When Less Is More

Alan D’Mello

I have been fortunate to visit a number of hotels in the eight Indian cities I was in the last two months. In my discussions with owners and managers of these hotels, an interesting factor kept surfacing with regularity, frequent enough to be called a trend. Owners and operators prefer equipment, which do more while costing less. As a fundamental of business efficiency and of late, market compulsion, this is not new.

I write of growing demand for machinery, which cost less by utilising fewer resources. Energy and fuel efficiency is the common thread linking the hotels (and even restaurants) I visited. Without doubt, it is just a matter of years before it weaves itself through all the rungs of Indian hospitality. For that matter, the venerable FHRAI may even have it as a theme in a future convention.

It is interesting to see the philosophical change among hoteliers. One now hears phrases like ‘Waste not, want not’ and ‘If you cannot replace it, do not abuse it’, the latter referring to fossil fuel. It is heartening to see the early efforts of hoteliers like Kamlesh Barot, of Revival Hotel in Vadodara being emulated in new hotels like the Regency, Pune and the Lemon Tree, Gurgaon.

The former, a three-star, employs an innovative solar water heating system, while the latter is the first three-star business city hotel I know of to employ a rain water harvesting system. Even the Taj’s new brand, indiOne, swears by the expensive CFL (Compact Fluorescent Light) fixtures because in the long run, the benefit will outweigh the cost as they have a longer life span in comparison to the tungsten variant. But more importantly, it costs less to operate by using less energy.

Herein lies my point; the benefit - though essentially long-term - created by employing fuel efficient machinery, systems and fixtures, will outweigh the cost benefit - if any - of cheaper equipment, bigger discounts and of course, larger kickbacks. This attitude is being applied to the entire gamut of FF&E (Furniture, Fixtures & Equipment), not just fashionable solar water heaters and CFL. And since categories like the one-star and two-star, which form the bulk of the industry, take their lead from above, manufacturers and suppliers should take notice of how their market is evolving.

While it is just as easy for the hotelier as well as the manufacturer or supplier to tom-tom about having ‘environmentally friendly’ equipment, the latter needs to actually invest in time and money to convert the value proposition into a true USP.

For example, take the simple light bulb. Before the inventors spent millions creating CFL, using a low wattage tungsten bulb was considered more efficient. But to make their creation this popular, the manufacturer had to hold a high-profile (expensive) press conference to gain visibility. Yet, if my memory serves me, distributors invited to the conference at The Oberoi in Mumbai, were apprehensive to take on such ‘high value’ inventory for fear that the Indian hotelier, until then more price than value conscious, would not bite.

Now, CFL, if neither fashionable nor de rigueur, is a necessity smart owners and operators see value in. Since necessity is the mother of most inventions, this example, can and perhaps in future, will be extended to a variety of equipment and fixtures we are working with today. The list of areas of improvement is long and in some cases obvious, we just would not know it until someone’s investment and risk brings it to reality.

Indian hospitality is more organised today than it has ever been. The organisation comes from awareness of progress taking place in the developed markets, but mainly from need. Eco-friendliness is a noble term, for a necessity more basic. Lets face it; the burden of operation is just getting heavier, while profits are going the other way. Thus, as the manufacturer’s market demands more cost-effective solutions, the choice is not either/or but when. The opportunity exists; it is a matter of making eco-friendliness profitable.

(The author is currently researching construction norms and trends in the two-star and three-star segment. He also heads ResAvenue. He can be reached at alan@resavenue.com)