The recent addition to the Marriott International portfolio in India, the JW Marriott Hotel Mumbai Sahar, has positioned itself as a business luxury hotel, and is fast gaining popularity among international and domestic travellers alike. Boasting one of the largest banquet and conference spaces in the city, as well as an impressive inventory, the property has already seen several large meetings, conferences and weddings take place since it opened last year.
According to Saeid Heidari, General Manager, JW Marriott Hotel Mumbai Sahar, the property faces a lot of competition from the established airport hotels in the vicinity, but names it’s attention to detail in service, size of rooms, and a décor of understated luxury, as some of the aspects that keep them ahead of the game. “We are trying to build a niche – business luxury, and our focus is to provide comfort, state of the art facilities, and fair pricing. Luxury is a difficult word to define. To me, luxury means incomparable, and that is what we strive for here in terms of F&B, spa facilities, amenities and so on,” he explained.
Heidari further stated that the property has already seen success in it’s internal matrix, a gauge that ranks the establishment third among the 27 hotels under Marriott in the region.
“Our occupancy comes from two major segments: the business traveller/corporate business and FIT through e-channels. We expect an occupancy of 68-70 per cent by end 2016,” he said. Heidari opined that the Mumbai hospitality sector will grow at 7-8 per cent year on year, with occupancies in 2016 touching 65-70 per cent.
Speaking about the MICE business to the hotel, Heidari informed that the property has seen success in the segment owing to the fast that it is the only hotel in the area to offer banqueting and conference space on such a large scale, with a supporting room inventory. Once the property is established, he added, business from JW Marriott Hotel Mumbai Sahar may even spill over into the neighbouring hotels for big groups. “We are creating new demand in this part of town,” he stated.
The property currently sees a 70:30 per cent ratio of domestic and international guests, and a large chunk of this is transit passengers. He called transit travellers the property’s biggest opportunity.
Heidari further informed that the B2B channel is a very important one for the hotel, and a dedicated vertical is in place for agents.
