Leading Hotel Groups Join Hands With EEMA North To Form The Hotel Advisory Committee

EE News Desk May 22, 2023

The Event and Entertainment Management Association (EEMA) North, in conjunction with five major hotel groups that together possess more than 50% of the country's high-end properties, has established the Hotel Advisory Committee (HAC), The HAC is an innovative coalition designed to foster cooperation and communication between hotels and event organisers.

Representing the hotel industry, following individuals have joined the Committee representing their respective groups: Rohit Chopra from ACCOR Group, Vikas Choudhery from Hyatt Sales Group, Deepak Bansal from Marriott Group, Alok Chakravarty from The Leela Group, and Saurabh Bharadwaj from The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL).

The Committee aims to create ideal techniques that will enhance growth and streamline business operations in the event ecosystem. Its purpose is to foster a mutually beneficial partnership between the hotel industry and the 600+ agencies that comprise EEMA.

Rohit Chopra emphasized on this relationship and commented, “As Henry Ford shared, ‘If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.’ That is what I felt during the HAC meeting today where all our colleagues from the Industry had the same opinion to share on future business prospective and collaboration to grow and help others to nurture.”

Vikas Choudhery added, “Hotel Advisory Committee is a great initiative by EEMA to engage hotel partners, providing an excellent opportunity to hotels and planners to look for better ways to collaborate and also find solutions to common challenges.”

The advisory board has devised a strategy to achieve their objective by setting clear long-term goals and immediate action plans. As part of this strategy, each group of hotels will appoint a SPOC to streamline business dealings, and establish a chain of communication that includes escalation and de-escalation protocols. A comprehensive fact sheet, containing essential information such as venue layouts and contacts, will be created for chain hotels.

To strengthen the symbiotic relationship between hotels and event planners, several proposals were presented, including simplifying the event planning process and identifying mandatory services for setups. The Committee will sign MOUs with group hotels to ensure that all parties benefit and that the agreements make commercial sense for EEMA members on a national level. Additionally, a common minimum agenda for the advisory board will be developed, agreed upon, and followed.

Deepak Bansal complimented the initiatives of the Advisory Board and stated, “I feel very glad that EEMA is working towards bringing India on the global map for large conventions and really look forward to supporting it. The Association has a long way to go and regular communication is the key to Initiate, Innovate & Execute.”

To enhance networking opportunities between event planners and hotels, an outreach program will be launched involving General Managers (GMs). This initiative will facilitate online meetings that involve all GMs to discuss ways to simplify transactions and provide ease of business for event planners.

The HAC is committed to elevating the event ecosystem by implementing effective solutions and setting higher standards. To achieve this, the Committee plans to address persistent issues related to licenses and permissions, and engage with finance heads, legal heads, and DOSMs to find a definitive solution to the music license problem.

“We at IHCL believe that the event and entertainment space will see tremendous growth in the coming decade and this association with EEMA will help all the stakeholders in the industry and IHCL to unlock this potential to its fullest,” exclaimed Saurabh Bhargava.

Moreover, given the shortage of manpower in hotels, the HAC is exploring automation of certain processes to streamline interactions between the two parties.

“The Hotel Advisory Committee is a platform to discuss industry needs and share best practices. EEMA will train the sales team for event management. The committee will also leverage strengths for exceptional service delivery,” said Alok Chakravarty.