Puneites have lauded the effort of hoteliers, restaurateurs: George Bennet Kuruvilla
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The Westin Pune Koregaon Park is a sprawling property situated in the city’s Koregaon Park Annexe in Ghorpadi. The pet-friendly hotel has seven event venues, including the city’s largest lawn space in a five star. The 277-key hotel also has two full-size squash courts for guests.
ETHospitalityWorld spoke with George Bennet Kuruvilla, General Manager about his property and the Pune market in general.
“The Pune market is vibrant and the city has immense significance. It blends the old with the new seamlessly. Called the Oxford of the East and a Satellite city with Mumbai, it has a strong technology base, prominent automobile and manufacturing hubs, real-estate and IT Parks, medical, defence and education installations,” Kuruvilla said, adding that he considered the Westin Pune Koregaon Park to be the city’s landmark 5 Star haven of wellness and renewal, with great views and high quality food and drink experiences.
“We have been learning and evolving each day and remain focused in our efforts to establish ourselves formidably in the new normal. Contact-free dining and stay experiences are becoming a premium value proposition. We continue to innovate on this aspect,” Kuruvilla said about how his hotel was evolving to fit into the new normal.
He gave us some examples of what his hotel was doing, like implementing self-check-in options that were compatible with smart phones using the Marriott Bonvoy app for a seamless and contactless arrival and departure experience.
As a part of their food and drink initiative and guest outreach they have been delivering, through Marriott on Wheels, F&B experiences to homes and offices. Their Brunch on Table concept in the restaurants was also appreciated by guests. They had also created exclusive drive-in zones and takeaway points. Kuruvilla felt proud to be the first to implement the weekend drive-in cinema on the hotel lawns with contact free booking and dining options.
“Each day has also provided us new lessons for reinvention. Besides heightened hygiene and sanitation protocols with our Marriott commitment to clean programs, technology is the other piece which plays a big role in enabling many of these experiences,” he added.
“The city’s hotel occupancies are ramping up slowly quarter on quarter. Like Bengaluru, the city hotels depend largely on international and domestic corporate travel segments to fill up its capacity. This is going to take some time given the challenges with air travel at the moment. That said, socials, celebrations, staycations, dining and wellness experiences continue to purpose out and become generators for the hotels,” Kuruvilla said when asked about the business prospects of the Pune market.
“For the industry at large Pune has an aspiring audience, ever willing to explore, looking to go out, indulge in value experiences be it food and drink, wellness or stay. Puneites in many ways have lauded the efforts, enthusiasm and spirit of the hoteliers and restaurateurs here big or small and come out in good numbers to experience stays and eating out. By following safety measures patrons have minimized the Fear of human contact and overcome the fear of missing out as well,” he said in conclusion
