A residential hotel that revolves around 'no-meat, no- smoke, no-liquor' concept may sound a bit out of sync with business sense, but a but Bangalore-based Akkayya Consultancy Services (ACS) is all set to bring this concept to reality.
Come September this year, ACS will officially launch a 252-room full-service, state-of-the-art business hotel in Bangalore's Electronic City. Branded as E-Inn, the property has already been soft-launched, with 100 operational rooms and three food and beverage outlets, and a SPA besides other facilities. And the response according to Chittaranjan A Hegde, director - hospitality for ACS has been very encouraging.
• Evolution of Indian rupee: Read more >>
"We are currently enjoying 90 per cent occupancy with 100 operational rooms. The most astonishing part is that majority of the business travellers using our hotel are expatriates and long staying guests mainly from the US, Europe, South America, Japan and Tanzania amongst others. This is despite the fact that we operate on a smoke-free, alcohol-free and meat-free philosophy," said Hegde.
Though accommodations at E-Inn Bangalore have been priced at $125 for single occupancy and $150 for double occupancy excluding taxes, which is on par with the market rates, another reason for enjoying such high occupancies probably is the absence of any other hotel in the vicinity. The Electronic City boasts of a host of close to 200-odd Indian and international companies operating in the IT, ITES, BPO and manufacturing space including the likes of Infosys, Wipro, HP, Biocon, Motorola etc.
Internationally there are Shariah-compliant hotels (a lifestyle prescribed by the Islamic Law as mentioned in the Holy Quran) that follow the no liquor, no pork policy and serve only 'halal products' in terms of non-vegetarian offerings.
"Such properties are found primarily in Middle East and Far East countries. In fact, the Taj hotel in Dubai is a Shariah-compliant hotel," said Siddharth Thaker, associate director - Consulting & Valuation, HVS International-India.
"A concept like this, in totality, however is unheard of in the Indian context particularly except for some one-off cases. Normally Indian hoteliers tend to take the optional approach to promote healthy lifestyle amongst their patrons. A point blank no-smoke, no-liquor and no-meat approach to one's hospitality business could possibly be for religious reasons," Thaker said.
A few one-off examples driven by religious sentiments include the Kamat Hotels' managed five-star Ecotel at Katra, Vaishno Devi (Jammu) and the Country Inn & Suites (a Carlson Hotel brand) again in the same religious destination.
|
