BRIEF23 brings you insights and inspiration from Jayant Singh, Managing Partner, Treehouse Hotels & Resorts – a brand owned by Karma Hospitality LLP is a multi-dimensional hotel company with a rich and diverse experience of operating and managing full scale hotels, resorts and serviced apartments.
Jayant writes on invitation and exclusively for our special series BRIEF23, which features industry stalwarts, thought leaders, industry captains, business heads, brand custodians and other C-suite heads from diverse companies across sectors, size and scale, sharing their learnings from 2022, and guidance and inspiration to help empower professionals for the upcoming FY 2023-24.
Jayant Singh has more than 25 years of experience in the hospitality industry, starting his career with The Taj Group in 1995. He then ventured into operations and established the first luxury hotel in Bhutan. In addition, Jayant is a dedicated trainer.
In 2008, he co-founded Karma Hospitality LLP with Ankur Gupta of Ashiana Housing Ltd., which owns the ‘Treehouse’ brand of hotels. Starting with their first hotel in Bhiwadi, a suburb of Delhi, the hotel management company now oversees hotels, resorts, and serviced apartments throughout India.
Jayant is an alumnus of Delhi University and received his MBA degree from Brussels Business School.
BRIEF23 by Jayant Singh – Treehouse
2022 defined: The year 2022 was like a soap opera. Every month was like a new episode. The year started tragically with Covid hitting hard in the months of Jan and Feb. March onwards, things started looking better and then every second month was a scare of another wave.
The hospitality industry came out as a hero that could withstand any adversity and come out successfully. It was the dawn of a new era, where hotel occupancies and average rates soared high. The industry had learnt to survive with less manpower and thus improving the bottom line tremendously.
On track, ahead of, or trailing the pack?: I would say alternate growth. I could finish a course in Finance from Yale and also study Law. All this while keeping the company afloat, paying the salaries, and keeping the morale high of the entire team.
A personal target that I could not achieve was to lose weight. With hectic travels and trying to ride the high, my personal weight loss program went for a toss. So last year was definitely alternate growth – academically, professionally, and size-wise.
Under the hood: Personally, I was happy to have given time to academics, and professionally we could manage to achieve results way better than in 2019. We also managed to turn around hotels, that we had just acquired and which were operating in the ‘Red’ for the past 5 years.
Lessons learnt: Don’t be a pessimist during adversity, was the biggest learning. Nobody knew when the pandemic would end and that led to huge pessimism. Use adversity to come out stronger. Work harder during troubled times and you will be able to ride the wave when things get better.
I remember being on the phone for at least 8 to 10 hours every day, with each team member, giving them new random assignments, just to keep their morale high. It paid off big time when the situation became better. On an individual level, I matured about 20 years, and my sense of responsibility increased manyfold both towards family and employees.
Who/What inspired me: My team inspired me the most and it is not a motherhood statement. At the beginning of 2021, my team delivered 1000 meals a day to people who were unable to cook for themselves or had no help/support at home to cook for them.
The entire team came together to cook the food and then worked out the delivery system. Our local car vendor gave us free transportation to do the deliveries. What could be more inspiring than being around a team that is willing to put their own lives in danger to do social service?
Looking ahead: The next few years are looking good for our sector. The domestic demand has increased, and people are travelling for both Leisure and Business. Once the inbound business (Foreign Tourists) comes in full swing, the demand for hotel rooms will further increase which will make the hotel prices dearer.
All this demand will result in more hotel supplies being added in various known and unknown destinations that will help a greater number of people travelling to lesser-known tourist spots. So lesser-known tourist spots are where our growth lies in the short to medium term. The new trends in our sector are family spaces for vacations and alternate accommodations.
And here’s how we’ll do it!: We are on an aggressive growth path, both in lesser-known and better-known destinations. We have also entered into the alternate accommodation space with our first caravan park in Neemrana.
We feel that with drivable destinations getting popular, Caravan travel will be on the increase. We consider ourselves as infrastructure providers for the caravans. It is like building airports for aeroplanes. We will be coming up with Caravan Parks throughout the DMIC corridor so that people have safe and interesting places to stay.
Advice: Every dark cloud has a silver lining. This is not just a proverb now; it is something we all have seen and experienced. Work harder during adversity and you will reap the benefits when the time changes. Always keep 8 to 12 months of working capital as a reserve in your company, it will come in handy when things go south. Try to live off your savings during troubled times instead of borrowing.
One big learning/realization: Don’t forget yourself in the process of expanding your company.
The quote or thought that’ll inspire me in 2023: “Have the audacity to be unreasonable” – Jayant Singh