Hotel Industry in India is supported by 85% of domestic movement: Mr Dipinder Benjamin

You have 30 years of experience, in which you have worked with world-class brands. What will be your strategy to make Morpho Hotels a world-class brand? 

Mr Dipinder Benjamin: The Morpho Group is named after the Morpho butterfly, one that is known for its vivid appearance. With the right play of quality & service, the Morpho Group adds a flash of colour to its partner properties. As the priorities of travellers worldwide change from comfort to cleanliness, we at The Morpho Group help properties work towards embracing new, contactless technology-driven experiences, while retaining the essence of personalized hospitality. In order to achieve this, we offer a simplified booking system, OTA contracting, digital transformation for contactless experience, F&B planning, safety and hygiene protocols. These systems are designed to transform the way the world travels. They remind guests that their interests and safety always come first while allowing properties to curate experiences like never before.

If we talk about the pillars of the brand, what are the things on which the foundation of Morpho Hotels has been laid? 

Mr Dipinder Benjamin: The Morpho Group is created in response to a simple fact: today, more than ever before, travellers seek a high-quality safe hotel experience without compromising on the facilities or value chain. The brand aims to surprise travellers with an original, exciting and carefully curated offer that focuses from the highest levels of hygiene guidelines to personalised services.

Please share the features of Morpho, Crystal by Morpho and Vivid by Morpho with our readers?

Mr Dipinder Benjamin: Under the Morpho umbrellas are three distinct brands, each tailored to a different target audience and their requirements – The Morpho, Crystal by Morpho, Vivid by Morpho.

Morpho: Best suited for business travellers, these hotels offer services to meet the requirements of business travellers.

Crystal by Morpho: Upmarket, full-service hotels that offer enhanced F&B options, greater comfort and hospitality. These hotels typically have a larger inventory of rooms.

Vivid by Morpho: Upscale hotels that are ideal for travellers in search of leisure and luxury. These hotels are strategically located and offer a host of ancillary facilities.

It is very important for any new brand to connect with your customer and stay connected, how are you taking this thing forward? 

Mr Dipinder Benjamin: Morpho is definitely taking the initiative as a brand to connect with our customers and build a strong personalized relationship with them. We are looking to stay in constant communications thru all the mediums, be it digital, human interactions or affiliates.

Digital: The brand is making sure that the guest is not only enjoying his stay with us but at the same time with centralized CRS, Online feedbacks, personalized services at the hotels, we endeavour to be in touch at all times.  The stay is made more comfortable with the usage of touchless and contactless processes for not only reservations but all the guest services including F&B, laundry & spa.

We believe that Social Media plays a key role in a sustained connect with the Millennial gen so we very meaningful video messages along with relevant quotes are being posted by our marketing team on all social channels on a regular basis. We are ensuring that we are visible & continue to communicate on all platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram.

Personalized Services: We offer a consistent process of Guest feedback & interaction thru our teams at the unit. There is a daily review of the guest feedbacks; also writing / calling them on their birthday / Anniversary days in the year. We also ensure that all celebrations booked at the Hotel are made special by the unit. We are ensuring that our guest enjoy a safe, comfortable, hygienic and memorial stay at our hotels. We would soon be launching a guest loyalty program to stay connected to our guest. There are other multiple channels available for the guest today like TripAdvisor, QMS survey which also are feeders for guest engagement.

The hotel industry is incomplete without foods, what R&D strategy do you implement to keep it class apart? 

Mr Dipinder Benjamin: We have tied up with Wakira hospitality for their restaurant brands, namely- Kulcha King, nom nom, Elgreco and & Chinwa. Apart from this we are also developing additional concepts for Food and Beverage at our hotels, like localized menu’s, food and beverage loyalty programs, curated experiences and standardized recipes.

The current situation and market is in the golden period for mid-segment hotels. How do you think of using this period in the best way? 

Mr Dipinder Benjamin: We are very optimistic that 2021 would be a fairly good year for the industry. Hotel Industry in India is supported by 85% of domestic movement as such a fast turnaround/ revival is expected. We are focusing on using the online digital platforms to the best potential along with a team of professionals who come with a great understanding of their respective fields.  We are looking to establish ourselves as a homegrown International hotel chain with consistent adaptation to new business, economical & ecological ecosystems. Our brand identity “Morpho Butterfly” is symbolic to the manifestation of transformation through the lifecycle. We will also be exploring opportunities in wellness destinations to collaborate as it is again highly unorganized segment. We are working on a value index for these units.

All properties of Morpho Hotels, except Bokaro, are located at a vacation spot. What do you keep on priority while selecting the location of Morpho Hotels and at which location are you planning to come up with Morpho hotels next? 

Mr Dipinder Benjamin: In the initial phase, Morpho will be setting up properties in tourist and industrial hubs such as Goa, Darjeeling, Varanasi, Chhatarpur, Bokaro, Kasauli and Manali. The advent of the pandemic has brought a pause to international travel and therefore domestic tourism is likely to see a surge in demand at least for another 2 years. Morpho Hotels and resorts also plan to acquire 15 more properties in the year 2021. For its global launch, Morpho has associated with Wakira Investments for expansion of Morpho group in GCC, South Africa, Levant countries, Egypt, Iraq and Turkey. The brand also has tied up with Sumoworld at Kathmandu to develop the brand in Nepal. The Morpho group is in an advanced stage of talks for a tie-up in Spain as well.

How are you injecting traditional hospitality into the new age brand? 

Mr Dipinder Benjamin: Traditional hospitality will always stay relevant to the new age as we see a lot of infusions or related changes. The product design as well as services are being made more user friendly as we combine work with staycations. Hotel rooms have converted into office spaces for last few months offering home-style food, amenities like nightwear, morning yoga sessions & even a roll-on mattress to relax at times. So, the dynamic process has ensured that traditional greeting of Namaskar, giving the guest the welcome experience once he reaches the room by having local speciality savouries on the coffee table, customized linen options are few to name services which have been consistent.

OTA’s are giving high competition in the market, what are your thoughts about it? 

Mr Dipinder Benjamin: Very true and no denial on this but the fact is in today’s pandemic hit scenario we need every partner to perform at the optimum for our mutual revival and it goes without saying that the fast recovery would not be possible without the OTA’s contribution. They support the hotels with much greater outreach, drawing synergies to generate more revenues as well keep the unit updated with guest expectations.

It is important for the industry to pull in all the sources to revive & OTA’s will be very strategic to that success.

How do you manage to make the stay of your guests an experience for them? 

Mr Dipinder Benjamin: The Morpho Group was launched in line with the quality and safety vision, all its properties will cater to the needs of every traveller and include advanced sanitation and hygiene guidelines to personalized services for those who value comfort, safety, and privacy. From providing a professional and experienced team for centralized reservations to a simplified booking system leveraging BI technology, Morpho will spoil all guests with a safe and immersive experience. Digitalized monitoring, contactless journey, curated experiences, bespoke loyalty and promotion programmes, enhanced F&B options, business & luxury leisure offerings – all of this will also be part of the Morpho journey at each hotel.

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