New Delhi, December 31, 2019: Even as hotels become more tech-savvy to deliver better service to guests, Ridul Deka, General Manager of Novotel Ahmedabad, believes that human connect remains as important as ever to meet customer expectations.
Mr Deka, General Manager of Novotel Ahmedabad for over two years, says that in spite of the changes in the hospitality industry over the years, guest services remain the backbone of the industry.
“We at Novotel Ahmedabad make use of latest tools to engage with guests’ right from the moment they check-in and until after they check-out. Every guest has his own expectations, and meeting everyone’s expectations is challenging. We have certain practices and processes which help us in meeting these challenges, but in my experience, human connect is the difference between good and great service, and this is what we encourage each and every employee to strive for,” Mr Deka says.
The hospitality industry suffers from high attrition, and the same is the case with Novotel Ahmedabad. However, Mr Deka says that direct connect with employees has helped them reduce attrition rate.
“Our experience shows that new joinees decide within the first three months itself whether they want to stay or move on. If we can retain them for this period, they are more likely to stay. We have revamped our induction process to make employees feel at home. We also follow an open door policy for personal connect with employees. These measures, coupled with the growth opportunities Accor Group offers to employees, have helped in reducing attrition rate by more than half,” he says.
Mr Deka, who hails from Assam, says it was his love for travel that led him to make a career in hospitality. Besides Ahmedabad, he has worked in Mumbai, Pune, and London, among other cities. He firmly believes in doing things the right way and hates shortcuts. His motto is to not get bothered by others’ opinions and to fight till the end.
The Novotel Ahmedabad recently added 38 premier rooms to become the largest hotel in Gujarat with 222 rooms. The new rooms include five premier suites, which Mr Deka says are ideal for long stays.
“We now have 23 such suites. We want to re-launch Novotel Ahmedabad as a residential hotel,” he says about his immediate plans for the hotel.
In addition, Novotel has also set up three new meeting rooms, and a premier lounge for guests and plans are underway to open unique restaurant in the hotel by next year.
With climate change being the buzzword these days, Mr Deka says they are also adopting environment friendly measures at Novotel Ahmedabad.
“We are reducing our plastic consumption. We have already stopped using plastic straws, and aim to stop using plastics in totality by the end of this year. We will stop serving water in plastic bottles, and are setting up our own bottling plant. We are also ensuring responsible use of energy in the hotel,” he says.
In response to a question about how the Ahmedabad hospitality market is different from others, Mr Deka says that Ahmedabad is a much more price sensitive market.
“People in Ahmedabad are quality conscious, but they want quality at highly competitive prices. Moreover, the Ahmedabad hospitality market is highly dependent on Meetings, Incentives, Conferencing, Exhibitions (MICE) events as compared with other cities,” he says.
Corporate Comm India(CCI Newswire)
