India major focus for Intercontinental Hotel, London
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Ahead of his first visit to India towards the end of the year, Alvaro Rey, GM of Intercontinental Hotel, Park Lane, London talks about how this Hotel is the group’s flagship property, and he has had to work towards an overall change in attitude and outlook before stepping out to woo Asian markets, of which India and China remain his priority.
“When I took over, we were typically British stiff-upper-lipped, but we took a management call and turned it around to not only refurbish the hotel, but also make it warm and friendly. Possibly the strategy was driven by my own Latin American background (I am from Colombia) and exposure across 12 countries with the group,” said Alvaro, talking about the change.
With the new visa regulation stipulating India as a high-risk country and possibly asking a majority of Indians to put forth a GBP 3000 bond, Rey said he wasn’t too worried about these measures. “Indians love to travel. It comes as no surprise that both India and China are my target markets for the next few years. And no amount of currency swing will affect the upper and upper middle class from travelling to London, and travelling luxuriously. Presently, a majority of our travellers from the subcontinent are corporates or state guests, but that’s going to change – albeit slowly,” he stated.