One of the best luxurious hotels in the area, Golden Crown Hotel Kandy’s General Manager, Mr. Suneth Kudaliyanage spoke to Susmita Ghosh, Editor-in-Chief, Netpal Travel E Zine, sharing his views on the travel trends with an emphasis on his property
- The Golden Crown Hotel appears to be an amalgamation of history and luxury. Please elaborate.
The Golden Crown, Kandy is a place where 21st-century luxuries and historic charms live in perfect harmony in a haven of Five Star indulgence, offering the opportunity to experience the quintessence of Sri Lankan hospitality. As the most elegant five-star hotel in Kandy, the hotel’s architectural structure is created by conveying the feel and touch of the ancient city of Kandy, enriched with the true essence of Kandyan culture, nature and history.
The style of welcoming the guests to our hotel is unique. The rhythmic beats of traditional Sri Lankan drums guide you to our lobby, where the attention is drawn to the intricate carving inspired by the carvings at Embekke.
Five Star Indulgence is very much present at every corner. The Golden Crown Hotel is a true symbol of a perfect amalgamation of history and culture forward together with the new trends in luxurious hospitality.
- What are your primary marketing and promotional strategies?
- We are in the phase of familiarizing our brands among our target audiences, customer and contact points.
- We believe that educating our customers about our properties will lead them for self-persuasion to try out our brands, positioning ourselves as an example of impeccable hospitality.
- Cluster branding of The Golden Hospitality and an identical branding resembling the uniqueness of each property.
- Activated in social media platforms – Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for the continuous engagement with our fan bases and to leverage our potential customer bases.
- Collaborations, Influencer marketing.
- Encouraging recommendations and reviews on Trip Advisor and Booking.com.
- After April 21, 2019 please mention the percentage and changes in the travelers’ tend in 2019 if compared to 2018?
Terrorism attack was brought numbers almost down to zero and trade professionals guessed the recovery period as 12 to 18 months. A 30percent negative growth compared to 2018 was what Sri Lanka Tourism forecasted in arrivals to the country. As to date, The Golden Crown is having a 57percent negative growth in occupied rooms and 50percent in accommodation for the current financial year (since April).
- What are the main challenges do you face and how you overcome them?
The main challenge after the Easter attack is the security of our guests. Though the government has taken necessary action and tightens the security, to overcome all difficulties, from our end we have upgraded and maximized our hotel private security. Going forward we have ordered an X-ray scanner machine and awaiting approval from the ministry of defense. We have given high importance to hotel security and we monitor the entire property 24X7 through 320 high definition security cameras covering all public areas and back areas. Considering all the steps we have taken, we have managed to overcome the most serious challenge.
- From which countries do you get more traffic? Preferably what sort of travelers’ are they – Leisure, MICE, luxury or business?
Post attack, India and the Middle East are the main markets helped us to survive. Australia has also continued its operations after a short interval. After lifting travel bans other Asian markets and Europe began to perform gradually, however wholesale operations are still on hold. Majority traffic was for leisure and MICE and business travelers were very less.
- What are the measures you have taken to attract the rejuvenated MICE crowd influx enjoying your superior structure and facilities of Banquet halls?
Presently, we survive with domestic MICE businesses apart from the great demand, we have for local weddings and other social functions. Though the property is equipped with the most modern and largest banquet facilities after Colombo current room inventory (90 rooms) is insufficient for us to bring in large MICE groups. Hence construction began to add 50 more rooms and a large swimming pool which will be an external wing to the existing structure. However, we started approaching regional MICE markets like India, China and Singapore.
- Is there any authentic Srilankan experience that your guests can try from the ranges and varieties of cuisine you offer?
Our culinary layout is massive with a huge variety of food including a range of authentic Sri Lankan cuisine. We have our own action kitchens in the restaurant where the guest can experience from freshly picked ingredients to a cooked meal. Almost all authentic Sri Lankan dishes are presented at the buffets which are not very common in Sri Lankan hotels. An unforgettable experience can be utilized upon request for an authentic Sri Lankan cookery demonstration conducted by our Executive Chef.
- Did you introduce any educative tool for the travel trade, who were the main distribution arm to promote your property?
Major volume producers are local DMCs and OTAs. These segments will keep growing because of the positive reviews given by previous visitors and great review rankings that we maintain. As a group of hotels, we have gone through a major rebranding and positioned all our hotels, chalets and bungalows based on the uniqueness of each property.
The group website will be launched in a month’s time with a sophisticated Booking Engine and a Channel Manager to enhance visibility and reach our own customers. The team will continue to do product presentations, listings & adverts in newspapers, magazines, guide books to enhance the visibility. Overseas sales calls, participation for travel fairs, road shows and exhibitions will be continued to create further awareness.