Hotels, one of the fastest-growing hotel chains in India is on expansion spree. The group recently announced that it will expand its portfolio to 50 hotels by 2022.  The group presently has a presence in around 34 great locations and boasts of over 3200 keys. Once the new openings are complete Pride Hotels will have 50 properties and over 5000 keys offering unique guest experiences across various geographical regions. It also plans to add 72 rooms and 35 rooms at its five-star properties in Nagpur and Pune respectively.

How is this hospitality group growing exponentially in these worst times? “Yes, the hospitality industry is going through the worst phase but it is definitely not the first time we have faced a challenge. Even though it was hard for us and the industry, the level of activity, innovation, and engagement have been never been higher than this for us. Innovation of new technologies and different initiatives and offers helped us raise our occupancy” says Satyen.

Talking about Satyen, Atul Upadhyay, the Vice President of the Pride Group says “One of the important qualities of Mr Satyen Jain is he is very techno-savvy. He keeps himself up-to date on modern technology and implements it in the hotel if he feels it will augur well for its growth. Another important attribute of Mr Satyen is his farsighted vision.  He knows that once the pandemic subsides, this sector will again bounce back. Hence he does not mind taking risk of expanding by acquiring more and more hotels”.

No doubt, there is considerable risk involved in expansion at this time. The Indian hotels sector has been hit hard, grappling with significantly low demand, with very few future bookings. Essentially, all transient demand has reduced  – the remaining is largely on account of either a few long stay guests or hotels having been prescribed by the Government for the international travellers returning to India.  Though things are now improving in the last few months, the emergence of  newer variants of virus are posing danger to the entire tourism industry.

Satyen is the son of Mr S P Jain, the Chairman and Managing Director of Pride Group of Hotels. S P Jain is a veteran in the Hospitality industry who has many feathers to his cap. He rose from a humble beginning and became one of the biggest Hospitality barons in India.

Having risen to glory with his entrepreneurship skills in a very less time only, Satyen  has proven his mettle and talent. At the age of 43, he brings on board the rich domain knowledge of marketing strategies and distribution networking. He joined as a Director of the Pride Hotels Limited on April 1, 2007 and since then he has embarked on a successful career.

Satyen  serves as a Chief Executive Officer at Pride Hotels Ltd – involved in strategic planning and implementation of Company’s Expansion Projects in the respect of Hotel Units at Delhi, Goa and various upcoming projects in India.

He  has implemented many innovative ideas in the hotel which has taken the Pride Group in the rapid growth mode. This group takes pride in being a truly Indian Hospitality company. Satyen has incorporated the five senses of traditional Indian welcome, fragrance, music, ambience, regional Indian paintings & frescoes and mouth-watering Indian Cuisines. At Pride, Guest is welcomed with a Namaskar, tika and aarti. There is a familiar fragrance of tuberose in lobbies of all the hotels. All public areas are playing local regional music. All the artworks of the rooms and public areas have taken inspiration from local architecture, culture and colours. The all-day dining offer an international and Indian menu but have tried to incorporate lot of popular dishes from regional cuisines.

He has invested in a robust guest feedback system to enhance Guest experience where the customer feedback & request system is connected to the employee Mobile for prompt service and hotel can revert to Guest before the guest moves out of the hotel. A strong system to track all the guest reviews on various international OTAs and social media is developed.

Pride reward loyalty program is launched for loyal Guests which reward customers who regularly use the hotel’s hospitality service. From the first stay, itself Guest start earning points. There are lots perks of being a part of loyalty program such as free stays, free upgrades, priority check ins, late check out, free meal, bonus points, exclusive offers etc.

Apart from above there are various technological innovations are in process to be introduced in the hotel

The pandemic  has presented unprecedented challenges  before the fragile tourism and hospitality industry. The highly infectious novel coronavirus continues to thwart the sector and raises serious questions about the present and future survival of the sector.

Tourism and hospitality industry thrives on the footfall of the national and international tourists. The travel bans , border closures, events cancellations and quarantine requirements and restrictions have had devastating impact on this sector.

The industry experienced the most distressing year in 2020 and suffered massive losses during the protracted lockdown that was imposed to control the pandemic’s first wave. Hotels across the country witnessed historically low occupancies. The situation seems to be improving, but we have to see how the new variant of the mutated virus Omicron pans out.

Almost every segment associated with the hotel industry — meetings, conferences, restaurants, destination weddings and family entertainment, among other things — has been crippled by the impact of the health crisis.

According to FHRAI, the Indian hotel industry took a hit of over 1.3 trillion rupees ($17.4 billion, €14.7 billion) in revenue for the fiscal year 2020-21 because of the pandemic.

There are some 150,000 branded hotels in India and about 20-25% of them face the risk of permanent closure, according to the Hotel Association of India. Even in these tough times, the  Pride Group of Hotels is on an expansion spree. It has plans to expand its portfolio to 50 hotels by 2022.

