Hotelier India - April 2017

Until few years ago, the role of a procurement head in a hotel was to buy long-lasting products of high quality that adhered to the brand’s standards. Well, those days are long gone.
Today, costs play a key role in a hotel’s overall profitability. Hence, a procurement head’s role has evolved to ensure continual supply of products and services in a way that the process cuts costs and even helps in generating revenue for the company.
This month, we present our special ‘Power of Purchase’ issue, where procurement professionals from leading hospitality companies tell us about the strategies they use to forge long-term alliances with their suppliers, leverage the benefits of bulk buying, negotiate contracts, evaluate vendors, etc.
That aside, in our cover story, Rakesh Sarna, CEO and MD of Taj Hotels Palaces Resorts Safaris, discusses the company’s decision to unveil a new brand architecture that melds its various brands into a single entity. He knows that this move comes with its set of challenges – some of which he can foresee and is willing to take head on. But he is unworried about one thing – at the end of the year, which brand will have the largest hotel chain in the country. According to him, what matters is not the number of hotels one has in the portfolio, but the kind of brand recall one creates in a customer’s mind.
In the Industry Debate column, our panel of general managers shares their tactics for having targeted sales-strategy aligned with market dynamics, while focusing on revenues, to ensure a regular flow of business. They also believe in driving higher profitability by focusing more on the top-line and being cost efficient rather than directly reducing cost.
Of course, this is just a primer of the articles that this power-packed issue contains. Read on to discover more.