With seven years of operations under its belt, Gurgaon, India-based Cygnett Hotels & Resorts is ready to expand into Europe, Africa, the Middle East and, especially, Southeast Asia.
The owner of 11 brands ranging from budget to upscale, Cygnett now boasts 35 properties in 33 locations in India and Nepal, with a plan to grow that number to 136 hotels by 2027.
Its Asia-Pacific portfolio will account for more than 55% of its future portfolio, with 77 hotels in the pipeline.
Founder and managing director Sarbendra Sarkar said the properties will highlight Indian heritage concepts “atithi devo bhava,” meaning “guest is god,” and “vasudhaiva kutumbakam,” which means “the world is one family.”
Cygnett offers a diverse hotel portfolio, attractive fees that optimize profitability and, using a pun, meaningful “cygnetture” experiences for guests, he said.
“For us, the APAC market is very important for the simple reason that we have a significant inventory; therefore, an office in Southeast Asia shows our commitment to this market,” he said.
That growth in the Asia-Pacific region has been helped by the pandemic, he added.
“There are two ways to see the pandemic. Initially, it stalled the economies, and later it allowed taking advantage of the low-hanging fruits. The situation provided us with tremendous opportunities to position ourselves for the future,” he said.
The surge in pent-up demand, or “revenge travel,” has put Southeast Asia high on leisure travelers’ lists, including for staycations, which makes it a “win-win situation to invest in this region,” he said.
In April 2021, Cygnett appointed veteran hotelier Roberto Pelliccia as vice president of operations and development, Asia and Africa. He is based in Bangkok.
“Our focus … is Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia and, to begin with, predominantly in their capitals. Even though we recognized that midscale brands are present, we anticipate that there will be far more demand,” Pelliccia said.
He added although the return of travel has been increasingly associated with luxury, there will always be a bigger demand for the non-luxury segment, as proven by travel demographics and changing customer expectations.
“All of which, within their brand/product’s promise must deliver the same level of excellence. Just to give you an example, this does not mean that a hotel that sells a room at $100, versus another at $500, would give you a shower with cold water, appalling service and an air-conditioning unit that malfunctions,” he said.
Southeast Asia
The company said it believes there will be a steady increase in regional leisure travelers, with China anticipated to be a major source market.
Pelliccia said expansions plans are based on “a harmoniously balanced and homogeneous group of 11 distinctively different brands that cater to a wide spectrum of different clientele, business partners and owners’ needs.”
Cygnett offers three business models — management, franchise and lease.
“This is taking into consideration the location, peculiarity of the brand, owner's profile, owner’s short-, mid- and long-term objectives, real-estate valuation and commercial space, utilization and optimization, just to name a few,” he said.
Three of the company's 11 brands will be focused on Asia: Cygnett Resort, Cygnett Inn and Cygnett Style.
Cygnett Resorts is a midscale, full-service leisure brand focused on seaside destinations. Cygnett Inn is a budget, full-service brand in prominent business hubs. Cygnett Style is an economy, limited-service economy brand that melds leisure and co-working.
Pelliccia also is focused on developing open, healthy relationships with owners, who he said want to “optimize the value and return on investment of their assets and have an emotional connection to the same.”
“With this in mind, we always ensure that our business relationship does not … hijack their property with the approach of ‘leave it to us’,” he said.
He said their owners are attracted by value-for-money fees, and shorter and less complex exit-plan clauses.
Sarkar said owners are focused on brand value.
“[Owners] now understand that managing hotels is like investing in equity funds. … They cannot simply create an overview based on short-term gains,” he said.
Pelliccia said the company is building its “next-gen, artificial intelligence-driven technology engine named CygnettCX,” which consists of “several intermeshed components that include an information-rich and user-friendly website, central reservations system, online reputation-management system and service-monitoring module all supported by artificial intelligence and data analysis to understand and deliver a personalized experience to all customers.”
Other IT initiatives include a robotic chat box and a blockchain-powered loyalty ecosystem, he said.