Says Satyen “Over the years we have significantly adapted to a new hospitality normal while also pursuing our growth plans. Presently we are treading cautiously on capital expenditure. We had a vision of expanding the portfolio to 50 hotels before the pandemic started. Even though the pandemic slowed our growth we are hoping to achieve the target”.

The pandemic has not only affected small and medium hotels but also the  bigger ones. For example  The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL), South Asia’s biggest hospitality group, reported a loss of about 7.2 billion rupees in the pandemic-stricken 2020-21 financial year, as opposed to a profit of 3.54 billion rupees in the previous fiscal year.

The expansion  focus of Pride Group  appears to be  on an asset-light model  with a major slice of the portfolio being  managed directly by them. When asked  whether they have plans of buying or starting fully owned hotels in India  Satyen said “We keep evaluating opportunities. While managed property locations were worthy, our team is also working on other options in parallel. New purchases and owned properties aren’t a “no-no”. But at the same time, it needs to be a viable deal”.

Asked about the status of their overseas expansion plans, Satyen  said “ Our brand is catching momentum domestically. People synergize themselves with Pride Hotels in a big way, be it for business travels, conferences, meetings, holidays, quick getaway, staycations, weddings or celebrations. There is ample brand awareness and recall from local guests, investors and partners. Hence our current focus is in India for now”.

Satyen is a Chartered Accountant and holds an MBA from SP Jain Institute of Management Mumbai. He also won the Young Hotel Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 award from FHRAI, which is supporting him in carrying forward his dreams of making Pride group a force to reckon with in the hotel industry.

About the challenges facing the hospitality industry and how the Pride Group responded, Satyen says “Continued volatility in restrictions, non-uniform vaccinations, rising cases, and travel bubbles has made it extremely difficult for the hospitality industry in India. But the hospitality industry kept on innovating new technologies and offers to make their guests feel safe at the hotels. The entire hospitality sector came together and helped each other and the society to overcome this pandemic. We at pride distributed food parcels during the pandemic. We made many of our hotels available for the hospital staff. Overall the hospitality industry in India showed good strength during this tough time.

Asked about the lessons learnt from the pandemic, Satyen said “The important lesson we learned from the Covid wave was that one needs to keep moving forward and innovating different technology according to the situation. At Pride, we are focusing on the constant sanitization of all our restaurants and hotel rooms. This is the key priority across all our properties when it comes to high touchpoints. Sanitizing bags & luggage upon arrival of our guests and ensuring free access to enhance mobility and social distancing. We need to adapt as per the situation and find a solution to move forward.”

Given the fact that the hospitality sector has suffered a devastating blow due to the pandemic, Satyen feels that it will take time for the hospitality sector to recover.  He said “The situation in the world is still evolving. The recovery of the sector has been hampered by the lack of international travel, severe travel restrictions, and the pace of vaccination, the efficacy of vaccines, high infection rates, and the possibility of a third Covid wave. With the upcoming holiday season – with many planning their vacation around Christmas and year-end Hotels are now seeing a rise in occupancy. It will still take some time for the hospitality industry to recover.”

The Pride Group is also adopting  risk mitigating strategies  to make the national and international travelers feel safe and secure. “Our guests and staff’s safety is our first priority at the Pride. From the beginning of the pandemic we launched the ‘Pride Safety Assurance’ Initiative. By adopting measures for a safe and hygienic experience our entire hotel staff is fully vaccinated. We have also rolled out enhanced technological measures like contactless check-in & check-out services, a contactless billing facility, a touchless dispensing center for the sanitizers, and a mobile-friendly dining menu”, added Satyen.

With the traditional revenue streams getting choked up because of the pandemic, the hospitality sector in India started focusing also on generating non-core revenue streams to keep cashflow on and the Pride Group was no exception.  “We launched a few initiatives to keep our operation engaged and running while supporting the government with the fight against Covid. To keep the operation running we built a long-term sustainable business strategy that drives sales revenue too. And launching ‘Celebrations at Pride’ is one of them. Nowadays many people are planning small family gatherings, intimate birthday events with just friends and family. We at pride are offering custom made packages for family gatherings, Bachelorettes, Girls night out, Game nights and, Anniversary, etc “added Satyen.

About the lessons learnt from the pandemic, Satyen says “The important lesson we learned from the Covid wave was that one needs to keep moving forward and innovating different technology according to the situation. At Pride, we are focusing on the constant sanitization of all our restaurants and hotel rooms. This is the key priority across all our properties when it comes to high touchpoints. Sanitizing bags & luggage upon arrival of our guests and ensuring free access to enhance mobility and social distancing. We need to adapt as per the situation and find a solution to move forward.”

When asked as to what excites him about the hospitality business? Satyen says”Each year hospitality industry is becoming bigger and better. The industry is all about people and thus every day there is a new challenge and opportunities to grow in this field this is what excites me the most. I get to travel to different cities and experience the culture and market for the hotel.