hotelscapes The Saraf family started their hotel business with Yak n Yeti in Kathmandu, later developed Hyatt in the same city; copromoted the Hyatt Regency in New Delhi with Sushil Gupta and Shiv Jatia; now run 12 hotels across the country with 3800 keys. Managing Director, Arun Saraf, speaks with Destination India and shares his insights into the business.
wait and watch as the high drama unfolds in hospitality Says Arun Saraf, MD, Unison Hotels There is widespread distress being witnessed in the hospitality industry. As the single biggest franchisee of the Hyatt family in India, running two of the most enviable properties in the country, in Delhi and Mumbai, namely the Andaz and Grand Hyatt, how do you personally feel the pinch of the current shutdown?
In our case, leveraging has not been high. In Mumbai, the debt is around 450 crores, while in Delhi, it is around 600 crores. We have 12 operational hotels, with some 3800 rooms. In some of the companies, we have a positive cash balance. Both our hotels in
Nepal are debt-free. Overall, we can manage this debt. I do not see it as a problem.
We gather large-formats hotels, with large public spaces, are more vulnerable. Small and compact will perform better when social distancing kills public functions for a long time?
Indeed, two hotels in Delhi and Mumbai as large format hotels. These were visualized as such, having five distinct streams of revenue – rooms, banquets, commercial, restaurants, and serviced apartments. Fortunately for us, we do not have zero revenue, but
destination india | june 2020 | 30
