The Ledger
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Chhatwal: 25-year-olds should build budget hotels instead of AI platforms
“I would tell the 25 year old there's enough platforms, there are enough people working on AI, there's a lot of competitor overcrowding, don't go there, start a boutique hotel business, or start very nice, clean, budget hotel business, and you will have a lot o…”
Chhatwal: India should not try to compete with China
“Whatever industry India goes for, my recommendation would be, please don't compete with China.”
Chhatwal: Replacing Indian hospitality workers with robots is socially irresponsible
“Actually, should we be doing it? My answer would be no. It's not very socially responsible. We have a young demographic population, ah, to our advantage. So either we get the robots to help people find jobs, or we should not replace human beings with robots. W…”
Chhatwal: Robots will automate budget hotels, but never luxury hospitality
“It is happening. As we speak, it's happening, but definitely not upscale, upper upscale in Lakshmi. How, see, if you go to a wedding, you'll have only robots serving you. That's not going to happen.”
Chhatwal: India's top 15 tourism destinations will collapse without new alternatives
“So in India, the entire tourism activity is concentrated in those 12 to 15 destinations. Absolutely. And I think we need to build the next 1520, 30, because the current destinations will collapse as the demand will far exceed the infrastructure as well as the …”
Chhatwal: Pure asset-light hotel model is not India's future
“Not really. Not in India. So we are talking about India, right? India is still a very promoter driven country and In order to qualify for prime piece of, ah, any kind of real estate and to be able to participate in those RFPs, need to find the model, and even …”
Chhatwal: India lacks globally recognised consumer brands beyond Taj
“Besides Taj, there is no, or hospitality brands maybe, there is no brand from India and consumer which is known outside of India.”
Chhatwal: The best hotel deals are available directly on hotel websites
“Usually there is rate parity. It's not that we have cheaper, but you know, the best deals are available on the hotel website.”
Chhatwal: IHCL is more efficient and profitable than MakeMyTrip
“No, no, but we are more efficient, more profitable.”
Chhatwal: Dubai and Singapore combined equal India's branded hotel room supply
“Dubai and Singapore together have the same branded number of rooms as all of India.”
Chhatwal: IHCL is developing resorts on two Lakshadweep islands
“We are building two islands and we are already running one. Bangaram we are running and Suheli Kathmat we are building. So it'll come. Give it two, three years, they'll be done.”
Chhatwal: Foreign charter tourism to Goa has largely stopped due to conflicts
“The quality of the tourists coming was lower. Their spending power was lower, but we got a lot of charters. Which, because of the Russia, Ukraine, because of the Middle East, has stopped to a great extent.”
Chhatwal: The 50 tourism destinations announced by the Finance Minister remain unidentified
“We had this announcement by the Honorable Finance Minister on 50 new destinations. To be developed on a mission mode. But we still haven't identified which are those 50.”
Chhatwal: Tourism Generates 3.25x Gross Economic Value Multiplier
“The, all the studies show that for every one rupee spent in this sector, the gross economic value that gets added is 3.25.”
Chhatwal: India's 10-year infra progress equals preceding 30 to 50 years
“I think the progress India has made on infra front in the last 10 years is equal to the preceding 50 years put together. I don't know whether it's 30 is the right number or 50.”
Chhatwal: Alibaug is not the next Goa
“Because Alibag is not the next Goa. I know Mumbaikers get upset when I say that.”
Chhatwal: India's biggest hospitality opportunity is small experiential boutique hotels
“So in India, I would say the opportunity going forward is, ah, strong in experiential boutique, small size properties.”
Chhatwal: 88% of IHCL revenues come from asset-heavy properties
“88% of the revenues come from the asset heavy because you need a lot of management contracts or a lot of royalty fees or a lot of income in form of other forms of branding fees to come to the level of one owned asset, let's say in Mumbai.”
Chhatwal: IHCL would back young hotel entrepreneurs with collateral support
“Even we would help if there is a really aspiring youngster coming on board, we would help him become a hotelier, entrepreneur, and, ah, you know, support that collateral so that we are not running that. Place directly.”
