Young achiever in hospitality sales

Stepping into hospitality at a young age and being one of the top 10 revenue achievers in the Asia Pacific region today, Varun Saluja, Cluster Director of Sales, Grand Mercure Hotel and Residences Dubai Airport, is in charge of managing the commercial team collaborating efforts across sales, marketing and revenue. We take a look at his journey over the years.

Shehara Rizly

Please share a brief background about yourself.

A proud alumnus of the IHM Aurangabad, I started my journey in hospitality sales and marketing with Marriott International as a ‘Voyager’. Having spent almost seven years with Marriott in India, I was a part of the Market Sales team, managing strategic sales across pan-India Marriott hotels, I moved to The Ritz-Carlton in Doha where I spent two years to get a pulse of the luxury segment and a foray into the GCC region. Finally, my transfer to Dubai took place, and I was given the opportunity to join the unique Al Habtoor City Complex in my first sales leadership post as Director of Sales, overseeing their three Hilton brands for another two years. I was offered the opportunity to join Accor earlier this year to manage the brand new cluster at Dubai Airport.

How is marketing in hospitality distinctive?

Hospitality sales and marketing is different from any other industry, because marketers are responsible to sell tangible as well as intangible products/services. The ideal success rides on creating the right ‘feeling’ or ‘perception’ with the right customer through the right medium. Our industry is composed of experiential services, hence maintaining a consistent dynamic brand identity is critical to ensure brand recognition and retain repeat customers.

What are your key achievements?

One of the highlights of my career was being selected for the 2014 President’s Circle Award, where I was one of the top 10 revenue achievers in APAC. I was identified as one of the youngest sales leaders in the region to be enrolled in the Marriott Ex-Comm Fast-Track Programme, as well as a Regional Mentor for the Voyage management training programme, as I progressed towards a leadership role at The Ritz-Carlton Doha.

What initiatives are needed to be taken post-COVID to thrive?

Keeping a close watch on consumer behaviour and prioritising digitalisation are two critical initiatives to stay in the game and, more importantly, to lead it rather than follow it. We make bold decisions to navigate the volatility of
markets, guest behaviour, and new trends where mistakes are bound to happen, and we also need to ‘accept being proven wrong’.

What are the key marketing strategies for hospitality?

As the world grapples with COVID-19, there is a sea-change to how we approach marketing strategies today as against a couple of years back. My handpicked initiatives would include: communicating hotel’s hygiene and safety efforts through marketing videos and imagery; neighbourhood marketing to appeal to your local audiences; virtual tours of properties, local attractions or live-streams; successfully managing online reputation scores and customer reviews; and investing in direct channel marketing by creating micro-sites and updating meaningful content on online interfaces.

What initiatives are you taking to mentor youth for hospitality?

Our industry has always faced an unprecedented challenge to attract, employ and retain the best talents, which is why incorporating youth development in business models is all the more imperative in today’s age. Mentoring for youth, should be done through pre-employment and on-the-job initiatives.

We continuously invest time and resources in participating in webinars/platforms that provide knowledge to the youth about the job market, different roles, remunerations, scope of work, etc. We have also created on-property job-shadowing programmes and internship roles. While for on-the job opportunities, we have created flexible
options for cross-training, apprenticeship and mentoring options. We ensure that our training modules are delivered in appreciation for differences in their language, cultures, ethnicity and socio-economic status.