Monday, January 11, 2010

Fun for you, but they mean business

Ramanathan avers, “We are a company that is totally focused on domestic tourism. That is why we are in a way safe from global recession. Although we lost in the third quarter of last year, we covered it in the fourth quarter by focusing on customers, who have not been affected much by the slowdown like doctors, lawyers et al.” This can be well substantiated from the fact that almost all resorts of the company witnessed an occupancy rate of around 75% last year (69% members and 6% by non members). The company even successfully rolled out is Initial Public offer (IPO) last month for the expansion of some of its resorts and setting up of new projects to support its expansion strategy.

So is it all so good with MHRIL? Well, not exactly. There are few issues encompassing the credibility of the company. And the first one comes from its membership agreement. It is a long service obligation on part of both the company and its customers as the membership duration lasts for as long as 25 years where in the admission fee (60% of the total cost) and the entitlement fee (remaining 40%) needs to be paid on EMI basis. This is not only a burden on the part of the consumers for a quite elongated period, but also an obligation on the company to maintain its resorts for that stated time. The second problem for the company comes from the issue of demand seasonality and dependence on travel industry. Explains an industry analyst from Angel Broking, “The company relies on discretionary spending by consumers, which is a lot vulnerable to economic cycles.”

Meanwhile, in order to expand their portfolio now they are even looking at branding of their Spas, ‘Swastha’, so that it can be extended to cities as well. But how will that be possible when the company does not even have a pan India presence? Well, Ramnathan answers, “Currently we have around 23 resorts, but we have bought land in many parts of the country. Our focus will be to grow in India.” Presently MHRIL has resorts in the west and northern India only. Thus the challenges are humongous, but then that does not stop Ramanathan from dreaming big for his company, at least not at a time when the travel and tourism industry is set to contribute 8% to the Indian GDP.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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