The hospitality industry in India has been demonstrating a significant growth rate over the past few years and has a great potential to reflect an even greater number in the future. Being a nation rich in culture and diversity, India is often recognized as a destination for spiritual tourism for international and domestic tourists; attracting a large number of tourists from all over the globe. Considering the rich cultural and historical heritage, variety in ecology, terrains, and places of natural beauty spread across the country, the Indian tourism and hospitality industry has emerged as one of the key drivers of growth in the services sector in India. Spearheaded by the hotel market, the Indian hospitality industry has emerged as one of the primary sectors responsible for driving the economic growth of the country.

Feeling attracted by the hospitality industry in many ways, Barnali Sarkar ventured into this domain with the notion to revolutionize the overall dynamics of the hotel segment through her impeccable leadership skills. She admits that the hospitality industry attracted her in many ways, as the avenue offered her to articulate several of her learnings and experiences. “The dynamism of this industry that keeps me on my toes, to remain motivated and positive all the time,” avers Barnali. Currently positioned as the Executive Director of Cygnett Hotels & Resorts, Barnali is currently leveraging her expertise as a prolific industry leader across the operations of her organization. By implementing overall operational expertise and strategic people leadership, Barnali is presently engaged in realizing the expansion vision for Cygnett Hotels & Resorts by creating a hotel group that is futuristic in its approach.

Below is an excerpt of Barnali’s interaction with the Women Entrepreneur Magazine.

Give Us A Brief Overview Of Cygnett Hotels & Resorts. In Your Opinion What Makes The Company Unique?

Cygnett Hotels & Resorts is a hotel brand committed to delivering an outstanding hospitality experience to guests. Every venture owned by the group is unique and offers the best of the experiences. Today, Cygnett is a brand and gradually it seems to widen its reach with the upcoming properties nationally and internationally. Cygnett has emerged as a brand that values customers’ preferences and promises to offer the best services to travelers. Inspired by the local art, culture, and cuisines, Cygnett Hotels & Resorts all together delivers a different hospitality experience. Our strengths lie in having both an Indian and a global outlook and we have transformed Cygnett from the hotel group into an aggrandized hospitality group with a new ecosystem of Cygnetture experience.

Every property of ours is unique and different from each other. We are known to offer an array of experiences, from luxury to budget accommodations, from exploring the mountains to the waves of the seas, from rich culture to the business capital. We are a perfect choice for leisure as well as business travelers, all our properties intend to serve at their best and offer the guests incredible hospitality. The fact that Cygnett highlights the fair mix of technology and human intervention to offer class hospitality makes us a unique brand. There is a lot of R&D involved in creating innovative approaches to offer customer service, making our company distinguished to create value for owners as well as travelers.

As The Executive Director Of Cygnett Hotels & Resorts, What Are Some Of The Most Pressing Business Challenges That You Face In Your Current Role? How Do You Mitigate These Challenges?

In the current scenario, the most pressing challenge is to keep increasing the Average Daily Rate by pushing in the occupancy. It involves a lot of penetration into the virtual space and brand building among key loyal customers as well as creating a brand distinction in the corporate travel space. Furthermore, employee retention is another critical aspect that is critical to the hospitality industry. With an inclusive cultural approach, I try to find solutions through our people who can come out with creative ideas to resolve issues. Challenges will always be there and I believe your people are the best resource to mitigate them. I rely on their judgment and keep offering them my understanding as well as advice to unearth realistic solutions.

Throw Some Light On The Key Business Lessons That You Learned Through Your Prior Industry Experience. How Are You Implementing Them Across Your Current Role?

My learning has been an ongoing experience, and I believe myself to be evolving even today. There have been instances where I learned about dealing with the team and picked up nuances of team management from varied dimensions, starting from Customer Services to HR, Finance, Operations, and so on. They all have been equally important for me to give me that mindset to tackle day-to-day operational challenges in a hotel management company.

"A Quintessential Phenomenon Refurbishing the Indian Hospitality industry"

While it is one thing to manage customer expectations in a hotel/resort, it is a different ball game to manage the expectations of hotel owners who rely on our expertise to give them profits. More importantly, aligning them to our philosophy and style of work is the single-most aspect that has taught me to be a leader, step my approach up, and deliver on what is being promised.

What Has Been The Success Mantra That Constantly Helps You Arrive At Positive Outcomes?

I am a positive person with an emotional heart, I believe in my instincts and of course, hard work is one of the key elements of my personality. Nothing comes easily; everything in life is achieved after years of hard work, and still today I feel a lot needs to be done. I am a determined and result-oriented woman, who is confident and passionate about what she does. I am inspired by my father and later by my husband; these two men have played a major and vital role in my career. Also, I have a learning attitude and am always inclined towards doing something innovative, well innovation is the key to success I believe.

How Has Been The Journey Of Cygnett Hotels & Resorts So Far? How Is It Gearing Up For Its Future Endeavors And What Role Do You Intend To Play In It?

Cygnett is a tech-savvy hotel company that has evolved as an aggrandized hospitality group with its powerful multi-brand portfolio, delivering Cygnetture experience through constant innovation while expanding boundaries.

"The fact that Cygnett highlights the fair mix of technology and human intervention to offer class hospitality makes us a unique brand"

With a majority of our operations being conducted in Tier II & III cities, we focus on this segment because these markets miss the presence of Branded chain. Currently, we are planning for an expansion to as many cities as possible in this segment, and simultaneously, we are increasing our presence in Tier I & Metro cities. As a franchise management company, our focus is to offer expertise in hotel management to those who may have good properties but may not have the experience or understanding to manage them profitably. We are focussing aggressively on inorganic expansion and have already marked our presence in numerous cities across India.

I want to make Cygnett a go-to brand for business and leisure travel. It should be at the top of the mind among our target customers and that is what I want to achieve with thoughtful brand-building and marketing plans. In fact, from the business standpoint of Cygnett, we have inked more than 10 management contracts in the country in the last few months, and the same number is under the final stages of negotiations. I expect that this upward trend will continue to be there in the next quarter as well. I am certain that 2022 will be a revival year for Cygnett Hotels & Resorts, achieving a higher share of occupancies and RevPAR.

Barnali Sarkar, Executive Director, Cygnett Hotels & Resorts

ResortsEquipped with two decades of work experience in Finance and Corporate Management, Barnali has always tried to demonstrate a positive aptitude for handling Business Planning & Analysis, Budgeting, Investor Relation and OTA Management.