Hospitality Matters: The (he)art of Indian Hospitality.
There is an old Sanskrit saying that I once heard but never quite understood until my recent trip to India. It is then I realised that this quote is the foundation on which Indian Hospitality stands – ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’ :The guest is equivalent to God. An idea not just found in old dusty scriptures but a principle that governs every Indian household and extends to the Indian Hospitality industry.
When I was a child, I could never understand what the fuss was all about when we had guests over in the house. My mom would prepare the most special of meals, lay out our nicest plate-ware while dad would give our guests his most undivided attention as my family would bend-over backwards to ensure that our guests had the most amazing time at our house. So much special treatment for people we barely knew? What did we get out of making them feel so welcome and pampered? I never quite understood it until I walked into the newly renovated Oberoi hotel in Delhi and was greeted with the same warmth and hospitality that I saw my family and many families like ours extend to guests.
During my stay, each staff member went the extra mile to ensure that me and other guests like me were comfortable and well. Each smile, each greeting, each service radiated sincerity. An experience that is quite rare to see in the hospitality industry in this day and age. In a time where we consumers are bombarded with fake news and overwhelmed with hard-selling content that is targeted towards them, brands that are genuine and sincere serve as a breath of fresh air in this plastic and materialistic world. Consumers want what is real, they want to be understood, they want the brands that they place their faith in to share their values and to create the one thing that is most lacking in today’s world – a real connection.
In a world where travel is frequent and inexpensive, consumers like me are not only looking for comfortable beds and outstanding facilities at the hotels. Think about it, if all we needed was a place to sleep at night , why would the hospitality industry even be around? This is because Hospitality extends beyond four walls, comfortable beds and state-of-the-art facilities. It is no longer just about rooms and restaurants. The industry are investing heavily on the return on experience (ROE) and ensuring their guests emotionally connect with their products within that experience. And the human impact is at the center of this shift. It is the feeling that these people in the hospitality industry share with us. It is in the smile that touches us when we’re greeted in the morning, it is the warmth that is served to us in the glass of beer at the end of a long, tiring day, it is the special note in the room that tells us that service is just a call away.
I truly believe that the Indian labour force provides some of the best hospitality standards worldwide. Only because to them, it is not a business – not an industry. To them, it is culture. Indian hotel chains are growing and are synonymous to high-standards that could match any international chain because the sense of hospitality is imbibed in the Indian culture itself. The success of the Indian Hospitality industry is credited to one thing and one thing alone – people. India breeds a wealth of hospitality talent with the abundance of hospitality schools all over the country. ITC Hotels, one of the most respected hospitality companies in india, has an ITC Hospitality Management Institute where it develops young, motivated leaders with hospitality skills, rooted in their ITC ethos and values, into competent world class hoteliers. The institute is known for fostering exceptional hospitality talent who are then incubated into their hotels following the completion of training.
Indian hospitality is spreading its wings to other parts of the world and I believe that there is great hope for the global hospitality industry to be touched by the art of Indian Hospitality through India’s most precious resources – its people. The Indian staff is well suited towards hospitality as they are well-educated, trained to the highest standards, proficient in English and can bring interpersonal skills in countries all around the world. Unlike in Thailand, where hospitality jobs are not seen as desirable anymore, in India it is deemed a very respectable industry to be a part of with great growth potential.
All of this is good news for the Indian Government who are investing heavily to turn India into a leading global travel destination. India is expected to move up five spots to be ranked among the top five business travel markets globally by 2030, as business travel spending in the country is expected to treble until 2030 from US$ 30 billion in 2015. International hotel chains will likely increase their expansion and investment plans in India, and are expected to account for 50 per cent share in the Indian hospitality industry by 2022, from the current 44 per cent.
India is destined to become a tourism attraction for people all over-the world. Combined with the abundance of an exceptional hospitality labour force, they are definitely a country to watch out for. I can only hope that the rest of the world is able to take a page out of the book on the art (and heart) of Indian Hospitality.
