By Raadia Mukadam
Being the General Manager of the only luxury Resort and Spa in Gujarat is a daunting task, but not so much for Sudip Kumar Maity, who has over two decades of hospitality experience under his belt, with the last four being quite illustrious. In an Interview with Tourism India, he shares the best practices and initiatives that make Madhuban Resort & Spa the highest ARR and Rev PAR earner in Gujarat.
With a vast experience in your portfolio, how do you ensure that you live up to expectations from your owners, peers and most importantly your customers?
Madhuban Resort & Spa almost a decade old is the first and the only five-star deluxe resort of Gujarat. Being the General Manager for the last four years of this wonderful property has not only been challenging but exciting too for me. Mr Prayasvin Patel the founder and his wife Ms.Taruna Patel, our CEO had a clear mission and vision of the service standard I had to take forward.
I believe our real strength and asset are our team members. It’s not bricks and mortar and the buildings, if you don’t have good people, you cannot achieve success We believe in strong HR practices and every HOD has been trained to behave as HR Manager in their own department to nurture the software with them. They are also equally empowered to go to any extent for Guest Delight. We are committed to exceeding our guest expectations through our trained and motivated employees, always with a ‘Happy to Help’ attitude and thus create an imprint in the Industry of being the best in standards, integrity, ethics, warmth and hospitality, reflecting the true meaning of ‘AtithiDevoBhava’.
With 20 years under your belt, tell us a bit about the other markets you worked in and how that compares to Gujarat?
The other markets where I had worked before like NCR of Delhi, Kolkata, Goa and Dubai have already established markets in MICE and Leisure, but Gujarat marked its presence on the tourism map of India only a decade ago after the ‘Kuch din to gujariye Gujarat mein’ campaign by Amitabh Bachchan. From the first edition of the Vibrant Gujarat International Investment Summit in 2003, the hospitality industry has enjoyed constant support from the state government. The people of Gujarat are ardent travellers and form a major chunk of the NRI segment. So one has to constantly raise the benchmark and hospitality standards to attain service excellence and achieve guest delight through a dynamic approach.
How would you define the USP of Madhuban Resort & Spa?
Madhuban Resort & Spa is an oasis within the Industrial Belt of Charotar, covering 25 acres with modern amenities and luxurious accommodation and is a short drive from Vadodara and Ahmedabad, which are connected by short flights from Mumbai or New Delhi. Originally, the idea was to build a luxurious but small resort, to accommodate guests who visit for work trips. Instead of a spanking modern look and feel, Madhubhan reflects the feel of a village (Amba-vaadi), based on our architect Tony Joseph effort to style the resort just like that of Sardar Patel’s residential village. The entire resort has been strategically built around 1150 orchard trees while keeping in mind nature, the existing nests of birds and every inhabitant’s comfort zone. The most positive fact about Madhubhan remains to be that the resort is a Green Initiative and in-spite of it being built amidst an industrial estate, the place is full of pure and fresh air! Additionally, the founders also initiated tree plantations of over 65000 saplings and have made the property green and fresh one!
Tell us more about your ‘Green Initiative’?
Our resort is a green initiative and thus the founders and staff have been putting in their best effort to save energy in whatever way they can. Madhuban consists of bore-wells that consume groundwater for the use of its premises. We practice rain-water harvesting along with an STP (Sewage Treatment Plant) which makes it full-proof and useful. Our resort produces over 500 kgs of organic waste and 1 lakh litres of water waste per day, all of which gets redirected to our Compost Machine and STP respectively. The STP treated water is used in the horticulture of the entire Resort.
Our resort also houses solar panels thus generating hot water for the staff and driver rooms and six air turbines and is also a 100% LED resort with sensor lights and taps installed in all public areas. Our central air conditioning plant is CFC free and we are a ‘no cracker zone’. With the zero-dustbin policy, our resort is doing a remarkable job at zero wastage of food. A very interesting initiative wherein our resort is trying to make ‘Saving Resources’ a practice among its guests. For occupied rooms of travellers that do not ask for a towel and bed-sheet change, every day is those that get reimbursed with the amount of money that they helped the resort saved and thus it encourages one to save up on water energy, electricity, detergents and wastage on an individual basis.
How do you define exceptional customer experience?
Every interaction is a moment of truth to attain service excellence and achieve guest delight through a dynamic approach. We believe in ‘word of mouth’ marketing and always strive to improve on our last ‘best performance’. Madhuban hosts a wide variety of activities that are set to engage different age-groups over their stay at the resort. There is a healthy mix of indoor and outdoor activities that are designed for all age-groups. Indoor activities consist of board games, karaoke, table tennis and an activity centre where one could book a spot for a certain activity per day. Outdoor activities include swimming, water-polo, nature walks, tennis, cricket, badminton, volleyball, yoga, amphi-theatre experiences and a kid’s zone. All these activities have supervisors and are definitely good space for kids to make new friends, learn new activities; for adults to take up baking classes, watch a movie or learn yoga.
Tell us a little about your Spa Rejou?
Guests can relax and refresh their body, mind and soul at ‘Rejou – The HealingSpa & Naturopathy’ in Madhubhan which integrates healing and wellness modalities from various streams to enrich the experience. Spread over 13,000 sq.ft., it is set amidst tranquil landscaped environs offering mindful, effective skincare and body therapies of the highest quality and are administered by a carefully selected team of experienced & dedicated professionals. Madhubhan’s own brand of Spa under the name of Rejou specializes in Naturopathy that not only offers the usual body massages but also have week-long sessions that induct you into living a healthy lifestyle. With experienced professionals from Bhutan who performs massages, the resort also houses a professional doctor who has in-depth knowledge about naturopathy and wellness.
Are you planning any expansion or adding any new products to enhance the guest experience at Madhuban in the future?
Yes indeed, because of increasing demand, we are planning for an addition of another 40 high-end rooms, a convention centre and more of outdoor and indoor activities for our guests in the near future. This will address the augmenting need of our corporate guests who want to have more MICE events on our property as well as our leisure guests.
And lastly, how has your resort contributed in enhancing the image and tourist footfall in Anand?
Anand, being a tier three city, which the entire world knows as the Milk Capital of India, is on the hospitality map of the country due to Madhuban Resort & Spa. It is a complete holiday destination that promises a unique experience to families, NRIs, tourists and corporate alike. It is a beautiful location for destination weddings it’s MICE Centre Gulmohar and Conference hall magnolia are perfect for hosting meetings, conferences and business events and have been inviting both MICE and tourist footfall in Anand. We have been able to bag several prestigious awards within a short span of time and maintain the highest ARR and RevPAR in Gujarat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v41zk97Qjek
https://tourismindiaonline.com/culinary-journey-from-bengal-to-bengaluru-the-chancery/
