Nepalese Hotel Industry: Changing with Time

Thanks to the peace process, hotel business of Nepal is back in shape and blooming like the spring flower. Today hotels have triumphed over others and come up as the winners in the market with its excellent marketing strategies and plans. In 2007 we saw many hotels going under renovation, some were upgraded to five stars and some had additional attractions for their customers. On the whole, it was a lucky year where the business prospered to its best.

Summarizing 2007“ It was a very prosperous year as we saw tremendous increase in tourists arrival. Our strategy was to tie up with various travel and trekking agents and promote the hotel in various markets via their packages. We also worked very closely with corporate house by offering attractive rates and providing personalized services in terms of conferences, meeting and conventions keeping in mind the variety of the clients’ need”, said Bharat Johi, Resident Manger of Hotel Himalaya.

.On the other hand Raj Bikram Shah, Deputy sales Mangaer of Hotel del’ Annapurna expressed his delight on seeing hotel Shangri La and Hotel Malla in five star category. “ The industry grew this year. There was a positive growth in the over all scenario which was only dented by a week dollar,” he added. Karuna Manandhar, Public Relation Excutive of Hotel Radission agreed with Shah on devaluation of US dollar affecting the revenue generation. Where as Marketing Manger of Hyatt Regency, Suman Sundar Shrestha who believes the 2007 has been very good for business said, “ we have revised the rate of the rooms and services but I think that is okay with our customers as they are getting world class services. The services you get here is not different from other Hyatt franchise.” Most of the hotels have revised their prices looking at the growth of customers.

Something Different and New
In this era of tough competition where rat race exists in each and every sector, hotel industry in Nepal is not a stranger to this trend. The year also saw various changes in the services, infrastructure and décor, in various hotels. “ To provide freshness to our clients we have renovated the rooms and other parts of the hotel. We have introduced the new Indian restaurant Ka-kori, the authentic Awadhi food, with best service.” Said sagina Manandhar, Marketing Excutive of Hotel Soaltee Crown Plaza. Similarly hotel Himalaya changed the look of its garden and introduced new menus. As Hotel Del’ Annapurna the re-launch of its restaurant, The Coffee Shop and The Cake Shop received tremendous respose from their local clientele. All these changes have played a vital role in their growth in the market.

Focusing More in Home and Neighbors
Usually when we talk about the hotels people have a concept that it is just for tourists. But this year the hotels around town proved this concept wrong with their special promotions, which were focused on local customers.  Most of the food and Beverages (F & B) promotion packages in the hotel are for domestic clients” said Shrestha. All the hotels of Nepal agree that F & B is for local customers who actively enjoy the different promotions. Most of the hotels also provided special packages for the Indian Clients as they help in sustainability during the off seasons,.

Next Hope For Next Year
Looking at the progress the hospitality industry made in 2007, a hope for even better results has come up among the people of this sector. Joshi assures that with the New Year their clients will get to see many more changes in their hotel. Though their main aim in 2008 is to provide the best services to all the customers they also hope to see changes happening in the other areas of the country. “we hope that with the arrival of New Year supply of basic amenities like petroleum product are maintained” said Shah”.