Japanese multi-brand hotel operator Hotel Management Japan’s (HMJ’s) plan for 2024 is to increase its banquet and events revenue, as well as focus marketing efforts on the Indian outbound market.
“Although our room revenue for 2024 has already exceeded 2019, our F&B, events, and banquet revenues are still lagging behind. This is what the MICE manager has been tasked to handle, to push these revenues back to 2019 levels,” Oriental Hotels & Resorts’ senior director, business development, Tsuyoshi Maeda, told TTGmice at ITB Berlin last week.
Maeda shared that the hotel group recently signed on the 11-villa Hakone Retreat Fore (another seven villas will be ready in August 2024), which will join HMJ’s portfolio next month. Located 1.5 hours from Tokyo, this hideaway is “suitable for luxury incentives or C-suite meetings”.
This year also marks the first time that the company is participating in ITB Berlin to deepen its brand awareness. Another show that Oriental Hotels & Resorts will most likely attend is ITB India.
When asked why India in particular, Maeda explained: “Taking into account the rising middle class, the Indian outbound market holds huge potential for us. It is not often that you hear a Japanese company actively court the Indian market, but if we (make inroads) early enough, this will bode well for us in the future.”
He referenced Suzuki as an illustration of how the automotive and motorcycle manufacturer successfully entered the Indian market ahead of its competitors, contributing to its substantial market share today.
Given the stark difference in culture and travelling styles, Maeda acknowledged that there will be challenges in dealing with the Indian market, such as the provision of vegetarian cuisine, and the approach to hospitality.
However, Maeda strongly believes that the rising Indian outbound market will play a large part in doubling the company’s portfolio in the next five years.
