| |JANUARY 202019Consultants Review1. What are your thoughts on the current hospitality sector in India, and what are the various influencing trends that are augmenting the growth of this sector?India's hospitality industry has witnessed tremendous growth. In last year, the industry has witnessed the highest occupancy and ARR in a decade, thus continuing to show promising progress. This is true across segments from luxury to premium and economy. One of the evident trends is the guests now get to chose from a gamut of brands and properties panning across luxury, mid-scale and economy. They have many options to decide based on the nature of travel, be it for leisure or work. MICE is also an important aspect which is helping this sector grow. Guests are selecting one venue for all their events; be it wedding, offsites, conferences, award shows and much more. Hoteliers provide customised solutions and ensure to accommodate various demands of the guests. We also cannot deny the contribution of digital and technological innovation to the hospitality industry. Be it internal processes or software for multiple functions and departments or the social media platforms being used by guest, technology has eased-down everything for both hoteliers and guest. 2. According to reports, the hospitality sector is likely to witness an annual investment of $0.5-0.6 billion during 2018-2022, and a total investment of up to $2.8 billion by 2022. How is this trend going to impact the development of the sector in the tier-II and tier-III apart from the obvious tier-I cities?With multiple government initiatives that are boosting the travel and tourism industry, this has also given an impetus to the hospitality industry. These initiatives have improved and increased connectivity through air, rail and road across the country to various Tier-II and Tier-III cities coupled with states promoting tourism and other initiatives will propel the growth of branded hotels focussing on Tier-II and Tier-III markets, changing the face of the hospitality industry in those markets. 3. By 2020, the global millennial spending power will dominate every other generation, witnessing major shifts in customer preferences and values demanding for rapid innovation, propelling business competition. How in your opinion is the Indian hospitality sector going to channel this transformation? We are already witnessing the increasing demand for personalised experiences, customised services and innovation in food and beverage industry. Hoteliers are quite aware of this fact and have in-fact already been strategizing and channelizing marketing spends towards newer initiatives. Bringing-in more localised experiences in food, re-inventing lost food recipes, and Jean-Michel Cassé
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