Tremendous growing domestic consumption at Dhaka hotels

Dhaka : Since the last five years, there has been a tremendous growing domestic consumption at the hotels of the capital. This above the ceiling growth of local consumption owes to the developing economy, new spending power and capacity of the people as well as the confidence of the local customers to not only spend outside the country but also way more inside the country.
Ashwani Nayar, General Manager of InterContinental Dhaka said this while talking to The Bangladesh Monitor at his office in the capital recently. 
Surprisingly, the local consumption is witnessed in both room and F&B, claimed Nayar. 
He mentioned, the largest contributor to F&B at hotels is the domestic consumers. The customer base which does daily dining at restaurants, holds social events like weddings and birthday parties has increased exponentially. Local customers are now spending money for more value oriented experiences, Nayar added. 
On the other hand, room consumption in the capital by domestic guests was non-existed five years ago. However, now people have started to opt for a new concept that InterContinental Dhaka has been one of the first to pioneer - staycation and workation. 
Through the hotel's attractive staycation packages they invite residents from within Dhaka to take a break on weekends or weekdays from their regular routine life and enjoy a holistic staycation experience with their families, noted Nayar. 
People are now confident to have a good experience without having to travel too far away, he mentioned. 
Nayar expressed that it is good that this revolution has taken place domestically allowing the money of the country to get back to its economy while generating value out of it. 
This growing domestic consumption will be the major driver of what direction the hospitality industry is planning to go forward, said Nayar, adding, this will also give rise to opportunities of more hotels coming up and generate more employment. 
Moreover, the globally renowned IHG Group's InterContinental Dhaka is the only luxury hotel in the country currently, claimed Nayar. The renowned hospitality group has another business hotel in the capital while a new upper upscale hotel of theirs is on the way - the conversion of Doreen at Gulshan to Crowne Plaza.  
All these distinct hotel brands of the group would only complement each other. The distinction among the brands and the positioning of the hotels are aimed at providing diversity to the customers in terms of offers, explained Nayar.
After the devastating impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, Nayar explained, luckily, it did not take InterContinental Dhaka long to recover from the plunge in business. 
After the pandemic, there has been such a strong pent-up demand for travel that the hotel started operating with higher numbers than the pre-pandemic levels in no time. Also, ever since, there has been a solid trajectory of growth, said Nayar. 
However, Nayar expressed his plans to bring in more foreign tourists now as well as more foreign currency by encouraging foreign travellers to travel and come to Bangladesh and Dhaka. 
As a company, the IHG group's efforts remain consistent and strong in trying to make a global outreach, added Nayar. One of the biggest contributors to this is the IHG One Rewards loyalty programme, mentioned Nayar. 
The group's loyalty programme is one of the strongest in the world. It also has been relaunched as one of the most rewarding programmes globally. 
"Currently, our vision for this hotel is to create a new and distinct level of service style, be that in our service, physical product, F&B, rooms, banquet, operating process or procedure," said Ashwani Nayar. 
Lastly, Nayar shared, in the coming days ahead, the demand will rise to new boundaries. Hence, more numbers of standard hotels will be needed. And if the global hospitality brands do not enter the Bangladesh market now, the cost of entry will become costlier later. Therefore, now is the right time to have more hospitality players in the market.