In the video, Saurabh Prakash — Group Senior Vice President, Commercial (Global) at Millennium Hotels & Resorts — discusses the changes in responsibilities and strategies adopted by the hotel industry during the pandemic. With a volume-driven approach, hoteliers aimed to secure as much of the leisure and retail business as possible.
Prakash highlights that nearly 80% of Millennium’s business was driven by the retail sector at that time. However, with the recovery of corporate business, there is an expectation of a shift to a 60-40 distribution between retail and meetings, incentives, conferences, and events (MICE) and group bookings. Prakash expresses excitement about the return of corporate customers, emphasizing that their hotels are designed to cater to business travelers and provide suitable meeting and event spaces.
He concludes by expressing optimism and an encouraging outlook for the future of the hotel industry.
Watch the video here:
Read the complete transcript here:
I think we all saw that during the pandemic, it was very much a volume-driven approach. And, um, like us, all hoteliers were really taking as much of a share of the pie that they could possibly take. Leisure and retail business, as we call it, was all that was there. So, we saw, for example, for Millennium, almost 80 percent of our business was all retail-driven. As we move forward, we are so excited to see the corporate business starting to come back. We believe that the share is going to be 60-40, 60 percent retail and 40 percent between MICE and groups. And maybe, in the future, it would even be 50-50. So, we are really excited about that because that brings the customers our hotels are built to serve – those customers being business travelers. The meetings and event space, such as what we are here today for, is a key focus. And I think the road ahead is very, very encouraging and optimistic.
Meet the Speaker
Saurabh Prakash
Group SVP (Commercial & Digital Transformation)
Millennium Hotels & Resorts
