Suryakant Singh firmly believes that keeping his guests in good humour is the way to success in hospitality business. This basic tenet has been ingrained in the managing director of V One Hotels after spending over two decades in the hospitality industry.  

An MBA in hotel management, Mr Singh has also had a stint as group general manager of Indiana Hotels. For the past few years, Mr Singh and his team have been diligently building V One Hotels, earning the hotel chain a respectable reputation.

An initiative of Jaipur, Rajasthan-based Vision Hospitality Management, V One Hotels – with 325 rooms – has ambitious plans to emerge as a leading hospitality group in the country. The hotel chain – also headquartered in Jaipur and managing five properties – is currently present in three cities in India – Jaipur, Dehradun and Bengaluru – and one abroad in Bangkok, Thailand.

Mr Singh has been employing innovative ways to improve the hospitality company’s existing systems, procedures and practices. He is also a director in Vzing Conventions & Events and Hope For Kids And Welfare Foundation and a mentor of Vision Hospitality Management.

The V One Hotels chief has, in the meanwhile, lined up big plans to own, operate and manage properties through agreements, such as revenue-share leases, operations and management contracts and franchises. Committed to delivering real, pleasing experience to its guests and stakeholders, the hospitality group is fast expanding its operations across the country.

Under Mr Singh’s leadership, the company has set a goal to emerge as a leading operator of the largest inventory of fully-managed hotels across major destinations. Besides, he is also actively involved in social work related to education of rural children as well as economic empowerment of poor and unemployed people. In an engaging conversation with the IBJ, Mr Singh shares his views on building a robust hotel chain, his future plans for the company and his engagement in social service.

What strategies are you adopting to be back in business battered by COVID-19?

COVID-19-induced recession has taken everyone by surprise. I don’t think any specific strategy related to it is required once a large section of population is inoculated. In these trying times, technology has been a great saviour. We are following the regulatory guidelines very strictly and will continue the process even after it’s all over. The pandemic has made us to realise the importance of hygiene. It should be given top priority.

What sets V One Hotels apart from the rest of competition?

We have tried to provide all types of facilities that a guest needs at our various properties. We believe in serving a variety of good food, keeping in mind all age groups with different tastes. We provide a home away from home with personalised services. We make the guests feel special and, coupled with our exclusive, customised services, we believe that no request of a guest is too small. Going that extra mile to deliver the unexpected service makes V One Hotels different from others.

Would you share with us your business model?

Our business model is simple yet diversified. We extend our expertise on various platforms with an objective of accelerating our presence. If you own a property that you would like to upgrade, we could undertake that for you before getting on with the task of operating it. A hotel owner can leave the entire logistics of operating the hotel to us so that they can sit back and get monthly management updates and the satisfaction of seeing a healthy bottom line growing healthier. Our objective is to optimise the resources to a greater extent in terms of operation and development for our employees, clients and investors.

What, according to you, are the right ingredients to sustain a successful hotel business?

First of all, I must say that we concentrate on the general needs of our guests with a reasonably-priced tariff. We constantly ask for their suggestions and complaints which help us improve and upgrade our services. Secondly, from an individual perspective, having the right attitude and zeal to be a better version of oneself progressively and, most importantly, the ability to evolve and adapt with time are some of the traits that help in sustaining success.

Would you shed light on your expansion plans, if any?

We are going to have another hotel in Jaipur. The new property, V One Residency, will have 75 rooms and two restaurants plus two banquet halls. Besides facilities for indoor and outdoor games, it will have a discotheque and a mini-theatre.

We have also planned to have three resorts in three major destinations – Udaipur, Nainital and Kumbhalgarh. Our resort in Udaipur will have 51 rooms, whereas the Nainital property will have 35 rooms, along with restaurant and bar, meeting hall, banquet hall and lawns, swimming pool and gymnasium and spa, along with huge facilities for indoor and outdoor games. Our resort in Kumbhalgarh will be equipped with 40 rooms, along with other paraphernalia. In fact, we’re concentrating on adding additional facilities to attract more guests at our existing properties.

You are involved in a lot of social work. So, tell us how you got drawn into it?

It all happened 2015, when a dear friend, Avdhesh Kumar Singh Bhaduria, invited me to visit his village in Uttar Pradesh. There, I saw children coming to school in torn dresses and with literally no books. I was moved by their plight and after returning from UP, my brothers and I laid the foundation for Hope For Kids And Welfare Foundation in Jaipur. We’ve constructed a campus for rural children to provide them with education. We have various economic empowerment programmes for poor, unemployed people. During COVID, we did a lot of work to provide basic needs of people suffering badly.