Chhatwal: Every hospitality job creates 8 to 10 indirect jobs
“Every job created in this sector creates eight to 10 jobs indirectly.”
Chhatwal: Goa and Shimla infrastructure cannot handle more short-term tourism load
“Say like Goa. I mean, there is, it can increase by only 10% or so. So there is no point trying to now increase tourism in Goa. There's a very healthy level of tourism happening. Uttarakhand. Simla in Himachal. I think they've already, this infrastructure canno…”
Chhatwal: IHCL has not done special campaigns with Booking.com
“We have not done any special campaign with booking.”
Chhatwal: Calling IHCL "Taj Group" prevented other brands from thriving
“So what in my experience it does is it does not allow other brands to stand on their feet. You're always like a second child or a stepchild or a.”
Chhatwal: Taj Hotels cleans all Goa beaches where it operates
“So all the beaches you see in Goa, where, where there is a Taj, they're cleaned by us.”
Chhatwal: Thailand's consumption taxes are far lower than India's GST
“So, specific to Thailand, they are far lower in, you know, in the GST equivalent of their country.”
Chhatwal: Premiumizing luxury trains could fast-forward India's inbound tourism
“I think one more interesting aspect could be, in order to fast forward some of the tourism activity and getting inbound is really the premiumization of our luxury trains.”
Chhatwal: Hotels should leave wedding planning to specialized professionals
“We don't need many things outsourced or better that there are wedding planners because they are professionals at that. Our job is very good when it comes to catering the food, the service, the, you know, everything else. It's like we as a sector got out of doi…”
Chhatwal: Curating Northeast India hotel inventory could be a runaway success
“But if somebody comes as a 25 year old, disrupts it, takes the inventory for five, six, eight, 10 hotels in just the northeast, you know, those seven sisters. I think that could be a runaway success.”
Chhatwal: IHCL lowered asset-heavy portfolio share to 30%
“We were 70, more than 70% asset heavy. Today, because we increased our footprint so much, and we had exponential growth, our asset heavy component is 30%.”
Chhatwal: Taj Mahal Palace is approaching ₹1,000 crore revenue
“Taj Mahal Palace is marching ahead towards 1000.”
Chhatwal: Entrepreneurs can launch hotels by remodeling rented spaces on revenue-share
“So many spaces which could be remodeled and converted into boutique assets or budget assets. And has to just calculate what kind of revenue share he's going to give from his total revenue.”
Chhatwal: Religious tourism in India is crisis-resistant and performing well
“It's crisis resistant. It's doing very well.”
Chhatwal: India will eventually teach global hospitality methods just like IT
“I think the time is going to come where we are going to teach how it is to be done. Like in the IT happened. So we need a complete Revitalization of our hospitality, travel, tourism, education.”
Chhatwal: Wildlife lodges are hard to make viable due to six-month shutdowns
“There is, but that is the one which is more difficult to be a good financial value, because those are small lodges, 12, 1418, 20 rooms. They get a good rate, but they also shut down four, five, six months in a year sometimes. So you have to make all that busin…”
Chhatwal: IHCL had nearly ten years of losses before his tenure
“Yeah, we almost had 10 years of losses. And, ah.”
Chhatwal: IHCL's homestay business has scaled to nearly 400 properties
“So lots of brands of our in homestay business, which is now scaled up almost to 400.”
Chhatwal: IHCL reported nearly 10,000 crore revenue and 2,000+ crore PAT
“IHCL reported its results for the last financial year as almost 10,000 crore in revenue, and 2000 crore plus as profit after tax.”
Chhatwal: IHCL is approaching 700 hotels and over 500 contracts
“For example, today we have 700, getting close to 700 hotels, which means at least 500 plus contracts, assuming that some of the contracts are for multi-use properties.”
Chhatwal: TajSATS flight kitchens cook hundreds of tons with two people
“See, we have our flight kitchen business, which is that Sats. Sats is the one that runs a Singapore airport also. We have the capability of doing, I don't know, hundreds of tons of basmati rice cooked differently with just two people. Everything else is done b…”