Prasenjit Chakraborty - Mumbai Palladium Hotel Group is bullish about prospects in the India and expects a good business from here in 2023, said Sandra Polo Canudas, Asia & MEA Commercial Director, Palladium Hotel Group, while interacting with TravelBiz Monitor. “India is one of the top 10 markets for the Palladium Group and I know this market very well as I have been travelling to this country since 2014,” said Canudas.
One of the dreams of the group is to bring paradise closer to travellers. When asked to comment how far the group achieved in fulfilling this? Canudas replied, “We are constantly evolving with the needs of our guests and in that sense bringing paradise closer to our customers. The way we evolved in the last few years attracted customers across the globe including India,” she said.
According to Canudas, the group has 41 properties across the world and among them Ushuaïa Ibiza Beach Hotel in Spain ranks no one. “This property is also quite popular among Indian people,” she said.
Talking about the Indian market, she said that both Tier-I & II cities give them good business. “We get travellers from the cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad,” said Canudas. She also said that they have plans to penetrate into new markets of India and probably would do so in the next year. “We have plans to target Chandigarh and Kolkata,” she said.
Canudas sounded very optimistic about India and said 2023 will yield good results from this market. “Having been in contact with the trade fraternity in India, I am sure the year 2023 will be a good year in terms of business for us. Currently, we have some issues with visas but I am sure it will ease soon. I am sure next year a lot of people from India will visit Spain and will stay in our hotel,” she said.
Talking about their target segment, Canudas said that their focus is more on the FIT segment. “People want to travel on their own way and not under the direction of any one. Our properties can offer best solutions for the segment,” she said. Besides FIT, they also target destination weddings and MICE. “For destination weddings, our property in Cancun in Mexico is very popular among Indians. We have organised many such weddings for the Indian guests,” she said. It is important to mention here that the group has opened two new properties TRS Ibiza and Hard Rock Marbella in this year in Spain.
Canudas is also happy with the kind of response they are getting from this market and said that the people here in India are quite aware of every Palladium hotel located in different parts of the world. “This is a huge thing and shows their interest to visit our properties. We have appointed Global Destinations as our partner for this market, and they have been working hard. I am sure our business will grow further from India,” said an optimistic Canudas.
