Our MICE Business Is Back To Pre Covid Levels: Vishal Sharma
Vishal Sharma, National Head, Sales and Marketing, The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group recently spoke to BW Applause and everythingexperiential.com about the return of the MICE and sector and how the group is gearing up for a record breaking wedding season.
Excerpts:
We have seen a big boom in the MICE segment this year, what has been the Lalit story?
As a brand we get preference because we have the location advantage and our venues for MICE and weddings are huge.
If we talk of numbers, the MICE industry has come back to pre covid levels, the only difference is the number of people attending which used to be 500-600, now it is in the range of 200-300, however, businesswise, it's been a great comeback for the sector.
Now we are witnessing a huge demand in international MICE across our properties.
With the wedding season coming up, how is that segment looking from a revenue perspective?
There are a lot of expectations and rightly so. If you look at 2021, it was a comeback for weddings in a limited way, 2021 was totally muted and 2022 is undoubtedly going to be a big season for the sector.
Let me share some numbers. Before covid we used to do a minimum of 200 weddings and it came down drastically during covid. This year we expect to cross the 200 mark and we are already witnessing a huge rush across our properties.
Between MICE and Weddings, which is the biggest revenue contributor for your hotels?
MICE definitely contributes a larger portion, it contributes to room occupation and banquet booking in a significant way.
What are the biggest challenges facing the industry?
Well I think the service standards have really gone up post covid, especially the safety part of it. The biggest challenge is that customers are now expecting higher quality in the pre-covid price.
