Exhibitions is a growing segment and we see a tremendous opportunity there: Kanika Hasrat, GM, Taj City Centre, Gurugram

It has  been just four months since Kanika Hasrat took over as the new General Manager of The Taj City Centre, Gurugram. Over the years this property has become synonymous with creating compelling experiences for social and corporates events.

Being at the helm of this property, Hasrat has big plans to scale up the events and experiential piece in the revenue mix.

In an exclusive with BW Applause & EE, she spoke about her new stint and how experiential and events are becoming top priority for this property. Read on.

Excerpts:

It has been almost four months since you took over as the General Manager, of this property, how has the journey been so far?
Gurgaon is a very dynamic city, Monday to Thursday, the hotels are sold out. 

The challenge in our market is making sure it's priced right.  And making sure that on weekends you are not empty. So creating activities, events, and engagement on weekends which creates occupancies.

I've worked in Gurgaon earlier,  so that was my advantage coming back. My last four months have been most about getting involved with the team, understanding them, knowing them on a personal level, what motivates them or gets them going and building back corporate connect in the market again.

When it comes to hosting events at this property, what is ratio between social and corporate events?
Being a very corporate hotel, we are not very large on exhibitions. However corporate events versus social would be in a ratio of 80: 20.

We see exhibitions as the growing segment and we also see a tremendous opportunity there. We have been recently doing events in partnership with the Gurugram Municipal Corporation where they are doing exhibitions on safety. So these are new things that the government is involved in and wants to promote it. So exhibitions are definitely on the rise.

In your view, what are some of the biggest challenges facing the hospitality sector?
Being different and living up to your brand name, legacy. Taj has a legacy in everyone's mind. So the challenge is holding that legacy and  building signature experiences. Also, it's about staying relevant to every customer and that's the challenge because you have to keep reinventing.

The market is very dynamic, it is important to ensure that you're always engaging and taking care of your customers, doing things differently as well as creating that much needed personalization. Making sure that your team is delivering exactly the best. So that remains the challenge, and of course finding new sources of business.

How do you ensure a differentiated luxury experience for your customers?
It's all about service, service, service. There's nothing else. What differentiates luxury to anything else is service. It is that eye for detail and those little touches which are human delivered with authentic care that ensure a truly luxurious experience.

In my view service means that every person needs to be empowered and well trained. Everyone needs to know how much more they can do for their customer. And that's what keeps us challenged.