It was 1980 when Bharat Joshi started working as a hotelier. He has since worked at some of Nepal’s leading hotel brands and has become a mentor to many from the industry, who turn to him for advice on anything related to the hotel industry.

The last two years have been some of the most challenging years for Nepal’s hotel industry, and to get some sense of where the industry is heading, the Post’s Tsering Ngodup Lama talked to Joshi.

Excerpts.

Prior to joining the hotel industry, your goal was to become a teacher. What made you change course and choose the hospitality industry?

My father was a professor and headed Tribhuvan University’s Central Department of Nepali. I was also following in his footsteps and wanted to become an English teacher, even doing my Master’s degree in English literature. But my life’s goal started shifting when I started learning more about the hospitality industry. As a person, I have always enjoyed interacting with new people, and I found that the hotel industry gives people ample chances to do just that. In 1977, I was one of the five Nepalis selected to pursue a two-year diploma in hotel management offered by the Oberoi Group of Hotels. The following year, I went to Oberoi Intercontinental, New Delhi, for my diploma. In 1980, I returned to Kathmandu and joined the then Hotel Soaltee Oberoi, now known as The Soaltee Kathmandu.

You have since worked at some of Nepal’s leading homegrown hotels brands. How do you think the industry has changed over the years?

A lot has changed in the nearly four decades that I have been part of this industry. Until the late ‘90s, Nepal received a lot of luxury travellers and big chartered groups, with each group consisting of 60 to 80 people. Hotel bookings would be made at least eight months to one year in advance and business was mostly driven by tour operators and travel agents. But this is not the case anymore. These days, group sizes have shrunk considerably, with the most prominent groups consisting of only up to 30 people. The industry also no longer receives luxury travellers in the same volume it once did. On the positive side, the industry is catering to many new markets that didn’t exist before. We now get tourists from Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, South America, and there’s also a lot of corporate movement. In the last few years, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Nepal has also seen exponential growth. The domestic tourism market has also grown significantly in the last few years.

A month ago, you took the role of Akama Hotel’s General Manager. What made you select this hotel, and what are the challenges homegrown hotel brands like yours face at a time when there are many international chain hotels in the country?

Having the right physical infrastructure and service philosophy are very important for a hotel to succeed, and Akama Hotel has both. The hotel’s physical infrastructure is at par with some of the country's most luxurious international chain hotels. We have a total of 105 well-appointed rooms that are divided into seven categories. We have five food and beverage outlets, and though we are a relatively new property, Chow Bella, our Chinese and Italian restaurant located on the ninth floor, is already very popular among locals. We also have several banquet halls of varying sizes to host events, an outdoor swimming pool, steam, sauna, jacuzzi, and a gym. As for the service side of things, the hotel believes in what I call graceful service. Our staff are trained to ensure that no guest leaves our property unsatisfied.

It is true that we have more international chain hotels than ever, but I don’t believe that they pose that big of a challenge to homegrown hotel brands like ours. When it comes to hotels, at the end of the day, what matters the most is guest satisfaction, and if a homegrown hotel brand can consistently deliver that, there’s no doubt that they can compete with international chain hotels.

You have taken the responsibility to lead a hotel at a time when the industry is grappling with so much uncertainty due to Covid-19. How do you intend to navigate this phase?

These are testing times for Nepal’s hotel industry, and like each and every premium hotel in the country, our goal is also to tide over this Covid-19 crisis and come out of it with as little financial damage as possible. We intend to do that by generating revenue from whatever limited avenues are available right now. Business from the industry’s traditional markets like Europe and North America are unlikely to get back to normalcy anytime soon, so we are now focusing more on markets from which we can get business, such as the Indian market. Nepal has always been a preferred destination for Indian leisure travellers. We are also pulling out all the stops to tap the growing domestic tourism market.

In order to achieve these goals in such a challenging atmosphere, it is absolutely crucial that we have the best team of people to perform their given roles. To achieve this, our focus has been to identify the right people for the right roles and give them the right training and guidance so that they perform to their optimum best.

Ever since the pandemic took hold, Nepal’s premium hotel industry has gone out of its way to tap the domestic market. What do you think the industry can do to better cater to Nepalis?

For decades, our industry relied heavily on international tourists, but over the years, the spending capacity of Nepalis has increased and more Nepalis are travelling within the country than ever. Many are also conducting their social and business events at hotels. A strong domestic tourism market is crucial for a resilient tourism industry, and the last two years have shown us how important domestic tourists are to Nepal’s tourism industry.

In its bid to lure Nepalis, the premium hotel industry has come up with packages and rates specifically designed for the local market, which has resulted in price competition among hotels. I don’t think this is the right approach. Instead of focusing on price, hotels should focus on value addition. Besides rooms, hotels should also promote their food and beverage outlets to attract Nepali diners.

What do you think has been the biggest takeaway for the hotel industry from the pandemic?

Before the pandemic, I don’t think the industry found it important to have contingency plans for crisis situations. But that has changed. The pandemic has also made the industry realise the perils of overstaffing and the importance of a robust domestic tourism market for a resilient tourism industry.

How optimistic are you about 2022?

Part of my job is to talk to tour operators and travel agents to get a sense of where the industry is heading, and going by the kind of information that I am getting, the industry’s business will reach around 40 percent of pre-pandemic levels this year and that is a concern for all of us. I think it will take until 2024 for business to return to normalcy.

While the stakeholders in the industry are doing their best, the government also has a vital role to play. In this pandemic, people’s main concern is safety, so the government and its bodies need to effectively promote Nepal as a travel destination that is safe to travel.